of the mushroom hit Yasmine and she thought twice about bringing any of the cheese-sprayed mushrooms back to Kyle.
“I’d better go rescue Kyle,” she said. “Soon as you’ve had your date with Drew, I want all the details.”
“You’ve got a deal, so long as you give me a full report on Mr. Gorgeous out there.”
“There’s nothing to report. We’re just being weekend sex buddies, I guess.” She shrugged and turned away to avoid any further scrutiny.
Yasmine wandered into the living room, pausing near the doorway to watch Kyle interact with her friends. He was as relaxed as if he were among his own friends instead of a bunch of people eager to find out if he was his date’s soul mate or if he had some monstrous flaw. And she marveled that for once, she didn’t feel on edge introducing her date to her friends. She somehow felt just as relaxed as Kyle looked.
Bizarre, considering how little they knew each other, and how he could still reveal himself as an utter and complete nutcase, and she wouldn’t have any right to act surprised.
In fact, any second now, Yasmine fully expected she’d wake up and realize Kyle Kramer wasn’t nearly as great a guy as he seemed to be.
8
ALEX SIPPED his after-dinner eggnog and watched the lights twinkling on the Christmas tree. Around him, the ebb and flow of conversation lulled him into a half trance, the sort he remembered from his childhood that only came with being content and surrounded by family and friends.
He’d enjoyed hanging out with this group, talking over dinner and watching with detached amusement as half of them got into a heated debate over Trivial Pursuit. He was even having trouble remembering he was supposed to be someone else. Sure, there was the lying he’d had to do about his career, but he’d rehearsed that story so many times he’d almost started believing it.
And now, here with all Yasmine’s friends, he felt as if he belonged, as if he was with a woman he really cared about and not one he was secretly trying to gather evidence against. It occurred to him, when he finally remembered his situation, that his life had gotten seriously screwed up.
Not only did he think Yasmine was the hottest thing since the discovery of fire, he was pretty sure he liked her just as well outside of bed. So far, she hadn’t done a single thing to make him feel justified in secretly investigating her.
If she didn’t start acting like an obnoxious criminal soon, he was going to develop a guilty conscience. Okay, who the hell was he kidding? He already felt guilty, and if he didn’t find some solid evidence against her, he’d feel like the world’s biggest jerk for ever having lied to her in the first place.
The Trivial Pursuit game ended with a resounding victory for the women—owed entirely to Yasmine’s amazing wealth of useless knowledge—and she flopped down next to him on the sofa where he’d been sitting content to watch, not contributing much to the game.
“You’re looking awfully contemplative. Ashamed that your team lost so badly?” she asked, her dark eyes sparkling.
“You know more than any normal human should about American history.”
“Side effect of attending expensive boarding schools.”
Which must have made going from a stimulating intellectual environment to a youth correctional facility an even bigger shock for her. He’d blocked out that fact before, but now, sitting here with her, he had a pang of empathy for the spoiled little genius girl who’d been locked away thanks in part to him.
“Did you get to wear hot little plaid skirts and white tops knotted at the waist?” he half whispered.
She laughed. “Yeah, and we dressed in little pink teddies on Saturday nights and had all-girl pillow fights.”
“A guy can dream, right?”
“And you’re also pretty good at evading questions. What’s with the brooding expression you were wearing a minute ago?”
“Seriously? You want to know the truth?”
Yasmine leaned in close and propped her head on her elbow against the back of the sofa. “Absolutely.”
“I hate eggnog. Why on earth do people drink this crap?” He gazed down into his cup as if worms were emerging from it.
She laughed and swatted his thigh. “You’re a freak.”
“Only in the bedroom.”
Around them, people were donning coats, gathering purses and unwrapped gifts, saying goodbyes. Alex realized, out of the blue, that as much as he loved Yasmine’s company, this was truly an awful way to celebrate Christmas Eve, spending it deceiving a woman