Page 42 of Aiden & Lily

She knew everyone in the rodeo circuit called him Christopher. Maybe his brother called him Aiden because that was the name he’d grown up using. People had a right to go by different names.

Perhaps this wasn’t about lying.

She shook her head.

No.

She’d seen the guilt on his face. He knew he’d deceived her. He’d known long before she found out. Except the thought of exiling him from her life made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to consider what her days would feel like without him in them.

That frightened her almost as much as the lie.

What was she going to do?

“Lily.”

Aiden’s voice was breathless. She didn’t move from her spot. She didn’t lift her head or focus on his face. When he shifted into view, she turned away.

“I don’t think we should talk right now.” Her voice trembled, which only made her angrier. “I’m too upset.”

“I know,” he whispered. “But I need to explain.”

She huffed out a humorless laugh and finally met his gaze. “There’s no logical reason for you to lie about who you were.”

“I didn’t lie. Not exactly.”

Lily glowered at him. “That’s where you’re going to take this?”

He grimaced immediately. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Let me try again.”

Some of the fight went out of her, though not much.

Aiden gripped his hair with both hands and paced a few steps in front of her. “When we met that night, you called me Christopher, and I didn’t correct you. It’s my middle name. It’s what I go by at the rodeo. I figured there wasn’t any harm in it at the time.”

“But it’s been weeks! Don’t you think you should have told me by now?”

“Yes.” His face tightened. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, and the longer I let it go, the harder it got to find the right time.”

The honesty of that answer stopped her.

He looked down at the sidewalk. “I don’t usually date anyone for long.”

Aiden sighed. “I overheard you talking to your sister about dating a guy your dad would approve of. I knew you wouldn’t give me even a chance if I told you what I did for a living, so I just went with what you assumed. I figured there wasn’t any harmin letting you think what you already thought because I didn’t expect this to go anywhere.”

“You didn’t expect us to go anywhere?” The question came out quieter than she meant it to.

Aiden closed his eyes briefly. “No.”

The answer hurt worse than she expected. He must have seen it on her face because he took a step toward her, then stopped himself.

“Lily, I’m not saying that because you weren’t worth more. I’m saying it because I wasn’t looking for more. I didn’t know what this would become.”

“But it did become something.”

“Yes,” he whispered. “It did.”

Her racing heart slowed at his confession, but the ache remained.

“Still,” she said, forcing herself not to be softened by the way his closeness and his words were affecting her, “you knew how I felt about lying. About being deceived. I told you that.”