Faked - Karla Sorensen Page 0,10

asked, with a bit more heat behind her tone.

"Just find it funny that you need breathing exercises to spend the evening with the other Davis brother."

"I wasn't doing breathing exercises," she explained calmly. "Just ... wasn't expecting," Claire paused, and her dark blue eyes flicked briefly in my direction, "you."

"Not many people are, princess."

"That is not my name," she snapped. Now she sounded like her sister.

"I am aware of that." I gave a brief glance of my own, careful not to use the name she was wearing for the evening, and not nearly as well as she was wearing that dress. "But you look like one, so it fits."

Her brow furrowed, but she didn't answer right away.

We drove in silence, heading into downtown. I sighed when all I saw in front of me was red brake lights.

"Was that a compliment?" she asked. This time, her gaze wasn't brief. It didn't move away from me. It pinned me in place, like a bug under a light.

My eyebrows popped up. She might not have Lia's snark, but this was a banked heat I wasn't expecting. "Depends on if you like princesses."

Claire didn't roll her eyes, but she did let her eyelids fall shut before lifting them slowly. Hiding her reaction made her even more fascinating in my book, which didn't bode well for her. This stodgy evening, one I'd normally avoid like boiling acid if it wasn't for my own predicament—was far more interesting with her in it. Even more so than if Lia had been in the seat next to me.

I hooked a wrist over the top of the steering wheel. "I happen to. For the most part. Of course, I have favorites like any red-blooded male."

She didn't take the bait, just stared through the front windshield with her hands still folded neatly in her lap.

"Ariel is in my top three, hands down," I continued.

Claire exhaled slowly.

"As is Jasmine." I looked over at her.

"This is so very original. I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to react right now."

At her dryly spoken reply, my grin was instant. "Aren't you curious who's in the number one spot?"

"I don't know if curious is the word I'd pick," she muttered.

A laugh burst out of me.

I glanced at my blind spot and pulled around the car in front of me. Claire's face angled in my direction, and I saw her staring at the clover tattoo on the side of my hand. She wasn't being very careful, the princess in the yellow dress. Lia had seen my tattoos before, so nothing about them would interest her.

For reasons I refused to look deeply into, I threw her a bone before we arrived at the dinner. "Remember when I got this one? I feel like I got mocked for days."

She blinked a few times at the subtle reminder of who she was supposed to be. "I still want to," she said smoothly. "Just trying to decide if they'll kick you out for exceeding the maximum amount of visible ink at an event like this."

"Nah." I pulled my cuff up and glanced at the bottom edge of the compass that I'd added about six months earlier. "Enough athletes will be present tonight that they'd be pretty damn hypocritical if they had a problem with me."

Claire sniffed delicately, and I caught the way her fingers tightened in her lap. Pondering that as I brought us closer to this little performance, I expected her to fail, it only took me a few seconds to place it. Athletes.

Of course.

Princess was an apt name for her when I thought of her in terms of her upbringing. The Wards were absolute football royalty. More than likely, this dinner would have more than one player from the Washington Wolves present. Maybe some front office staff as well. It was a who's who of the Pacific Northwest philanthropic scene, and that included players from every major professional team in the state. People who'd known Claire and Lia since they were toddlers could be there. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Yet she was risking that for reasons I couldn't fathom.

She cleared her throat as I pulled up to the Four Seasons. The crisply dressed valet opened Claire's door, and I caught the way his eyes widened appreciatively.

Yeah, tell me about it, buddy.

I left the keys in the ignition for him, giving his hand a brief shake as he stood by my side of the Jeep.

Claire was paused just under the lights strung across the entrance to the hotel, and