Just Pretend (Just… #1)

15. Hallie

CHAPTER 15

HALLIE

Maybe it’s the moonlight and the stars, or the crisp mountain air. Maybe it’s the memory of our kiss earlier today. Maybe it’s just my hormones kicking into overdrive. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t fight the pull I’m feeling. There’s no use denying that whatever the reason may be, I want to kiss James—badly. There are a hundred reasons why it’s a bad idea and there’s a voice in my head rattling off each and every one of them, but as I look at his lips, so close to mine, ready to be kissed, I don’t want to listen to reason. I just want it to happen. If it’s anything like before, it will be worth the consequences of giving into my urges.

With a deep, slow breath, I close my eyes and lean in towards James. His hand slips behind my neck, his fingers in my hair and I can feel his body moving closer to mine. Even though we’ve kissed twice before, it was always just for show, a performance for people watching to prove we’re something we’re not. In this moment, it’s just the two of us, poised on the edge of a cliff with a well-manicured golf course on one side and a deep plunge down into the valley on the other side. There is no one watching, no one to perform for. It’s just me and James.

The moment is interrupted by a clicking, something mechanical and unnatural, cutting through the sound of the wind in our ears and the river below us in the valley. I try to ignore it, but when I open my eyes, James is looking back at me, his eyebrows hunched together as he tries to identify the source of the strange sound.

“What is?—?”

The words are just coming out of his mouth when the clicking turns into a hiss and we’re struck by a spray of freezing cold water from the golf course sprinklers.

As the water soaks through my dress and wrap, I let out a sharp gasp, suddenly brought back to my senses. What the hell was I thinking? I was actually ready to kiss James for nothing. How did I let myself get so swept away in the moment that I ignored the exhausted angel on my shoulder, screaming at me not to do it. It’s bad enough I have to pretend to be crazy for him when people are around; the last thing I need is to trick myself into thinking any of this is real. It’s all fake. There is nothing real here and if I don’t want to end up as another notch on James Cole’s toothpick of a bedpost, I better remember that. This was a close call. Thank god for sprinklers.

Glancing over at James, I’m expecting him to have some chauvinistic, cocky response to us almost kissing, but in the light of the moon, he actually seems shocked, maybe even a little flustered. When he looks back at me, it’s as if he doesn’t know what to say. His wet hair is dripping down his face and neck and his white button-down shirt is nearly see-through as it clings to his chest, emphasizing every muscle in his torso. The water from the sprinklers continues to cascade over him and it sends a flutter through my stomach.

Oh my god, what is happening to me? I scold myself, giving my head a quick shake.

“I, uh,” I start to say, but I can’t seem to form a coherent though in my brain. “I need to dry off!”

Spinning on my heels, I turn and hurry back down the path to the lodge, leaving James behind, drenched in sprinkler water and moonlight.

“Get a grip,” I mutter to myself as the warm water washes over me.

Despite turning the shower as hot as I could stand it, my body is still shaking. I lean back against the tiled wall, feeling weak in the knees. I ran the whole way back to the lodge and up to our room, immediately slamming the bathroom door closed and stripping off my wet dress. I needed an excuse to separate myself from James for a little while, assuming he comes back to the room at some point.

I can still see the startled look on his face in my head and I tell myself he’s probably thinking the same thing I am. We got carried away by all the pretending and we almost took this ruse too far. But as my heart starts to slow down and the chill thaws from my bones, I wonder if he was surprised that I was about to kiss him. Isn’t that what happened? I got carried away and saw signs that weren’t there? I’ve been so caught up in how good it feels to be with a man—any man—that I forgot exactly which man it was I was with.

But then again, I felt his hand in my hair and his body moving close to mine. It seemed like he was into it, too. It wasn’t just me, imagining a connection that wasn’t there… That wasn’t a connection, the sensible voice inside my head reminds me. James Cole would make a move on anything with boobs. He’s nothing more than a horny animal. He’s a charmer and if I let myself think he actually gives a shit about me, I will end up as his next flavor of the night. I need to get over it.

When I finally get out of the shower, I glance around the bathroom and realize I forgot to bring my clean clothes in with me. All I have is my wet dress, which is now crumbled on the floor. With a sigh of resignation, I secure my towel tight around my chest just as the door opens and James walks in, his towel wrapped loosely around his waist.

If seeing him in a wet shirt was a turn on, seeing him with no shirt is enough to make me forget every word of the little pep talk I just gave myself. Would it really be so bad to be James’s flavor of the night? Maybe one hot night would be what it takes to get him out of my system.

