If the words felt tackier in my mouth than usual, well. It was probably because I nearly drowned earlier.
My opinion irritated her. I could tell by the way her bottom lip curled. A mask had appeared on her face, one that was distanced and disagreeable. I could have sworn she inched away from me.
“I agree,” she said, and all the air in my lungs disappeared.Huh?She then added, “To an extent. People do leave, but to me, that means we should love them harder while they’re still here.”
She adjusted the pillow on the bed. “And to continue with your analogy, if you have one million followers, chances aresome have been loyal from your first post. Those are the kinds of people you’d want as your friends. Not the ones who only show up once you’re famous.”
The words hit me in my chest, stinging a little.
“You can have the bed tonight.” Macey swung her legs over the edge. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
But instead of letting her go, I grabbed her wrist. She glanced down at my hand, then at my lips. Suddenly, we both leaned in, and before I could form a coherent thought, we were kissing.
Not for show or for cameras. For real.
It felt…right. Much better than our kiss earlier by the pool. Of course, that had been good, too, but this was inherently better because it was ours.
Her lips were soft and her skin even softer. I didn’t know what was in the Aruba bathwater, but it did its magic. One of her hands lifted to my cheek, and I leaned into it. I let my own hand stray around her waist.
Macey felt right in my arms. Maybe this started as something fake, but the spark between us was real. I doubted a poet could find the right words to describe it.
I traced my mouth down her jaw and then her throat, pausing there for a moment. She made a soft noise, barely audible, but it rolled through me. Her ribcage flared under my hand with every breath. All I wanted was to get closer and find out if the skin under her shirt was equally soft.
Just as my hand started to move under the bottom of her shirt, Macey jerked back, and I froze.
Between deep breaths, Macey lifted one finger to her lips. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
The exact words I said to her after our kiss by the pool. Didshe realize how different the situations were, or did she truly not want to kiss me?
“But—”
She cut me off. “I’m going to bed. On the couch. Good night.”
I fell back onto the bed, feeling something that had lingered under the surface for a while, but I only now had the word to describe: alone.
13
MACEY/NOAH
Macey
I had never been more happy that I requested four different coffees in our breakfast orders. Granted, I never had an opportunity to request breakfast via room service, let alone not to get weird looks when I asked for a latte, cappuccino, drip coffee, and a mocha.
Today? I’d take every caffeine boost I could get.
I hardly slept last night, too busy replaying the moment Noah and I kissed. For real.
God, what was wrong with me? Whatwasn’twrong would be the better question. I couldn’t deny that my feelings for Noah had grown complicated, to say the least. I was attracted to him. Would probably jump into bed with him if there were no repercussions.
But oh, would there be repercussions.
Noah had referred to our pool kiss as a mistake. Then later, on the boat, he claimed our first kiss shouldn’t have been for show like that. In hindsight, a kiss for show was a terrible idea—I should know by now that photographs lived forever on theInternet—but it was necessary to convince people we were dating.
Because we were not dating.
We were just two people forced to pretend to date due to a series of extremely unlikely circumstances.Compared to what, Macey, couples who fake date for fun?
