“Kate,” I whispered as panic set in.
“Do I, uh… should I pretend I didn’t hear all that? Or can we talk about you two faking this whole relationship?”
“Fuck,” Flynn whispered under his breath.
I hurried over to her to take her hand, scanning behind her quickly to make sure no one else was around before I looked back at her. “What are you doing out here?”
She raised an eyebrow, her smile small and amused, before she held up my handbag. “You forgot this. I was bringing it back up.”
I bit back a groan and took my bag, desperately trying to find a way to explain away what she had to have heard.
“So, you twoaren’ttogether?” she asked, looking between Flynn and I.
“Umm…” I started, hesitating as I tried to figure out how to answer.
“How about we take this somewhere else?” Flynn suggested calmly.
“And then you’ll answer my questions?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, we’ll explain,” Flynn answered, stepping closer. Kate looked from Flynn to me, and back again before she nodded and started down the hall in front of us. I looked up at Flynn when he stopped beside me, and he tangled our fingers together.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered.
I shook my head. How could it be?
The second the hotel room door closed behind us, Kate turned to look at us, arms crossed and face expectant. “Spill.”
I sighed and tossed my bag onto the bed before sitting down and taking off my shoes.
“Yes, we’re faking our relationship,” Flynn started. Even though she’d overheard us and already knew this, Kate’s eyes widened as she looked between us. “But… why?”
I frowned. “What do you mean,why?”
“It’s just…” She hesitated and shook her head. “You guys are so good together. Until I heard what I heard on the balcony, I honestly thought you two were so in love. The chemistry between you alone was enough to send me into early ovulation.”
Flynn cough-laughed into his fist, and I snickered and shook myhead. “Colorful.”
“Seriously!” she cried. “I bought your story, hook, line, and sinker. The way you two look at each other… how can that be fake? Some of it has to be real at least,” she said, her voice almost pleading.
I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, Kate. It’s not. Flynn and I started talking again this morning when his plane landed. Before that, we hadn’t spoken since he left when he was eighteen.”
Her mouth fell open, and I wanted to frown at the look of disappointment and something that looked an awful lot like betrayal.
“How can that be?” she whispered. “You two are meant for each other. Maybe you don’t see it yet, but I do, and I’m always right about these things.”
I rolled my eyes. “The way you were right about Ellis and I being a cute couple?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t wrong. You did make a cute couple standing side by side. I never said anything about you guys being soul mates.”
“I don’t believe in soul mates,” I reminded.
She gave me a look of exasperation. “Just because you don’t believe in something, doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
“Kate,” Flynn interjected, and I was glad that he was finally stepping in. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”
She frowned. “I don’t even know what I’d say if I did. I don’t understand what’s going on. Why lie?”
Flynn looked at me, waiting to see what I wanted to do.
