Page 112 of Frosted Fakes

"No."

"No?"

Elliott shook her head. "The truth will out. It always does. And Candice…" She paused, thinking about the woman who'd been so determined to bring them down. "She'll never feel good until she's real. Until she stops hiding behind frozen croissants and actually faces who she is. We can't force that. She has to figure it out herself."

"When did you get so wise?"

"I've always been wise. I just hid it behind grumpiness and emotional unavailability."

Julia laughed, and the sound made Elliott's chest ache in the best possible way.

A commotion from the corridor made them both turn. Jamie was being escorted, or more accurately, dragged, toward them by a burly security guard who looked deeply unimpressed with the situation.

"I'm fine!" Jamie called out, waving one arm while the other was firmly in the guard's grip. "Everything's fine! Just dropping off a friend! Very important emotional business!"

"Sir, you need to leave the premises."

"Yes, yes, I'm leaving, but first…" Jamie spotted them and his face split into a grin. "Oh good, you're kissing. Brilliant. Tom texted, by the way. He says you're both insufferable and can he have a raise?"

"Tell him yes," Julia called back.

"Tell him he's getting double," Elliott added.

"Wonderful! I'll let him know! Being removed from the building now! Very proud of you both!"

The security guard hauled him around the corner, and Jamie's voice faded into the distance, still cheerfully protesting his innocence.

Elliott looked down at Julia. Her Julia. The woman who had crashed into her life and refused to leave. The woman that she was absolutely completely and totally in love with. The thought gave her the shivers in the most delicious of ways.

"So," Elliott's hands found Julia's waist. "What now?"

Julia grinned up at her, bright and hopeful and so impossibly lovely that Elliott's breath caught.

"Now we start living our real lives. Right?"

"Does that mean nothing else was real?" Elliott's hands slid more firmly around Julia's waist, pulling her closer. "This whole time?"

Julia pretended to consider. "Hmm. Well. Maybe some things were real."

"Such as?"

"The baking."

"Naturally."

"Tom's constant disgust with us."

"A given."

"And maybe…" Julia's voice softened, her eyes searching Elliott's face, "…maybe the way I felt when you looked at me. Maybe that was real too."

"Maybe?"

"Definitely." Julia's smile widened. "Definitely real."

Elliott kissed her again, softer this time.

Somewhere behind them, the show was still going on. Gabby was probably dazzling her audience with some recovery speech. Candice was probably stewing in her frozen-pastry guilt. Tom was probably composing a very smug text to Shay about how he'd called it from the beginning.