“You can stay here as long as you want.”
She considered it. Being tangled up intimately with Chuck was one thing, but simply being near him like this, held in his arms, was another. The night had cooled; the stars had shyly popped out from the gauzy black sky. The moon lounged in a thick crescent. She could have easily fallen asleep, or perhaps simply stayed up all night enjoying his embrace.
“We better go inside,” she eventually said. “If they charge us by the minute for touching, we just lost about fifteen grand.”
He squeezed her like he didn’t want to ever let go. “I don’t think cuddling will count as being as intimate as kissing.”
“You’re right.” She sat up and softly smiled at him. “Possibly more.”
He let her climb off the chair and then followed her to the house. Inside, he let her have the bed, and when she woke in the morning, she found a piece of paper folded into a little tent on her nightstand withBurn after readingwritten on the front.
She opened it with a curious smile and found it scrawled with Chuck’s hasty handwriting.
Liv,
They can’t hear me if I say this on paper. I’m sorry about the pantry. Well, not entirely because it was the best three minutes since we’ve been here, but I am sorry if it loses us any money. The truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the rest of the month without touching you. And it’s not just touching you. Being close to you; talking to you—reallytalking to you. I think being here is what we needed, but it’s also creating a problem because I want more than I can have. I’m writing this as I watch you sleep right now like some creepy teenage vampire because it’s either this or I climb into bed with you and lose everything. And you know what? I wouldn’t even care. You’re worth every penny. But I’m not going to do that to you. I will behave, I promise. Just know that if I turn into a cranky recluse for the rest of the month, it’s only for the greater good, which, I guess that goes along with the brooding vampire motif.
Yours, Edward Cullen
P.S. You just mumbled something about “dry goods” in your sleep, and holy shit, if you’re dreaming about the pantry right now, writing this letter about self-control will have been moot. I must leave. Sleep well, my gorgeous human.
Olivia laughed to herself and pressed the letter to her chest. She sat up to see that she was alone, but the armchair in the corner had been positioned to face the bed.
“Creep,” she muttered with a smile, but didn’t mean it in the slightest.
Another sunny day glittered outside the back door. The house was still quiet, but it was nearing eight a.m., which meant the production crew would show up any minute, surely excited to dole out punishment for last night and inform them of whatever curve ball they were going to throw at them next.
Olivia glanced down at Chuck’s letter again, and instead of burning it, she decided to fold it up and stash it under her pillow. He was right: being in the house together was changing things between them, and she couldn’t deny that the change felt good.
“Twenty-four more days.”
Chapter
13
“Good morning, lovers!” TJ boomedas soon as he stepped in the front door some short twenty minutes later.
Before they answered the doorbell, Olivia had found Chuck sipping coffee in the kitchen, still wearing his glasses and barefoot in his pajamas. She’d brushed her teeth and pulled her hair into a ponytail but otherwise hadn’t bothered to get dressed either. Based on the film crew and the makeup and styling team filing in the door behind TJ, it appeared they were in for a morning makeover anyway.
“Why do you keep calling us that?” Olivia sourly asked as she noted the familiar red envelope tucked under his elbow.
“Because,clearly, that is what you are.” He winked at her and held out the envelope.
She took it with a scowl, at the same time fearing they were about to be docked half their prize money for the pantry encounter. “No, that is what you’retryingto make us.” She slid her finger under the seal as Chuck came to stand beside her.
Parker had shown up with a to-go coffee cup in one hand and his phone in the other. Tyler bobbled around shuttling cases of water and a carton of coffee.
“You can’t fight chemistry,” TJ said. “We’re only creating situationsencouragedto increase engagement. How you respond is entirely up to you.”
“Spoken like a master manipulator,” Chuck said. “That was a real jerk move having my parents show up unannounced last night, by the way.”
TJ held up a hand. “Uh! Let’s save that conversation for the cameras, shall we? Lots to discuss today. But first, Olivia, if you will.” He flicked his hands at the red envelope.
She pulled out the sheet of paper with a sigh and read it out loud.
“ ‘Olivia and Chuck, the production team has found you in violation of the No Physical Contact rule for your indiscretion in the backyard last night, a close-contact cuddling session lasting approximately fifteen minutes. As punishment for this violation, the total prize money for each of you will be reduced by a sum of fifteen thousand dollars.’ Oh,” she said, relieved. “That’s not so bad.”
“Should have been more,” TJ said with a frown.