The music was in between songs, and everyone turned toward the corner where Thomas and I stood. Camille and Trenton were talking to another couple, and Camille looked just as humiliated as I was. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and then Trenton guided her to the cake table.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, covering my eyes.

Thomas glanced behind us and then pulled my hand down, shaking his head. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about them.”

“I don’t act this way. This isn’t like me.”

He puffed out a breath of relief. “I can relate. We tend to have that effect on each other.”

Not only was I not myself around Thomas, but he also made me feel things I couldn’t control. Anger boiled inside of me. If he knew me at all, he would understand that erratic feelings weren’t acceptable.

Being with Jackson, I could control my feelings. Yelling at him during a party would never have crossed my mind. He would have been shocked to see me lashing out.

When it came to Thomas, I was all over the place. My head was pulling me in one direction, and Thomas and my heart were pulling me in another. Unpredictable outcomes scared the hell out of me. It was time to bridle my emotions. Nothing was more frightening than being manipulated by my own heart.

When the crowd turned away, I forced a smile, lifting my chin to meet Thomas’s eyes.

Thomas’s eyebrows pulled in. “What is that? What’s the sudden smile about?”

I walked past him. “Told you that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

Thomas followed me back to the party. He stood behind me and then wrapped his arms around my middle, resting his cheek in the crook of my neck.

When I didn’t respond, he touched his lips to my ear. “The lines are beginning to blur, Liis. Was that just for show?”

“I’m working. Aren’t you?” A lump formed in my throat. It was the best lie I’d ever told.

“Wow,” he said before releasing me and then walking away.

Thomas stood between Jim and another man. I couldn’t be certain, but the man had to be Thomas’s uncle. He looked nearly identical to Jim. Clearly, Maddox DNA was dominant, like their family…and their men.

Someone turned down the music and then switched off the lights. It was pitch-dark, and I was standing alone.

The door opened, and after a few seconds of quiet, a man said from the doorway, “Uh…”

The lights flipped on to reveal Travis and who must have been Shepley standing at the door, squinting as their eyes adjusted to the light. Taylor and his twin threw penis confetti into Travis’s face, and everyone cheered.

“Congrats, cock-tip!”

“Pussy!”

“Way to go, Mad Dog!”