Loving Your Lies by Piper Shelly

His words, little more
than a whisper, drifted to me.
    My heart thudded in my ribcage, shocked he’d
caught me staring at him. “I’m not tired.” The answer came quick,
yet my voice sounded like a stranger’s in the dark.
    “Come out, it’s beautiful up here at
night.”
    “M-m.” I shook my head.
    For a brief moment, his eyes narrowed to
slits. “You’re scared.” He said it with such conviction I wondered
if he felt personally insulted by my refusal. Pushing away from the
railing, he shoved his hands into his pockets and ambled toward me.
“Hopefully, it’s the height of the balcony that makes you nervous
and not me.”
    “Why would you make me nervous?” The words
shook slightly in my throat. I shifted against the doorframe as he
drew nearer.
    He halted before my room and leaned with his
backside against the railing. “Why indeed?”
    For an immeasurable moment, we stared into
each other’s eyes. If I didn’t know better I would have thought he
actually wanted me to be nervous around him. Silly idea. I
shoved it aside, clearing my throat. “Who are the two people Marie
wants me to meet?”
    “Valentine and Henri? They’re nice people.”
Hands planted on the railing at either side of his hips, he hoisted
himself up onto the edge.
    “No, don’t!” My warning echoed across the
field as I let go of the doorframe and reached out in a helpless
attempt to stop him from falling backwards over the balustrade. Yet
fear kept my feet rooted to the floor inside.
    His arms still braced against the wood,
Julian cocked his head while one of his brows arched up. Not
bothered by my concern, he eased onto the insecure railing, his
gray sneakers dangling two feet above the floorboards.
    His gaze mocked me like it suggested I come
out of my room and make him get off the railing.
    Oh, for the sake of my frazzled nerves,
just get down! I tamped down the anger over his ignorance and
kept to the safety of my room.
    He cast me an amused glance from under his
lashes then continued as though nothing had happened. “Henri and
Valentine Dupres live down the road. They’re an elderly couple
working for your aunt and uncle in the yards. You will meet them
tomorrow morning.”
    At his words, pictures of tonight’s dinner
rose before my eyes. Maybe now was the time to thank him for his
concern, even though I cringed at the thought of letting him know
how I really felt. I coughed slightly, tilting my head so the
curtain muffled my voice. “It was actually kind of you to delay
their introduction until tomorrow.”
    “Sorry, what did you say?” He smirked, and
for an instant I considered tossing a pillow at him. But that might
have caused him to fall backward off the balcony. I didn’t want to
take the responsibility in case he broke his neck.
    “Thank you,” I said more clearly, though
through gritted teeth.
    His teasing grin disappeared. “You are very
welcome, Jona.”
    His soft purr gave me chills.
    “Earlier, you seemed surprised I would care
about you. Why was that?”
    His serious words touched the spot of my
mind responsible for lying or telling the truth.
    “I thought you didn’t like me.” My croak
clearly betrayed my unease. I dropped my gaze to the gaps between
the boards of the balcony floor.
    “You do your best to pretend not to like me
either.” His soft, smooth tone reminded me of sand running through
an hourglass. “And yet you’re worried I might fall off the balcony
and get hurt.”
    “Hey, buddy, who says I’m pretending?”
Looking up at his face, I found something in his stare that I
couldn’t quite place. It reminded me of Rottweiler Rusty when he’d
ogled a bone.
    My mouth was dry, a cloud of pleasant warmth
expanded my chest. A couple of seconds later, Julian slid down from
the railing. A hundred tense muscles in my body relaxed, and a
breath I didn’t know I was holding whizzed from my lungs.
    Damn him for making his point clear.
    “Sleep tight, Jona,” he said through a
lopsided