Page 134 of This is a Kissing Book

“I’d like to see those letters when you get a chance.”

“Absolutely.” I start toward the door.

“Oh, one more thing. Jules really is an expert forger. But I have it on good authority that she truly cares about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“She may not have an authentic college diploma.”

My brow forms a trench. “Huh?”

He claps me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll let the two of you work out the secrets you keep. But don’t hold on to them for too long.”

With that, his phone rings and he takes the call.

46

JULES

The elevator ride down to the thirty-ninth floor feels like the slow-motion part of a roller coaster before the drop. Linc and I stand in stunned silence, both staring at the digital floor numbers as if they’re a code that might reveal an explanation about what just transpired in his father’s office.

When the doors finally open, we walk into the workspace like two people who’ve just witnessed a magic trick and can’t figure out how the rabbit disappeared.

“Did that really happen?” I ask, sinking into my desk chair.

Linc loosens his tie and shakes his head. “Maxine Drecken working with Aiken the Demo King.”

“He’s her son!”

Linc lets out a long exhale. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“Not by a long shot.”

“I knew she was ambitious, but this …”

“Is wildly twisted?” I ask, mind reeling.

He nods.

“Insurance fraud on a massive scale?” I add as we exit the elevator one floor down and pause in the reception area.

Linc rubs his hand on his jaw, his stubble like sandpaper.

“That for a second there she was going to try to pin it all on us?”

“Key word being ‘try.’” He perches on the edge of my desk and draws me near him.

My heart turns into a little hummingbird at Linc’s proximity.

“So what next?” I ask.

He claps his hands together. “Crossing my father is a career death sentence. Maxine is finished. He’ll take her for everything she’s worth and then some. Probably donate the money to an arts program or something equally philanthropic yet devastating to her ego.”

I blink at him. “So Frank Andresen is evil but good?”

“Basically.” He grins.

Like I’m sunning myself on the shore by the lake house, I bask in his smile, the first genuine one I’ve seen from him since we fled.