“Is that him?” he murmurs into my ear.
I nod and turn enough to look at him. “Yeah. But you’re not changing the subject. What happened?”
Aiden flashes a lopsided smile. “You wanting to play nurse with me while he’s watching, baby?”
Heat crawls up my neck and onto my face. “Oh, I get it. You’re wanting to play pretend in front of him.”
I don’t mind since I’m not worried about his identity being found out. Just like earlier while he took pictures without showing his face, I don’t care. It’s not like I have to explain anything to Brandon like I would to my friends.
“Yeah, sure.” Aiden tilts his head and plays with a lock of my hair, then twirls it around his finger.
The way he answered my question raises an alarm in my head. It’s the weird tone he used, like he wasn’t playing pretend with me.
Mentally shaking away the suspicion, I say, “I’ll disconnect the headphones so you can hear him. Just tell me what to do and say.”
“Will do. Just remember to tease and make him jealous.” He unwinds my hair from his finger, then catches my chin to tip my head toward him as he leans in closer. “Just a warning, I’m going to act like your boyfriend and may?—”
I jerk my chin out of his hold with a huff. “Yes, I know.”
“Okay.” He chuckles. “We’ll need to be convincing if you want him to believe we’re together.”
I face the computer and disconnect the headphones, then place them on the desk.
“Everything okay, princess?” Brandon says.
Aiden’s hold on me tightens.
“Yeah. Is everything okay, princess?” he whispers in my ear.
I elbow him in the side—it’s not a hard jab, but he grunts in my ear for dramatics and snickers at my little huff.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I say, barely finishing my apology before Brandon cuts in.
“Who’s that with you?”
“This is my boyfriend.” I glance at Aiden right as he meets my stare and smirks.
“Ohhh. So this is the bikerfriendyou were telling me about?” There’s a teasing note in Brandon’s voice, but there’s something different in it as well. Like he had to force the words through clenched teeth.
Our plan might be working because Brandon has never been passive-aggressive before. As though I hadn’t told him I was dating someone five minutes ago.
I smile and relax into Aiden. “Yeah, I guess you were right about what you said the other night.”
“Right about what?” Aiden rests his chin on my shoulder and twirls a lock of my pink hair around his index finger.
“That you allowing her to use your bike as a prop for her pictures was your way of trying to get in her pants,” Brandon says.
“Is that right?” Aiden whispers in my ear, a smile tinging his voice.
“Nice Ninja, by the way,” Brandon continues. “How many ccs?”
“One thousand, and thanks.”
He slips his hand toward my waistband.
I barely hear Brandon ask, “You ride it often?” because I’m now hyper-focused on my brother’s fingertips wiggling past the seam.
“Keep looking just like that,” Aiden murmurs for only me to hear. “He’s trying so hard to distract me with conversation when your face is flushed like this.”
