My mind was still reeling and embarrassment was slamming into me in waves. I was mortified I got carried away and forgotwhywe were so close and that he was even taking photos. I’d gotten swept up in the moment, and Ihatedthat.
I didn’t say anything, but I turned my back and riffled through my pile of clothes. After pulling out a few shirts at random, I hurried to the bathroom and locked the door behind me.
What thehellhad I gotten myself into?
~
Flynn
Fuckinghell!
Obviously a job like this required a certain level of intimacy, and since it was Chiara, I was all for it. But I hadn’t counted on how potent she was, how tempting. All my jobs had required kissing, touching, dancing, and things to prove we were a couple or on a date. I’d never had trouble keeping myself in check before. But with Chiara?
Was I struggling because we had history, and this wedding was so close to home? Or was it Chiara? I’d always wanted her. Wasthis years’ worth of pent-up need and desperation for answers all spilling forward? I wanted her, and I hadn’t refused myself very much since coming back from the Army, especially not a woman who wanted me too. But I needed to handle this thing with Ara carefully. That was going to be a massive pain in the fucking ass because I wanted to drag her back to the bed and have my way with her. I craved a taste of her, to hear her moan and say my name in that breathy little whisper again.
Christ.
I was struggling already. This wasn’t good. I thought I’d have to coax her into letting me close, into letting me touch her as a couple would touch, but I’d been wrong. Sure, she was nervous, but she seemed more worried about being caught than she was at acting this role with me. If she’d been less into me, it would have been easier to deny myself.
The way she’d said my name—shit.
You’re not good for her.
The reminder helped me to drag in a deep breath. I glanced down at the photos I’d taken of us, my stomach tightening. Seeing her there with me, her desire plain as day, was a torture I hadn’t expected. I had a thing for Ara when we were growing up, but she’d been younger than me, innocent, pure—everything I wasn’t. I hadn’t wanted to taint her, and that thought was at the forefront of my mind every time we spoke. It made it easy to ignore any attraction I had for her. Well…until my last night at home.
But now we were both fully grown, unattached adults sharing a hotel room and playing the part of a couple. It was expected that we’d be close, that we’d share some kind of intimacy. I wondered how much restraint I really had where she was concerned, especially with her looking at me the way she had.
Swallowing hard, I flicked over to my social media page and looked at my last post. It was an image of my plane with thecaption,“On my way to a wedding!”
I changed my status to “in a relationship” and then uploaded a snap of Ara and I kissing with the caption:“Well, I guess the cat’s outa the bag now, baby!”
Not wanting to think about Ara getting changed in the bathroom only a few feet away, I pulled up the photoshop program and uploaded another photo. I had just finished making it look like we were at a park when the door opened.
I turned back to look at her and had a flashback to when we were teenagers. She loved her dresses and skirts, but she rocked the flannel and pair of jeans she was wearing now. Back then, I’d pegged her as a delicate flower who didn’t do hard labor, but whenever Uncle Trevor had work for us to do, she was right there with us helping. I’d rebuilt the old shed out the back of his house with Ara and Sofia at my side, and we’d done a fucking good job of it.
“Is this okay?” she asked, her tone uncertain.
I snapped out of my memories and grinned. “You look great. Hang on, we’ll grab some more photos,” I said and scooped up my phone. Her face was still flushed, and I’d admit, I loved knowing my presence did that to her.
“You good?” I asked.
“Y-yeah, just it’s all happening so fast,” she admitted in a rush.
“I know,” I agreed and stepped closer to her. “But we’ve got this. Trust me, Ara. I won’t let anyone walk away wondering if your story is true.”
At my promise, her eyes grew wide, and I knew she was wondering if my words were a promise or a threat.
I was wondering the same thing.
Chapter Four
Chiara
I couldn’t stop fidgeting.
It had been several hours since Sofia had called about Flynn, and we were now in the elevator going to meet the wedding party for dinner. Flynn had been hard at work editing enough photos for us both to have, even some that could pass as us but weren’t. We’d had several short photography sessions where we changed clothes enough to look different, and Flynn changed anything that needed it.
While he’d worked on that, I’d gone over our cover story and committed a lot of it to memory, plus things I needed to know about him that any girlfriend would. This was where our history came in handy, and I was glad for things I didn’t have to memorize but already knew.
