She reached for her bag with a single shoulder shrug. “Okay. Well, good luck with Mariah. I’ll see you at the lodge. I’ll be the one with the popcorn.”
A soul-sucking week of tactical maneuvers with Charlie waiting in the wings to pile on the snark loomed before me. I choked back the bitterness of surrender and reached out to grasp her arm. “Wait. What are you thinking?”
She glanced up at me, her eyes sparkling with victory. “All we have to do is show up together and you won’t have to worry about fending off the ice queen.”
“We are showing up together.” I had to be out of my mind to even consider this. Our families were intertwined like a strand of DNA. Our mothers had successfully remained best friends for over forty years. This plan meant a lifetime of our families reminding us we were an item once.
She rolled her eyes. “I mean together. As in, a couple.”
“A couple of what?”
One golden brown eyebrow arched. “Jesus Nick. A couple. Like tab A in slot B… a couple,” she said while poking her teal-tipped index finger through the ring she made with her other finger and thumb. “Tell me you haven’t had that dick on such tight lockdown it doesn’t even know what that is anymore.”
“You want to be my girlfriend?”
She let out a flippant laugh followed by a snort. “God, no. You could not handle me. But for the week… we could pretend. If done right, we’ll have a good time on the slopes instead of spending the whole time dodging our mothers—”
“Ah, I get it.”
“Good, because I was worried I needed to draw you a picture.”
Her shoulders relaxed, a sure tell this arrangement was not from the kindness of her heart, but for her own benefit.
Gotcha, little demon. I slid my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my heels. “Your mom brought someone for you too, didn’t she?”
“What—no,” she scoffed, the telltale sound of bullshit.
I grinned. “Liar.”
“I don’t l—”
“Careful, you’re about to tell one right now.” I curled my fingers under the strap of the duffel and slid it from her arm. “Who’d she bring?”
“Listen—”
“Who did she bring, Charlie?” I settled her bag over my shoulder.
Her gaze darted away and when she finally turned back, a grimace twisted her usually sassy mouth. “Daniel Sloan.”
My gaze snapped to hers where I caught a riot of emotions flitting through her piercing gray eyes. “He’s your—”
“Ex. Yeah. Which is even worse. Apparently, I’m so repugnant she can’t peddle me to a new guy, so she has to convince the old guy to take me back.”
“Ouch.” Mrs. McAllister had just moved a fraction toward the outer edge of my circle with that move.
Charlie shifted on her feet and chewed her lip. “Do we have a deal or not?”
Her mischievous energy dimmed with her admission and show of nerves. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I didn’t like it.
“Deal,” I said, offering my hand to shake on it.
She shot me a suspicious glance. “Really? You’re not fucking with me, right?”
“According to you, I’m not that interesting.” I smiled and winked, letting her know we’re good. Something to get us back on solid Charlie and Nick ground where she was the scheming jester devising new ways to make me her fool.
Because as much as the jester was a pain in my ass, wounded Charlie sparked something in me I didn’t recognize. Something I didn’t care to examine. “Take my hand, Charlie.”
Her hand slid into mine and something shifted. Impossibly soft skin settled against my palm and her warm, tight grip had the hair along my neck prickling. Somewhere inside me alarm bells went off.
