“I don’t understand how this happened. Noah has never had a girlfriend. He might as well have ‘commitment-phobe’ tattooed across his forehead.”
Callie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Liv was right. This was a batshit plan, but it was her only plan. There was no choice. And pretending to be Noah’s girlfriend for the week wouldn’t exactly be a hardship. Her blood hummed at the reminder of his hand on her hip, the feel of his lips on her hair.Definitely not a hardship.
“Can you get my cream out of the front pocket of my bag?” she asked, pointing to her suitcase and buying herself another minute to figure out how to respond to her best friend’s understandable confusion.
Liv retrieved the tube of cream and climbed up onto the giant bed beside Callie. She’d never seen a bed this large. Thank God it came with an overabundance of pillows to match its ludicrous size.
“Where do you want it?” Liv asked, already unscrewing the cap.
“My lower back,” Callie said, shifting so she was sitting with her back to Liv. She lifted the hem of her shirt and waited, the pungent medicinal smell of the cream filling her nostrils.
Liv gently rubbed the cream into Callie’s skin the same way she’d done so many times before. “When did you two even start talking again? I thought you weren’t really in touch anymore now that—” She cut herself off but Callie heard the words anyway:now that you’re not composing.
“You have to promise me that if my bonehead of a brother fucks this up, that it won’t change anything between us,” Liv said softly.
“It won’t. You’re my forever person, babe.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know. And I won’t be.”
“You’re sure about that?”
No.Callie had never been more unsure about something in her life. They were mere minutes into this scheme and she was already thinking about the next time she’d get to touch him, wondering what it would be like to sleep next to him. But this was her best option. One week and then she could nurse her broken heart while she helped her mother pack.
Liv returned the cap to the cream and set it aside, waiting as Callie repositioned herself in her nest of pillows.
“I’m not seventeen anymore, Liv. I’m well aware of who your brother is, and who he isn’t. This isn’t like the time he took me to prom.” Callie cringed at the memory.
When Callie’s jerkwad of a boyfriend—the first of many who could be described that way—had dumped her two days before prom, she’d resigned herself to not attending. Despite being the chair of the prom committee and having spent countless hours picking out the perfect color for the streamers and balloons that would decorate the school gym, clearly, she wasn’t meant to go. Then Noah had offered to take her. “You can’t miss your own prom,” he’d said when he called. It had felt like magic.
Her teenage self had been so certain that if Noah saw her in a prom dress, if he danced with her on that most magical of teenage nights, that he’d suddenly see her as more than his little sister’s best friend. That he’d finally seeher.But Noah had been a perfect gentleman, smiling for all the photos and dancing with her for all the slow dances, and then dropping her off on her doorstep with a horrifyingly polite goodnight and not even the slightest indication that he had even considered kissing her. He’d come to her rescue, but he would never want her.Just like he’s coming to your rescue now.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Callie asked. “We don’t want to mess up your big day.”
Liv scoffed, waving off Callie’s statement. “That wouldn’t even be possible. I know I was panicking about the rooms, but that was because I just want us all together. It could hail golf ball-sized chunks of ice, and the caterer could overcook all the fish, and my mom could get so drunk that she singsHolding Out for A Heroat the top of her lungs at my reception—”
“That last one could actually happen.”
“—and none of it could ruin my wedding. If you want to date my brother, then it’s okay with me. You don’t need my permission. I just want you to be careful, Cal.”
Callie nodded, slashing her index finger over her chest. “Cross my heart.”
Another lie.
Chapter 6
Noah returned to an empty hotel room and the sound of the shower running in the adjoining bathroom. He stashed his bag from the bookstore, cursing himself for even buying the damn book in the first place. He wouldn’t give it to her. That was the only solution. He couldn’t give it to her. Not after Min’s eyes had practically popped out of her head and Liam arched his eyebrow so hard Noah thought he might actually hurt himself. It was a stupid impulse buy and no one else ever needed to know about it.
He had ten minutes to make himself decent before the first of what Liv and Daemon were calling “family dinner.” Every night for the next week, their families and wedding party would gather to share a meal together. That first night was being held in The Barclay’s restaurant so thankfully they didn’t need to go far.
After toeing off his sneakers and lining them up beside the door, he pulled off his t-shirt and rummaged through his suitcase for something clean that wasn’t too wrinkled. There was no time to unpack properly or iron anything, so the hunter green polo would have to do. He was just about to pull it over his head when the bathroom door opened, Callie appearing in a cloud of steam.
“Oh!” she gasped, her hand flying to her chest to hold the thin hotel bathrobe closed. “You’re back.”
He had lost all power of speech, every word he ever knew obliterated by the sight of Callie Cole in a too-small bathrobe. Her skin glistened where water still clung to her, sliding down her chest into that maddening crevice between her breasts. The robe was not meant for a woman as full-figured as Callie, the fabric pulling tightly across her hips and barely held closed by the flimsy tie at her waist. The bottom flared open and revealed her long legs and pillowy soft thighs.
Holy shit.
