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Holy shit. Everything became clear as he realized that he wanted to play out the little charade Carly had started with her panicked lie. An experiment of sorts, to see what it would be like to be with someone. A relationship with a built-in safety net. Training wheels.
What an asshole.
But he didn’t take it back.
For several long seconds, he and Carly stood on the little path, staring at each other, playing chicken with the lie they were both contemplating seeing through. That he wanted to see through, for both his own insanely selfish reasons, and to help Carly.
He took a step toward her. “Pro: you don’t have to deal with Mike and Ashley and their fucking pity. Pro: I don’t have to deal with my family’s judgement.”
“Con: it means lying to your family,” she said, her hands on her hips.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “It was your lie to begin with.”
She threw her hands in the air. “And I said I was sorry and I wanted to fix it! Not that I wanted to double down!” Her eyes blazed up at him, and something tightened in his gut. Fast and searing-hot like lighting, the image of Carly beneath him, eyes blazing up at him just like that, flashed through him. His cock grew heavy, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
Unspoken pro: he’d have an excuse to explore whatever the hell was going on with them. With him.
“So, you want to go find Mike and Ashley and tell them that we’re not actually dating? That you made it up?”
She glanced off to the side, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. After several seconds, she sighed. “Not really.”
“I want to help, Car. I can. Let me.”
“And what about when we go home?” she asked, her brows knitting together.
“It doesn’t need to be a big deal. We’ll fake it while we’re here, keep everyone off our backs, enjoy our trip, and then once we’re home, we’ll just say we decided that we’re better off as friends.”
Something flickered across her face, almost like a flinch, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.
She sent him a wry smile, rolling her eyes. “This won’t be awkward at all. You know, just casually fake-dating my friend and boss. No big. I’m sure people do this kind of thing all the time.”
“So, you’re in?” He smiled at her, raising his eyebrows.
“I . . . shit. Yeah, I guess I’m in.”
“Whoa. You wanna tone down the enthusiasm, there?”
She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. Had she always been this cute?
“Let’s go find our room. The porters will bring our bags—we just have to call the front desk when we get in.”
She nodded and awkwardly stepped aside for him to lead the way.
“So, we’re really doing this, huh?” she asked, following him into one of the pretty, white stucco buildings. A small plaque indicated it housed rooms 300-330.
“Yeah. I don’t want Mike being an ass and wrecking this for you. Come on,” he said, taking her hand. “We’re on the top floor, room 324.”
Like the lobby, the rectangular buildings housing the rooms were open air. A courtyard with a fountain and greenery sat in the center, cordoned off with an elegant railing and open to the sky above. Hallways ran along the sides of the courtyard, sheltered by an overhang. Sleek, dark wood doors spaced several feet apart led to the individual rooms.
At room 324, Dean tapped his key card against the pad and the lock gave with a soft beep. Carly stepped in ahead of him.
“Shit. You said there’d be two double beds, right?” she asked. He followed her inside, his gaze zeroing in on the king-size bed in the center of the room. That image of Carly beneath him came roaring back, heating his blood.
She turned around to face him, and their eyes locked. The door fell shut behind him, sealing them away from the world. Just the two of them, alone in paradise, with a king-size bed.
Funny how instead of feeling weird, he found his mind wandering to all the different ways they could use that bed.
“Do you want me to see if we can change rooms?” he asked. His voice had come out low and raspy, and he cleared his throat.
