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“Because he’s a bit of a hypochondriac. He has enough medicine in his suitcase to choke a horse.”
Oh, darn. She pondered for a second. “All right. Tell him you lost your phone charger and need another one.”
“No, he’d just give me his.”
She huffed and lifted her hands in the air. “Fine. You think of something.”
Colton tapped his chin and began walking again. The sound of the cascading water from the fountain grew louder as they got closer. It made her think of that first day when she’d accidentally pulled him into the water. It should be embarrassing, but she smiled at the memory.
He turned to her with a grin on his face. “I’ll tell him I ran out of contact solution. He knows I only like a certain brand.”
She squinted at him. “You wear contacts?” She hadn’t noticed. He’d never worn glasses in high school.
He stopped walking and stepped close to her. He lifted his sunglasses and leaned down. For some stupid reason the flashback of the kiss they’d shared jumped into her mind. He wasn’t going to kiss her again, right? He stared at her. “Yeah,” he said, his breath on her lips. “Can’t you see them?”
She was totally not expecting him to be so close and her heart went crazy doing some kind of Latin dance. She tried to play along, staring into his eyes to see if she could see his contacts, but her brain was fuzzy and all she could think about was how it felt to have his lips on hers. He was waiting for her to say something, so she nodded. “Uh huh.”
He grinned and took a step back. “Stay here. I’ll go talk to my dad. Then I’ll text you when he’s gone.”
“Uh huh,” she repeated, her brain no longer working at all. Colton left the lobby and all she could do was stare after him.
She had no idea what she was going to do. Spending time with Colton was becoming more and more difficult. The kiss just about destroyed her. No, that wasn’t the truth. What he said after the kiss just about destroyed her. He made it clear he had no special feelings for her. How could he kiss her like that with no feeling behind it?
What was she going to do if she couldn’t get herself out of the friend zone by tomorrow? If Colton didn’t return her feelings, it might shatter her heart. But he saw her as a friend. Plain old Remi. That was what she’d always been to him.
She hated the idea, but maybe Brooke was right. Maybe she needed a makeover.
CHAPTER19
Colton rummaged through the bottom drawer of his dad’s dresser, but all he found were pairs of slacks. Mounds upon mounds of slacks. Geesh, did his father think they were going to stay forever? Why did he bring so many pairs?
Remi poked her head inside the room. “There’s nothing in the living room. I’ll check out the closet.”
“All right.” Colton watched as she disappeared into the other room, leaving only the faint smell of the beach that had clung to her clothes. His mind wandered to the caves. To the kiss.
Remi had been a friend for so long, it was strange to see her in any other way. But now, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he enjoyed her company. He wanted to be with her—no, needed to be with her. His feelings for her were growing stronger.
But she’d acted all funny after the cave and he knew he’d pushed things too fast. Remi wasn’t like other girls. She did things her own way. And maybe he was trying too hard to get her to like him in that way.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from hopping up from the floor and joining Remi in the front room by the closet. She’d pulled his father’s suitcase out into the middle of the floor and was staring at it.
“What are you doing?” he said as he slid up behind her. He refrained from touching her, but just barely.
She paused a moment before speaking. “I’m trying to decide if it’s a good idea to go through this or not.”
“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m starting to feel guilty about invading your father’s privacy.”
He turned Remi around, his gaze landing on her lips. He forced himself to look her in the eyes. “My father is keeping something from me. Don’t you think I deserve to know what it is? Don’t I deserve to know who my father is?”
She paused, then slowly nodded. “Yes.”
“Then let’s find out anything we can.”
She turned from him and plopped down on the floor in front of the suitcase. “Okay.” She took in a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”
He joined her on the floor while she unzipped the large compartment. “Geesh,” she said. “You were right. He is a hypochondriac.” She pawed through the bottles of pills and ointment creams left in the bottom of the suitcase. There were no notes. Just half a pharmacy.
