Chapter 22
James
As I watched Hallie devour a crab cake Benedict at brunch on Sunday morning, I’d made up my mind.
I wanted to date her. Without the deal we had struck.
Without the fancy dinners and the trips.
I wanted to stay in and watch a movie with her or play board games on a Saturday night.
I wanted to know what she looked like when she woke up in the morning or how many steps her nighttime skincare routine was.
After sailing yesterday, and despite her pushing me away the night before, I was thinking that maybe she wanted that, too.
We were officially three dates into our agreement. Our time together was ending. In two more dates, Hallie would owe me a review for my family’s restaurant and then we wouldn’t have to see each other again … Unless we actually wanted to.
And I was so hoping that she would want to.
“There’s a firework show and a party on the beach tonight, if the two of you are open to that,” I told Hallie and Roxie.
Sebastian and I had grown up going to the same party since we were kids sneaking out past our bedtimes to drink with the older kids.
I wasn’t sure there was anything more quintessential for a Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons than a bonfire party on the beach.
“That sounds perfect,” Roxie agreed. “I could use some booze to wash down all the food we’ve consumed this weekend.”
“I’ll make sure there’s whiskey,” Sebastian interjected, as a look passed between him and Roxie. One that only the two of them knew the meaning of.
“A party on the beach in the Hamptons would be the perfect way to wrap up my article,” Hallie added.
Right. I’d almost forgotten for a moment why we were here.
“Do you think your boss will like your article?” I asked.
“ Like it?” Hallie scoffed. “I think she’s going to love it. I started writing some of it last night after we got back from sailing. I think it’ll be my best one yet. Mr. Old Fashioned will make women around the country swoon.”
While that was great for Hallie’s chances at the critic position, I really didn’t care if every woman in America swooned at the actions of the fictional version of me. I only cared if one woman did.
“Then it’s settled,” I declared. “We’ll drink far too much and dance the night away.”
“Now that’s my kind of party,” Sebastian exclaimed. “I can cheers to that.”
The four of us clinked our glasses over the middle of the table, relishing what had been a perfect weekend thus far. There was only one thing that would make this weekend better than it was, and that was getting another chance to kiss Hallie.
“Are you going to actually tell Hallie how you feel about her or are you going to just continue on with this charade the two of you have going?” Sebastian asked me from the bathroom where he was getting ready for the evening.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Seb,” I replied as I stared at the two shirts I’d spent far too long agonizing over.
Sebastian poked his head out of the bathroom, shaving cream still on half of his face.
“It’s cute that you think you can fake ignorance on this one.
You’ve spent the entire weekend staring at Hallie with hearts in your eyes.
If you wanted some semblance of plausible deniability, you should’ve tried a little harder to pretend you’re not completely whipped for her. ”
I’ll pick the dark green one. That feels like a safe option.
“Of course I like Hallie. How can anyone not? She’s fun to be around.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes hard enough I thought they’d get stuck in the back of his head.
I had thought if I said the words out loud, it would convince not only Sebastian, but myself, that my feelings for Hallie were merely platonic.
But who was I kidding? I was staring at two shirts, wondering which one would bring out the color of my eyes more. And it was all for her.
“Should I ask again?” Sebastian leveled me with a look.
“Come on, hurry up!” I tossed Sebastian’s shirt into the bathroom. “The girls will never let us live it down if they beat us downstairs.”
“It takes time to look this good.” Sebastian Whittaker was one of the vainest people I knew, but there was no doubt he was one of the best-looking men in New York City.
“I’ll meet you down there.”
Hallie was the only one in the living room when I rounded the corner.
She lay stretched out on one of my mother’s prized sofas, balancing her laptop on her stomach as she typed.
She reminded me of my mother on weekend mornings when we would come to stay here—the society persona she normally held in the city nowhere to be found.
“Working on the article?” Hallie jumped, a shriek sounding from her mouth as she grabbed for her laptop, stopping it at the last minute from smashing into the ground.
“Have you ever heard of announcing yourself?” Hallie asked me, clutching her chest.
“I just did.”
She narrowed her eyes at me as she slid her laptop onto the coffee table. “I think you need to work on your idea of making yourself known.”
