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He wanted desperately to answer her. Not verbally but by kissing her again, he wanted to show her how much he desired her, how much of an effect she was having on him.
Theo’s voice charged through his desire-fogged mind. “That’s perfect, you two. These will work great. Let’s move onto a different location, yeah?”
Reid couldn’t seem to make his limbs work. He knew he should let her go. He knew they should turn around and follow Theo who had already stepped away and was walking toward the garden. But he couldn’t so much as tear his gaze from Celeste’s face.
Her breath had gone shallow. The one word question she’d uttered as simply his name still hung heavily in the air.
He couldn’t help it, he touched his finger to her bottom lip and trailed it lower to her jaw.
Confusion grew in her eyes. “Uh. Theo’s left. You don’t have to keep pretending now.”
The words felt like ice water thrown at him. They served just as effectively to pull him out of his desire-filled daze.
How foolish of him. Looked like only one of them had simply been pretending.
* * *
She’d never been good at pretending. The lines always became blurry for her. They certainly had just now. How much of Reid’s kiss was real? How much was fake?
Dear heavens. She had to admit that everything she’d felt as soon as his lips touched hers felt one hundred percent real. Well, she’d do well to snap out of it. Reid had already moved forward. He turned to see if she was following him.
“Coming?” he asked, completely nonchalant. Unlike her, he seemed far from affected in any way by the kiss they’d shared.
The fake kiss.
Celeste forced her feet to move and reached his side. Together they walked over to where Theo stood waiting for them by the Frangipani tree he’d told them about earlier when they’d first arrived. He motioned for them to go stand in front of it.
“How about you two hold hands?” Theo suggested after they’d complied with his request. Reid reached for her and she swore a bolt of electricity shot through her arm as she took his hand.
She had to clamp down on all this emotion. She couldn’t let herself continue this way. She was only here in Jamaica for a few more short days. Soon, this whole adventure of a vacation would be over. She’d go back to her old life, her demanding job, and her draining family. She had neither the time nor the energy to spend her days pining over a man from her past. A man who was tied to her one majorly disastrous failed relationship. That life was her reality, those were the things waiting for her back home. A life full of responsibility and consequences. This was all a fantasy, a fake portrait that was meant to go into brochures and on websites.
It wouldn’t do for her to forget that for even the slightest moment.
“You’re not really smiling,” Reid informed her through the side of his mouth. By contrast, he looked like a man thoroughly enjoying the day.
“Sorry. I’m not really good at this acting thing.” Celeste forced her mouth to curve into a smile.
“Really? You could have fooled me.”
What was that supposed to mean? She probably didn’t even want to know.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Reid added. His grip against her palm lightened ever so slightly.
Well, that comment certainly cemented it. If she’d harbored any illusions that Reid was in any way as moved by their kiss earlier as she was, she could rest assured that he wasn’t.
If only she could be like the tree behind her, Celeste thought, feigning another smile for Theo’s camera. If only she could completely shed her unwanted feelings like they were discarded leaves. And then start anew. A whole new beginning, completely leaving the past behind.
The first metaphorical leaf she would drop would be her fraught and complicated feelings toward the man currently holding her hand.
* * *
Rinna approached them as they wrapped up the last few photos. It had taken some effort but somehow Celeste had willed her breath to return to a normal pace.
Well, as normal as she’d ever experienced while in Reid’s presence.
“Momma asks that you two stay for dinner,” the young woman announced when she reached them. “She says there’s some type of holiday parade blocking the roads near the city. So you may as well wait it out.”
