Twisted Love (Modern Romance #3) - Piper Lawson Page 0,14

mean we have to convince all of our friends, by the way—means starting now, and it's a complex maneuver."

He doesn't look nearly as upset as I feel. “You want rules? Here’s rule number one. For the next month, for all intents and purposes, we will be dating. When we’re together, we act like a couple.”

I continue to my favorite room on the second floor as my mind works. “But if we need to convince our friends, that means repeated public engagements as a couple. We might need a social calendar like Camila and Aiden.”

It’s a joke, but Ben nods. “Perfect. That’s rule number two. We don’t have to go everywhere together, but we already hang out, and it makes sense we would be seen with each other. If we pick the right times, that will reinforce our story.”

I suck in a breath. “I don’t like the thought of lying to our friends.”

“Come on. They’d love it if we dated. This’ll be like fanfic for them.” I shake my head as he continues. “Listen, I get that it makes you uncomfortable. I grew up being lied to by my dad, but he did it to manipulate and get what he wanted. I need to run this firm. The associates cringe when Holt walks down the hall, and I’m sure some of them would leave if he took the helm. But they have business school loans to pay off, so who the hell knows. They’re not taking it up with Xavier.”

The thought of someone awful winning out over Ben sticks with me, even though it’s not my company. I feel for everyone on their team, and I know Ben would be a far better boss and mentor. He’s tough but fair, and wants to see his people succeed.

“This world is messed up,” he goes on, “and we have a chance to make it better. But until we’re calling the shots, the best way to get there is to do what people like Xavier and Richard Vane expect. After the gala, we’re home free. You’re off the hook. And in case it gets weird, rule three—we won’t do anything to compromise our friendship. We can lie to the world, but we don’t lie to each other.”

My stomach drops, but the intensity on his face has me nodding slowly.

Everyone keeps secrets, I remind myself.

“It’s not that strange,” he says, turning to stare at one of the paintings. “Hell, in another world, maybe we would’ve dated.”

The hairs on the back of my neck lift.

“In another world,” I say, “Vi and I wouldn’t have fought, and she wouldn’t have left. Your dad wouldn’t have been an asshole.”

“Sounds like a better world.”

His gravelly voice has the knots in my stomach tightening.

Ben clearly wishes my twin had stayed. I get why, but the hurt lingers anyway.

“It’s dangerous to deal in alternative worlds, Ben. It would also be a world in which we didn’t go through the things that made us who we are today.”

When I first met Ben, I knew several of our friends came from money, and I’d heard Ben had a sizeable trust fund. Eventually, I learned his dad had taken most of his family’s money, that he’d pressured his mom into keeping a trust for him so that he could invest it.

While most of the students in our class were complaining about course loads or relationship drama, Ben was quietly finding small, high-risk, high-reward investments with the right potential to pay off, immersing himself in business training after his engineering course load, and building back up what his father had taken from them to ensure his mother and brother would always have enough.

Now, he’s one of the most successful investors in New York.

Only a handful of people know why.

He crosses to another set of paintings, and I follow. “We should answer the questions on that list so we’re prepared if someone asks us.” He lifts my phone and reads off the screen. “‘What does the other person do that turns you on?’”

I try for nonchalance. “Sometimes you stop talking.”

He laughs. “Come on.”

I frown at the strap on my handbag. “You do this thing with your hair. It’s too long, and you kind of twist it in your fingers before you shove it out of the way. At least that’s what I would say if we were dating,” I add. “What about you?”

Ben casts a look around the room before his warm gaze finally lands back on me. “When you watch other people, I watch you.