“I didn’t know that,” Caleb said.
“How does it feel to be the one not in the know?” Cassie asked, smiling.
“You knew?”
“Yep.”
“I hate you right now.”
There was laughter.
“I can only apologize for my son,” Louise said.
“Well, it’s his attitude that can really get on my nerves but beneath all of that, he has a lot of love. It’s why I was so nervous about coming to meet you. I’ve been working for him for so long and I felt it was unprofessional of me, and well, you know the rest.” She forced a smile to her lips. “Come on, sweetie, you know how this all goes. Why don’t you tell them?” She scooped up some potatoes and quickly put them in her mouth.
“Yes, she was a royal pain in the ass. She was so worried about what you’d all think, she didn’t even give me a chance to show her how amazing this all could be. Now, after Dad saw her, and we made up on our last fight, she knew how pointless it was to fight me.”
She hated him.
“So, Cassie’s pregnant,” he said, forcing their gazes down to his sister.
The rest of the meal went by without a single question and for that, she was grateful. After the dinner, there was dessert, and then everyone saw fit to retire for the night, so she ended up back in his bedroom.
She sat on the edge of the bed, ran her fingers through her hair, and blew out a breath. “End of day one,” she said.
“I think that went better than I imagined.”
“Really?”
“We’re still alive to tell the tale.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we need to come up with a better story of how we fell in love,” she said. “In case you didn’t notice, we only talked about how we met, that was all.”
“True, but people find each other in different ways.”
“I still don’t think we should do this,” she said. “Your family. What if your father finds out and his health declines even more?”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“It could happen.” And the guilt was clawing away at her.
Caleb advanced toward her, crouched down, and put his hands on her knees. “We’re good at this. We’re going to be fine.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little unfair just how good we are at lying?” she asked. It wasn’t lost on her just how natural it felt being with him. At the start of this façade, she’d expected it to feel strange, but it didn’t. Rather than seeing him as an asshole, she actually rather liked him, and she couldn’t even believe she was feeling that way.
“Look, we’ll get through the next couple of days. We’ll be out of here by Monday. We can do this.”
She blew out a breath. “Sure, you’re right. We’re doing this for the health of your father.” She put her hands over his. “Now, the bed situation.”
“What about it?”
“There’s only one bed.”
“We only need one bed.”
“Oh, come on, Caleb. Don’t be an ass right now.”
“I’m not being an ass. I’m simply stating a fact. One bed. It’s big enough. Besides, if my family decides to just invade and one of us is sleeping on the floor, what would they think?”
“You were an ass?”
“And you think I’d be the one on the floor?” he asked.
“Duh, yeah.”
He laughed. “Not going to happen.”
“You know this is unfair, right?” she asked. “You’re the guy. You should be willing to, I don’t know, sleep on the floor.”
“This is my bed.” He got to his knees and she watched him move a bunch of pillows down the center. “See, easy. I’m taking a shower. You’re quite welcome to take a bath.”
“You’re not going to see me naked.”
He mumbled something she couldn’t hear.
Ignoring him, she went to her bags and opened them up. She had a beautiful sheer negligee, courtesy of his interference with Mike the tailor. Instead, she went with the pajamas she’d managed to hide. They were an old pair with cats and dogs but she loved them.
When Caleb came out less than fifteen minutes later, she avoided looking at him, seeing as he only wore a towel. She passed him and closed the door. Of course, there was no lock. She took a quick shower and stayed in the bathroom for a long time, allowing her hair to try to dry, but it didn’t work. She had to face him.
Sleep in the same bed as him. It was the only logical thing she could do.
She’d put everything in the laundry basket, cleaned away the towels, shampoo, and even washed the sink and tub. Stalling, that was what she was doing. The idea of sharing a bed with him, much to her annoyance, was actually really tempting, and she didn’t even know where that came from.
Entering the bedroom, she saw Caleb had turned off the lights apart from one near him.