“Yeah, a beach wedding.” He knew it was a wedding, but hadn’t given a lot of thought to her wardrobe except the one sundress they’d talked about.
She’d looked hot in that dress. He’d tried not to notice because it was Carly, but when a woman had legs like hers, a man paid attention to them. And, yeah, he’d always known she had great legs, of course. He’d seen them in shorts and bathing suits their entire lives. But it was a totally different ballgame when she was wearing a sundress and the silky fabric of the skirt played peek-a-boo with her thighs.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Noah blinked. What the hell was he doing? “You mean looking at you like I’m wondering why you don’t hurry up because I didn’t come here to hang out in a hotel room and watch you unpack?”
She looked like she was going to argue for a second. Like maybe she was going to say no, that he was looking at her like he was imagining her skirt riding up on thighs that were toned and tanned due to her being the outdoorsy, athletic type.
His type, really, which probably explained why they were such good friends. Best friends.
Then she laughed. “Calm down before we’re not just a fake couple, but that fake couple that makes everything awkward and uncomfortable because they obviously had a big fight and now they aren’t speaking to each other.”
And just like that, Noah was snapped back to reality. And in this reality, he didn’t ogle his best friend’s legs and he remembered that the current awesomeness of his employment situation depended on staying in Carly’s good graces.
“Anything I can do to help?” he asked.
“Since I’munpacking, if you want to help, you can take things out of my suitcase and put them away.”
She grinned at him as she walked to the closet with what looked like a week’s worth of flirty sundresses. Rather than risk having inappropriate thoughts about her legs again, he ignored the dresses and stuck his hand into her suitcase.
And came out with a black lace bra that was so delicately sinful looking, it made his mouth dry.
“Jesus, Carly,” he said in a strangled voice before his brain had a chance to intervene.
“What’s the matter now?”
Before he could come up with a good lie, she was next to him and after rolling her eyes, she took the black lace from him.
“What the hell do you need that for?” he asked.
Carly laughed as she grabbed an entire handful of lacy things from the suitcase and carried them to the dresser. “It’s a bra. It supports my boobs. Maybe you need to get out a little more.”
“I know it’s a bra, wise ass. I just don’t know why you need a bra likethat. It’s not as if you can hook up with anybody this weekend.”
“Well, I could, but that wouldn’t look good for our fake relationship.” She closed the drawer and then leaned against the dresser with her arms crossed. “And what does my bra have to do with hooking up with anybody?”
“Black lace?” When she just kept looking at him expectantly and then shrugged, the truth dawned on him. “You wear stuff like this all the time?”
“A bra and panties? Yes, I generally wear underwear.”
“No,thosebras and panties. With the lace.”
“Yes, Noah, with the lace.”
“Even while we’re four-wheeling? Or kayaking? And...stuff?” He wasn’t sure why his mind went there, but at least he wasn’t thinking about her legs anymore.
“No, not on the quads or when we’re doing other stuff. I have sports bras for that.” He felt a really weird pang of disappointment, and then she looked at him funny. “Why are we even talking about my underwear?”
“I don’t know.” And wasn’t that the truth. “Bored, maybe? Hungry?”
“Nervous?”
He snorted, but he was a little nervous. It would be so easy for one of them to screw up and, if that happened, he was going to be humiliated. And he doubted explaining to Jim and Emily that he’d lied to keep from being set up with Sara would help his case any.
“I thought of one thing that could be a problem,” Carly said, and Noah could swear he felt his blood pressure spike. “You told them we’ve been friends since we were little kids, right? Because you live near my grandparents?”
“Yeah. Other than the fact we’re not actually dating, everything else was mostly the truth.”
