My grip tightened at her waist as the thought took hold.
Because if I stood up right now…
If I told her to meet me back in our room?—
Would she go with me?
“Uh, hey.” Ky’s voice cut through my wandering thoughts, his hand landing on my shoulder. “I don’t know what’s been going on between you two since Nora moved in, but you’re kind of in public right now. And there’s only so much PDA that’s socially acceptable.”
I blinked, the weight of everything crashing back in as I became very aware of exactly where we were.
Of how intimately I was holding her.
“Uh—yeah. Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat as I loosened my hold on his sister.
But instead of apologizing, Nora shifted in my lap, turned her head toward Ky and said, “Way to ruin the moment, bro.”
And being the protective but playful big brother that he was, Ky just gave her a smirk and said, “That’s what brothers are for.”
47
NORA
Theoand I were quiet as we walked back up the steps to Ky’s beach house, the voices of the remaining bonfire guests fading behind us.
But even though we weren’t saying many words, his hand stayed in mine, our shoulders brushing now and then, as if we weren’t quite ready to let go of the closeness we had on the beach.
When we reached the bedroom we’d be sharing for the next few days, I glanced toward the bathroom and asked, “Mind if I change first?”
“Sure,” he said, nodding. “Go ahead.”
So I grabbed my pajamas from the drawer I’d stowed them in earlier and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
The second I was alone, I braced my hands on the counter and let out a breath.
What was happening between us tonight?
I’d spent the past year barely getting a guy to commit to a coffee date… But now I was sharing a bedroom with Theo—the very guy I’d daydreamed about kissing so many times—after sitting in his lap while he’d held me. Caressed me.
And not like it had all just been for show. But like he actually wanted to.
I shook my head, trying to pull myself together before I could start building a whole happily-ever-after montage in my head.
Just because itfeltreal to me didn’t mean that it was real to him.
For all I knew, Theo was just a really,reallygood actor.
He’d literally agreed to be my fake boyfriend for the weekend.
And since Theo was good at everything he set his mind to, of course he’d be good at pretending to be interested in me.
So it would be in my best interest to stop trying to read into any of it.
Right?
After taking a few deep breaths, I put on my striped, yellow cami-and-shorts set that had white flowers on it. Then after brushing my teeth, I opened the door and tried to look like I was completely at ease.
Like sharing a bedroom with an incredibly sexy man was just a regular Tuesday for me.