I lifted Hallie’s legs off the couch and replaced them on my lap as I sat down next to her. The article was still pulled up on her laptop and I reached for it.
Hallie smacked my hand before it could scoop up the computer. “Hey! No peeking.”
“What do you mean, no peeking? The article is about me and what we’ve done this weekend. I think that makes it okay for me to proofread it before it’s published.”
She gave a firm shake of her head. “No. You can read it when it comes out.”
“Are you afraid Mr. Old Fashioned will disapprove of what you’re writing?”
“You’re not Mr. Old Fashioned. Mr. Old Fashioned is a fictional character that I’ve based on you.”
“Well, that’s a disappointment,” I drew out. “You really boosted my ego when you said that Mr. Old Fashioned made you feel seen after organizing a private cooking class with your favorite chef in last week’s article.”
Scarlet colored Hallie’s cheeks. She diverted her eyes, which gave me the perfect opportunity to steal a long look at her beautiful face.
Making Hallie blush was like watching the sun rise on a perfect morning without a cloud in the sky.
She fumbled for some sort of excuse, but I cut her off before she could continue.
“It was a perfect article, Hallie. Just like I know this article will be perfect.”
The barest hint of a smile spread across her lips and I knew one bat of an eyelash would be the end to my resolve. If it were up to me, I’d pick her up off this couch and wrap her legs around my waist. The bonfire would be an afterthought.
Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and I mustered all my willpower to gently remove Hallie’s feet from my lap and stand. “Are you ready?” I offered her my hand.
She closed her laptop, shutting Mr. Old Fashioned away for the night before placing her hand in mine. “Here, let me help you up.” With a little more force than I intended, I sent Hallie careening into my chest.
“Oof—” Her hands splayed across my chest and without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her. Just to hold her in my arms, feel her heartbeat racing in time with mine. A hungry sound deep in my throat broke the moment.
Hallie stepped back out of my arms just as Sebastian and Roxie rounded the corner.
“Ready?” Roxie threw her arm around Hallie’s shoulder as Hallie struggled for a breath. “You have your swimsuit, right?”
“Yes! I’m already wearing it.” Hallie squared her shoulders, but she gave me one last parting look that lacked any hint of regret.
“Then let’s go!” Roxie exclaimed, trying to herd us all out the door. “I’m ready to get drunk enough to regret it on tomorrow’s drive home.”
On the drive to the beach, I spared a few glances in the rearview mirror at Hallie when I thought no one was looking. The curve of her jaw. The slope of her nose. The way the sun caught her cheekbones. She was gorgeous.
I thought it would be years before I looked at another woman like that again after Cassidy. I’d sworn off women to avoid the heartbreak. To avoid the inevitable disappointment that always came with relationships. Yet somehow, Hallie Woods made me forget all of that. She was worth it.
Having this woman smile at me as I helped her out of the car once we pulled up to the beach was almost too much.
The beach was teeming with people, their bodies warm from the setting sun, the sand hot beneath their feet.
Mismatched wooden tables and chairs were strewn haphazardly; the scent of salt and wood smoke mingled in the air as a bonfire crackled and roared farther down the shore.
The DJ’s music pulsed through the crowd, a rhythmic heartbeat against the backdrop of the ocean, while people danced on the soft sand.
Waiters moved through the crowd of people with trays of various kinds of alcohol.
“How come rich people can’t do anything halfway?” Hallie asked as she accepted a cocktail from the waiter.
“Who cares if we get to benefit from it?” Roxie asked as she grabbed two drinks for herself. She downed one before turning to Sebastian. “You—dance with me?”
“I think you meant to say ‘please’.” Sebastian leveled her with a look that didn’t quite land convincingly.
Because Roxie simply tilted her head with a smile on her face before turning on her foot and pushing through the throng of people.
Sebastian hesitated for only a moment before he made up his mind and followed her.
“And then there were two,” I drew out.
We hadn’t been alone together for more than a minute or two since she’d thrown me out of her bedroom.
If the obvious tension during the moments we had in the living room before we left was only a taste of what the rest of the night would be, I would lose my mind.
Hallie had made it explicitly clear that we were to strictly follow our arrangement, despite the undeniable spark between us.
But if I thought Hallie was going to be reserved around me, I was sorely mistaken. “Do you want to dance?”