Chapter 18

I wake up with my legs tangled with Paige’s, her cold feet pressing against my calves. The air outside of the cocoon of warmth under our duvet is frigid. The house is old and creaky and leaks heat like a sieve at night. Once the sun fully rises, the bedroom will be more pleasant, but right now I snuggle closer to the cold-feet offender to try and get back to sleep.Alas, it is not meant to be, as my phone starts to vibrate incessantly on the nightstand. Braving an overture under the duvet tucked close to my back, I see Asher’s slew of messages. He knows I am not an early riser so either this is important or he is just freaking out to the point of heedlessness.

6:47 among just saw your message

ur right we need to strategize betterAsh…

6.48 am

wake up

as my future wife, im insulted ur not obeying my evry command babe wake up

6:49 am

pls

6:52 am

pls pls pls

6:58 amOK l'm comin up hope ur decent

The last one comes in as I am reading the others and I don’t know if he saw me online or is just acting like a bored 3 year-old. But what it means is that I have to disentangle myself fromPaige before he freaks out on me.As I try to gather the courage to slip out of bed by soaking up as much heat from the skin against mine, I hear the door handle turn. At least Asher seems to be aiming for a careful foray into our bedroom. Sometimes, I get the feeling he knows about me and Paige, but I haven’t managed to ask directly.I peak one eye over the cover, trying to keep as much of my body inside the cocoon. As he pokes his head in, he sees me looking and startles. As he shifts his weight to get a more stable stance, the door creaks and he freezes.I glare at him to stay put, and he frustratingly shakes his head to press me to get up. I huff and finally detach myself from Paige’s warm embrace, gingerly putting a toe on the cold polished floor. A shiver immediately travels from that one toe up my quickly cooling leg to send my nape shaking and I automatically retract my neck into my shoulders.I hate you, I mouth at Asher as I finally put my feet flat on the floor. Just to annoy him, I make sure to take my time tucking Paige back into her cocoon and grabbing my clothes. Before I make a run for the fluffy rug in the bathroom, I whisper for him to get out. It’s barely seven in the morning, I will not be held responsible if Paige wakes up.Once I am appropriately clothed, with hot tea thawing my hands, curled up against Asher on the one couch in the rapidly warming sunroom, my brain clears up enough to start our strategy meeting.“Ok so I think we should start with some ground rules,” Asher says. “No flirting with anyone my parents know.”“Do you really think they’d recognize it as flirting?” I ask. I’ve made it a goal to fluster Paige in front of their parents for the past two Christmases and I don’t think they’ve ever caught on. “I don’t want to risk it,” he says, like it’s final. Like it’s fair and will not impact just me. Like he hasn’t realized what has been happening between his sister and I.“But wouldn’t it look weird if I suddenly started acting distant toward Paige?”“Wait,” he turns to look me in the eye, “you’ve been flirting with my sister?” Ok, so maybe this will be harder than I expected.“Well, yeah.” I avert my eyes. Now’s the time. I take a deep breath. “Actually, we’ve slept together a few times.”Asher chokes on his coffee. “What? Here?”

“No, on the romantic trip to Paris we took last summer…” Sarcasm, sure to help in any awkward situation. When he doesn’t reply, I look at him more closely. He looks pained and it bothers me that I can’t tell if it’s guilt or disapproval. “You really didn’t suspect anything?”