And just like that, her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, and her entire “tough love” shtick is forgotten. “Please tell me you’ve kissed him. Oh, it would make you such a trollop to kiss two boys in less than a week, but I could totally forgive that if you actually kissedMason Knight.”
“Did you just call me a trollop?” I demand, almost amused.
She shrugs. “Well?”
I shake my head. “No, I haven’t.”
Riley scoots forward on the bed, walking on her knees. “When you do, you have to catalog every single moment, so you can tell me about it later.”
“Uh, Riley…Linus?”
“Idon’t want to kiss him.” She waves her hand. “I wantyouto kiss him. You know, for prosperity.”
“I should kiss Mason…for prosperity? Do you mean posterity?”
Grinning like a pixie, she does a bobblehead nod. “Absolutely.”
“Riley, that doesn’t even make sense.”
She’s about to answer when a quiet knock sounds at the door. Her face goes pale, and she leans in. “Is that him?”
It’s late, after eleven. I don’t know who else would come knocking. “It might be.”
Her hands fly to her hair, which she yanked up in a messy ponytail over an hour ago. “I look awful.”
“You look fine.” I shoot her a look as I scoot off the bed. “If it is him, please act like a normal human being.”
“As opposed to what?” she demands.
“Your regular self.”
I look out the peephole, not sure who to expect. I can’t imagine it’s Brandon. He left for the hotel right after he brought Sadie back.
Sure enough, Mason stands on the other side, his eyes fixed down the hall.
Quickly, I open the door and usher him inside. “What are you doing here? You’re going to get us in trouble.”
He relaxes as soon as the door is shut behind us and flashes me his signature grin. “It’s half the fun, right?”
Is it?
Mason’s eyes drift to the bed, and he goes still. “Hey, Harper. You have a stowaway.” He stops and narrows his eyes at Riley and then at me. “One who looks a lot like you.”
Riley blinks, struck mute—probably for the first time in her life.
“Mason, this is my sister. Riley, this is Mason.” I widen my eyes as I look at her, reminding her to keep her cool.
She opens her mouth only to close it again.
“Hey, Riley,” Mason says, stepping over to the bed and extending his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Her gaze moves from his face to his hand. Visibly shaking herself out of her stupor, she presses her palm to his. “Me too. I mean you.” The color that was just coming back to her cheeks drains away. “I mean, I am so happy to meet you. Of course, I kind of know you. But you don’t know me. Is that weird? That people feel like they know you, but you don’t know them at all? Did you know your eyes are actually gray? To be honest, I thought that was tweaked in your photos. I mean—gray eyes? Who has those. Except you, of course. Because yours are?—”
“Riley,” I hiss under my breath.
She looks at me, grateful I cut her off.
Mason raises an eyebrow. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re the sister with my posters in her room.”
