Tangled Like Us (Like Us, #4)

by Krista Ritchie

Her smile widens when she realizes what I’m doing. Our eyes never detour, not even as I start gathering her hair in my hands. It’s messy. Not even close to perfect. But I’m able to tie her hair up into a knot at the top of her head. When I’m finished, her gloved hand hovers above her bun, and she scans the room for a mirror. None. Her eyes hit mine. “How do I look?” she asks. Beautiful. But I feel the hot gazes of Charlie and Farrow. They’re quiet, which means they’re listening. Fuck it. “Beautiful,” I tell her. Surprise parts her lips, but her smile reaches her eyes. “Tom called you an honorary Cobalt this morning on the phone,” she says. I didn’t know that. Charlie overhears and he calls out to us. “Until you two stop fake dating.” His yellow-green eyes pierce me. “Then you turn back into a pumpkin.” We hold each other’s gaze. He’s calling me the Cinderella in all of this. And maybe he’s right. I am coming from nothing suddenly being welcomed into a world that I don’t belong in. An uncomfortable tension winds between Jane and me. Security is holding the “end” of the fake dating op over our heads. I hate that it could come sooner than Halloween. I hate that I can’t do shit about that. Mostly, I hate when we have to breakup, I won’t be able to call her beautiful. Not out loud. It’ll stay in my head. Like it always has before.

🥺🥺