“Perfect.” She kisses him square on the lips, then pulls away with her hand on his cheek.

My stomach revolts again, feeling as if it’s a towel being twisted and wrung dry.

“Would you mind if we join you?” Katherine asks. “We’ve not yet met your parents, and well, they are about to become family.”

Zahra looks pleased that Finn’s mum seems so eager to envelop her family into their own. The four of them head out of the living room and down the hall toward the office, leaving Kenzie and me by ourselves.

“I take it this is why my brother asked you to be here tonight?”

I turn around to face her. “Maybe it’s my charming personality?”

She rolls her eyes. “Please. A cobra has more charm than you.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Did you know about the proposal?”

I hear the hurt in her voice, as if she feels betrayed I didn’t tell her Finn’s plan for tonight.

I nod. “I did. But he swore me to secrecy.”

“And that’s why you didn’t give me a heads-up that you’d be here so we could get our stories straight before being in front of my brother?” She crosses her arms and juts her hip out to one side.

I know it’s an indication that she’s mad at me, but my cock doesn’t get the message because it stirs. “I knew if I told you I’d be here, you’d want to know why. Then I’d have to outright lie to you, or you’d get it out of me. Neither option seemed ideal.”

“You don’t think withholding information is the same as lying?”

I step closer to her. “I think what I did was the lesser of two evils.”

Her gaze roams my face for a beat. “For the record, I’m not upset that you didn’t tell me about the proposal. That I understand. But knowing that you’d be here would’ve been good so we could figure out how to deal with my brother.”

I push my hand through my hair. “Just figured it would be easier to pretend we didn’t already know each other. It’s less complicated that way.”

She steps toward me so only a few inches separate us. “Why? It’s not like there’s anything inappropriate going on between us, right?”

The way she looks at me… her words almost feel like a challenge.

I clear my throat. “Of course not.”

“Purely platonic.” Her voice is lower and breathier than normal.

“Right.” My voice holds a strangled tone.

Neither of us says anything for a few moments, our gazes locked.

“Want to tell me why you looked so uncomfortable when my brother was proposing to Zahra?”

I step back. “What are you talking about?” I try to sound casual and unaffected, but I’m not sure I succeed.