Page 47 of The Trouble with Love and Ink
I got the feeling he was giving me a half-truth, but I didn’t press. I’d already made a monumental discovery. No further digging was required.
This bit of information complicated things because I liked this newly discovered piece of Beck. Really liked it. So much so that I had to ignore the singing from my ovaries. But this piece of intel did not fit with office enemy number one, the Beck I knew.
The one who’d taken my position.
The one who’d helped me from the waterway only to make me feel clumsy and disgusting.
The one who’d made fun of me for it later.
The one who’d misplaced my meeting notes.
The one who was competitive.
I ticked them off in my head as if presenting my case to the jury. The pretend prosecutor felt very confident in this case.
The one who was constantly messing with me. But that one wasn’t entirely fair. I kind of enjoyed the banter. Besides, I dished it out too. Then the defense got a turn, casting Beck in a positive light.
He’d also been the one who could have outed me to his sister but didn’t.
The one who’d come back to the office just to bring me food.
The one who’d noticed I was drowning at work.
The one who’d stuck up for me at work.
The one who’d calmed me down before my first live lettering event.
The jury was hung.
I trekked back to the stem of the conversation. Making a choice about Costa Rica had been on my mind since the shower, and it seemed like it was on Beck’s mind, too.
“Pretending to date you for two days is one thing. Spending an entire week pretending to be your girlfriend in an exotic country is another. I can’t go on a vacation with you,” I said, with no conviction in my voice. “Think of it from an HR standpoint.” I walked over to his side of the table. “We’d have an ocean of paperwork to tread since we work for the same company—on the same team.”
I looked at him, daring him to disagree. It would be a mercy for him to end this fantasy. But at the same time, I hoped like hell he’d have a loophole. Because I realized for the first time I wanted this. This trip. With him.
Beck’s face fell just a bit. “You’re right, Emily.” It was the first time he’d called me by my first name. A tingle rolled down my spine. “We couldn’t go on a vacation as a couple.” He took a step, leaving only a small gap between us. “It’s a good thing I’ll be going with Hailey.” His brown eyes caught mine, searching.
I swallowed, looking for solid ground again. “And will Hailey be expected to kiss you, share a bed with you?”
I couldn’t help but remember how he’d wanted to make Reagan jealous, which meant something was still there. There were greater things than my job at stake. I didn’t need a heartbreak in my future.
His playful look vanished. “Our rules stay the same. You won’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. And we are staying in an Atteridge resort in Costa Rica. Victoria had no problem securing suites for all of us. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
I could be staying in a suite in Costa freaking Rica. For free.
With Beck.
What would Hailey do? I knew without a doubt. She’d pack her bags.
Chapter 14
Before I knew it, I was on a plane with Beckett Atteridge, bumping elbows and pulling back with little apologies. Between powering through the last-minute items for the convergence, Beck and I concocted the “family emergency” I’d used to ask for time off. We settled on me having to fly to Kentucky for my dad’s knee surgery. The last time I checked, my father lived in Kentucky, but I didn’t know how his knees were holding up.
As Beck predicted, Wesley approved my PTO without a single question. Then Beck put in for his vacation, adding a few more days than mine to offset suspicions, and—big surprise—Wesley approved it as well. Oh, to be the golden child.
Between our scheming, working furiously to tie up all loose ends of our project, and finishing signage for Victoria’s wedding, I barely slept the past two weeks, and the time went fast. Almost too fast.
I went to switch my phone to airplane mode and found a text from Hailey.
