“You need a smartwatch or something. Don’t those things tell you to move every thirty minutes?”
“And look like I’m inSpy Kids? No thanks.” He opened the door to the toy shop and lingered there for a moment as Angel walked past the storefront and gave him the kind of smirk that made evenmyheart flutter. Luca didn’t stand a chance.
As I walked to the inn, my phone chirped with a voicemail notification and a missed call from Teddy.
“Bee. Call me back. I’m trying to wake Angel up. I got a call from a very serious-sounding PA saying he no-showed this morning. Him and Luca both. Did I mention it might as well be the middle of the night here? The yoga moms aren’t even awake yet. If you see my son, could you remind him this isn’t summer camp? Actual livelihoods are on the line here, particularly mine.” The voicemail crackled on for a few seconds longer before Teddy said, “This goddamn phone.”
And then the line cut.
I’d spent plenty of time fantasizing about Nolan Shaw knocking at my door, but this time it was me waiting in the hallway for him to answer.
He opened the door after two quick knocks, rubbing the heel of his palm into his eye. “Bee?”
I was not prepared for how cute Sleepy Nolan would be. How had he made it back here so quickly and already started a nap? Was he a cuddly napper? It didn’t matter. Napping with Nolan Shaw was definitely not in my star chart anytime soon.
Inhaling through my nose, I took a step closer but was careful not to cross the threshold between his room and the hallway.
“We need to talk,” I said.
He stepped aside, his normally cool indifference replaced with a brief, unexpected warmth. “Come in, come in.”
I shook my head.
His brow furrowed in that familiar brooding way. “And let the whole hallway in on our conversation?”
He was right. “Okay, but we have to leave the door open,” I said.
“Is your mom going to check in on us to make sure we’re six inches apart and to see if we need more Chex Mix?”
“The snacks, yes,” I said as I slid through the narrow gap between him and the door. “The inches, no. Pam and Delia Hobbes are deeply progressive and sex positive.”
“Well, I guess that’s lucky for you,” he said as he sat on the edge of his bed. “And me.”
He patted the space beside him, but I perched on the red-and-green-plaid armchair instead. I couldn’t be too careful. Being this close to him in private made me feel like a sex robot.
“You and I can’t sit on beds next to each other, because we’ll do a whole lot more than sitting.”
“Right. Yes. And that—”
“Can never happen again.”
He nodded. “Never again. Bee, I’m so sorry.”
“We can’t let it happen... and no one can know about Bianca, Nolan.” The desperation in my voice was uncomfortably raw.
His eyes met mine, and for a brief moment, all the pretenses dropped, and I could see beyondtheNolan Shaw. He needed this movie to pan out just as badly as I did, if not more so.
“Pure as the driven snow,” he muttered.
“Pure as the what?”
“Nothing—just—never mind, but I’m with you... I mean, don’t get me wrong. Bee, that was—you were...” He bit down on a knuckle and let a slow, controlled sigh-whistle through his lips.
I nodded and stood. “Good. Okay. We’ll be good. Saints. Pure as whatever you said.”
He rose to meet me, and oh God, these rooms were smaller than I thought. I had to get out of here. I had to get out of here and go call my moms. That would crank down the rising temperature in my abdomen faster than Sunny could pack an emergency bag of sex toys.
But I just had one question first. “Nolan?”
