I hid my grin in my coffee. The bastard might be able to best me at a cross-examination, but at least I wasn’t the one taking subliminal orders from their own house staff.
“Did you make a pile of all clothes for the dry cleaners like I asked you?” she snapped in a thick accept, her eyebrows congealing into a single, threatening point.
My head swiveled to Nick with a wide smile.
Apparently, he was taking direct orders now too.
He flushed slightly and avoided my gaze.
“Not yet, I had a really busy...” He faltered under the force of her glare. “I was planning on going to...” Faltered again. “I was actually planning on doing it right now.”
With that, he downed the rest of his coffee in a single swig and hurried upstairs. After placing both our mugs carefully in the sink (under Louise’s watchful eye), I skipped up after him, ready to put my plan into action. I found him in the linen closet.
“So you know what’s so great about this guy? Cameron?”
I leaned against the doorway, watching as he haphazardly threw things into two separate piles on the floor. He seemed to have a system, but there was no rhyme or reason to it.
“The fact that you’ve finally remembered his name?”
I ignored this.
“The fact that I actually want to see him again.” Not exactly true, but it would work for now. “He’s not like all the rest—I think there might actually be something there.”
Nick picked up a sweater, glanced between the piles uncertainly, and ended up simply throwing it in the trash. I fished it out calmly, and he glanced up for the first time.
“Really.” He didn’t even phrase it as a question. “You named the guy after, who I’m only assuming is a fictitious brother, but you think this one’s got relationship potential.”
I nodded with wide, innocent eyes.
“There’s only one problem...he wants to double date.”
Nick paused a moment, then burst out laughing. A tuxedo vest fell from his hands as he turned to me with a rueful smile. “You’re really subtle today, you know that?”
I shrugged my shoulders helplessly, eyes as wide as saucers.
“It’s true! So what am I supposed to do here, Nick?” My self-righteous act dropped for a moment as a muscle flared in the back of my neck. Served me right for falling asleep in a hard-backed chair. “Should I just break it off? Walk away from my future happiness?”
Another spasm of pain, and I rolled my head from side to side, trying to stretch it out.
“What are you doing?” Nick asked curiously.
“Or maybe there’s another way,” I continued, kneading the base of my skull with my fingers. “Maybe I can find another couple to come with us. People I know. People I trust. People who owe me for a little incident involving a lobster.”
“Okay, come here.” He laughed, dropping his clothes and pulling me towards him. “This ploy is getting you nowhere, and you look like you’re having a fit or something.” Before I could stop him, he spun me around and starting working on my neck with a set of skilled hands.
My body stiffened up and words failed me, as all of a sudden, we were a lot closer than we usually were. Ironic, I know. Seeing as he’d fallen asleep on my shoulder just a night before.
But somehow...this wasn’t really the same.
“You can try to relax, you know,” he teased softly, fingers rubbing in gentle circles over my skin. “It kind of defies the point when you tense up.”
My cheeks flushed, and I was suddenly relieved we weren’t facing so he couldn’t see.
“Sorry, it’s just...” I tried to squirm away. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense.” He caught me by the shoulders and pulled me back, slapping away my hand when I tried to intervene. “Now I’m serious—relax.”
I tried. It wasn’t the easiest thing.