Clarke lifted his head, intending to tell her about the office drop-in from Elizabeth, but then… didn’t. Audrey and Clarke didn’t not have secrets, per se, but they also stopped short of telling each other all the details of their romantic lives. They tried as best they could to make their friendship and respective relationships work alongside each other, either with the rare double date when they’d both been seriously seeing someone at the same time, or the slightly more uncomfortable third-wheel scenario, when he’d been with Elizabeth and she’d been with Brayden.

However, they’d never shared intimate details of the physical or emotional variety. They limited it to the highlight reel—creepy Randy and his room of mirrors or the time Clarke had gone home with a woman who’d had twelve birds and their cages in her bedroom. But that was the shallow stuff—the entertaining bits.

The emotional stuff? Not so much. Clarke had known, of course, that Brayden’s death and betrayal had ravaged Audrey, but her friendship with Claire and Naomi had been her rock during that turmoil. As for him, his only serious relationship had been Elizabeth, and he’d told Audrey next to nothing about her leaving. Not about the conversation leading up to it and not about the fact that it had hurt.

She reached out and gently pressed the tip of her index finger between his eyebrows. “What is this? You’re frowning. You never frown.”

He instinctively lifted his hand to capture her fingers in his. He didn’t let go. “Sorry. Rough day.”

“Well, you’ve chosen the right way to make it better. This cake company is super exclusive, and the cake itself is insanely delicious. They made this bourbon pecan cake for Diana Collier’s wedding, and it was—”

“Dree,” he interrupted, his grip tightening on her fingers. “How long are we doing this?”

“The cake tasting? It shouldn’t last more than an hour or so—”

“Not the cake. This.” He gestured between them. “How long are we keeping up the charade?”

Audrey exhaled slowly. “I don’t know. It’s all starting to feel a little real, isn’t it?”

He gave her a half smile. “Let’s just say in the early days of our little game, people would tell me congratulations, and it would take me a full ten seconds to remember what they were referring to. Now, they tell me congratulations, and I actually half listen when they start offering marriage advice. Now, it takes me a full ten seconds to remember that I’m not actually getting married.”

She laughed. “I know what you mean. I spent an hour on the phone with the wedding planner this morning. I felt guilty until I went back and looked at her contract and confirmed that she’ll get paid no matter what. And paid quite well, I might add.”