The two of us move at the same time, him stepping into the bathroom while I try to get out, awkwardly bumping up against each other as we both attempt to squeeze through the doorway. I turn sideways and my arm brushes over his muscular chest, confirming he’s just as solid as he looks. A jolt of electricity shoots through my body as our skin touches and I let out an unintentional gasp. My cheeks blush with a fierce heat and I suddenly snap, letting out the pent-up emotions I’ve been trying to stuff down inside of me all night.

“Can you just give me five seconds?” I bark at him. “I just got out of the shower. We set ground rules, remember? You’re not supposed to come into the bathroom when I’m in here. The least you can do is give me a little space to leave before you come storming in. What if I were naked?”

“All the better,” James says smoothly.

“You are exasperating!” I exclaim, completely losing my cool. “I don’t know why I thought you could follow some simple instructions. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Sorry,” James shrugs, sounding anything but. “I guess I just don’t have the same hang ups that you do. If you want to stay while I’m in here, feel free.”

My jaw practically hits the floor as James steps past me, turning on the shower and dropping his towel. With another gasp, I turn away before I see him naked, though it takes all of my self-control not to sneak a glance at him through the shower stall glass. After a few seconds, I finally work up the strength to leave the bathroom, knowing that if I stay in the steamy bathroom with James’s perfectly sculpted body, I might do something that I’ll soon regret.

As hard as I tried not to look, I can’t get the image of James’s butt and muscular thighs stepping into the shower out of my head. Thank God that’s all I saw or else I think I’d pass out. That man is a freak of nature. No one should have that many muscles on their body. Does he live at the gym or something? It’s not right.

I quickly put on my pajamas while James is in the shower, wanting to be fully dressed before he comes out of the bathroom. I purposefully bought a set of flannel pj’s that cover every inch of me from the neck down, not wanting any part of my body accidentally exposed during the night. One stray tank top strap and it’s all over—I’m not taking that risk. Once I’m ready for bed, I take all of the extra pillows and stack them up in the middle of the bed, constructing a sizable divider to ensure James stays on his side. There won’t be any wandering limbs throughout the night.

When the bathroom door opens, a wall of steam sifts into the room, cloaking James as he emerges through the mist like an extremely hot caveman. Once again, he’s dressed only in his towel, which droops just shy of too low. I can see the deep V lines of his groin like an arrow pointing toward nirvana. His hair is wet but combed back from his face and his bare chest is glistening. As he comes closer, I avert my eyes, trying to stop my heart from hammering.

“Can you put some clothes on already?” I mutter, adjusting the pillow wall to ensure it doesn’t fall over during the night.

“I would, but it looks like you’re wearing enough clothing for both of us,” he teases me. “Is that really what you wear to bed?”

“First of all, these are totally normal pajamas,” I huff.

“Maybe if you’re a five-year-old,” James laughs. “Or an old man.”

“And second of all,” I continue, refusing to let him bait me, “no, this is not what I normally wear to bed. It’s what I wear when I’m unwillingly sharing a bed with a man I can’t stand.”

“I think I’m growing on you,” James continues to joke. “But seriously, you look ridiculous.”

“You know what? I don’t care what I look like,” I sigh. “What’s the big deal?”

“No big deal,” James shrugs. “But I’m just curious…is there a chastity belt hiding under there?”

“Give me a break,” I groan, glancing over at him. “Well, what do you wear to bed?”

“I usually sleep in the nude,” James says with a smirk as he starts to take off the towel.

“Wait, stop!” I shout at him, covering my eyes. “Not this week you don’t!”

As soon as I start to lower my hand, James lets his towel drop, revealing a pair of black boxer briefs underneath.

“Acceptable?” he asks.

“You’re such an ass,” I sigh, pulling back the blanket and getting into my side of the bed. “And some pants would be nice, but I’ll take what I can get.”

As I turn off the lamp on my nightstand, James hangs his towel on the back of a chair and comes around to his side of the bed. I can feel the weight of his body on the other side of the pillow divider as he lies down. A second later, he turns off his light and the room goes dark, but even as I shut my eyes, I’m still well aware of James’s body just over the wall. The room is quiet, almost too quiet. I feel suddenly self-conscious, trying not to breathe too loudly.

After a few minutes, I feel James sitting up and I quickly tug the covers up to my nose as I open my eyes to see what he’s doing. He leans over towards me, his arm propped up against the pillow wall, and he has a gentle smile on his face.

“Goodnight, Hallie,” he whispers. “For the record, today wasn’t so bad. You make it easy to pretend.”

My mouth falls open but before I can reply, James ducks back to his side of the divider. I let out a slow, silent breath as I smile to myself.

“It was kind of fun, wasn’t it?” I whisper back, feeling my eyelids growing heavy with sleep.