40. Nora
CHAPTER 40
NORA
The next day is wilder than I could ever have imagined. Costa Rica is hot, and the guys set a relentless pace. The afternoon includes zip-lining in a humid, beautifully green jungle. I’ve never done it before, and the instructor zips me up, but sweat is beading on my forehead.
Must be the heat.
I tug on the straps a final time and watch as James goes, then Alex and Rafe. Finally it’s just West and me left on the platform. The instructor has left, too, reassured that West knows what he’s doing.
“How are you doing?” he asks me. His own gear is strapped on tight, and he’s in a beige linen shirt, sleeves rolled up and the top three buttons undone to show the dusting of dark hair there.
“Good. I think. Heights aren’t my favorite thing, but I’m excited.”
His lips curve. “Are you telling yourself that, or are you telling me?”
“Both.” I look over at the other platform. I can only barely make out the other guys through the leaves, and we’re hidden up here. “We’re alone.”
“Yes.”
“Thank god,” I murmur and pull the edge of my tank top up to wipe my forehead. It comes almost all the way up, exposing my stomach… and the sports bra I’m wearing. “It’s so hot.”
“Nora…”
I lower the top again. “What?”
His eyes are on my chest, his jaw tight. “It’s your turn to go.”
“Do you want to get rid of me?” I take a step closer and put a hand on his chest. His eyes flicker down to my lips. “They can’t see us here.”
“I know they can’t.” He lowers his head and brushes his lips once over mine in a quick kiss. “But don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”
“And what am I doing?”
“You’re flirting.”
“I’m learning to ask for what I want. And what I want right now…” I rise on my tiptoes and press my lips to the edge of his jaw. I move it down an inch, and then another, until I’m kissing his neck. “Is to know if you like this as much as I did.”
West groans, his skin vibrating beneath my lips. “That’s not a question.”
“It’s not?” I put a hand on his chest and slide it down… all the way until I can grip the belt of his pants. “I want to know what you like.”
“Our lessons are about you.”
“They’re about sex, aren’t they? Except we’re not having sex.”
“That’s right. We’re doing… everything else.” His hand finds my chin, and he pulls my face up. “You’re trying to make me budge.”
“Is it working?”
He brushes his lips over mine with tantalizing slowness. “You tell me,” he murmurs and shifts his hips forward.
My hand brushes over the distinct hardness. “Whoops.”
He tips my head back and bends to kiss my neck again. I had to use makeup to cover up his hickey. “Damn, you smell good.”
“I meant what I said. I’m hot,” I say. My eyes flutter closed at the feeling of his lips there. It makes my head too thick to think.
“You sure as fuck are,” he mutters. “That’s always been the problem.”
“Calloway!” a voice bellows. “Are you coming today, or what?”
West groans against my neck and takes a step back. He leans against the trunk of the tree and reaches down to palm himself through his pants. “You go first,” he says.
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes narrow. “You’re not the least bit sorry.”
I smile. “No. I’m not.”
“Go. You’ve done enough damage here,” he says, but he doesn’t look sorry either.
* * *
The rest of the day is a flurry of activity. The afternoon finishes with white water rafting, and by the time we’re down at the bottom, I’m smiling from ear to ear. It felt like skiing, but far less controlled.
West was in the back of the boat with the oars. Sailor that he is. He collected an extra chip for that alone. By the end of the day, we’ve all won a fair amount of them. Alex is in the lead, which James says is nothing out of the ordinary. “He’s the one with the least care for his own life,” he says.
We’re sitting at a bar a block from the villa. The chairs and tables are on the sand, with rolling waves only a few feet away. I slide my feet out of my shoes and bury them in the sand.
It’s been years since I hung out with my brother’s friends like this.
James is still the most silent one. When he speaks, he does it cuttingly. Just how I remember him. His Englishness is a stark contrast to Alex’s Scottish brass.
West sits opposite me. He’s wearing a dark navy shirt, two top buttons undone, sleeves rolled up. His long legs are spread out, and he’s drinking from a glass of rum.
And his attention often drifts to me. Especially when I cross my legs in the short dress or take a sip of my drink. Like his eyes can’t help but wander over, even as his expression remains neutral.
I’ve never felt this kind of power before. To know that I’m wanted and to revel in it. When my brother leaves to use the restroom, I deliberately swipe my hair over to expose the mark West left.
His gaze zeroes in on me immediately. His eyes narrow with warning. I didn’t cover the mark up with makeup tonight.
I lift a shoulder in a shrug and cross my legs again. I’m not wearing any underwear, but West doesn’t know that. Yet.
His jaw tightens.
“Nora,” Alex says. He’s sitting to my right, a long arm draped along the back of his chair. “How are you finding the trip so far? Living up to expectations?”
“You know, I think I understand the point of a Lost Weekend now. It makes you feel alive. Is that why you guys do it?”
Alex nods. “Nothing makes you forget a board room as quickly as jumping off a cliff.”
James scoffs. Even in this heat, he’s in a crisp white shirt. “Some of us don’t need to jump off cliffs to feel alive.”
“No,” Alex retorts with a crooked smile. “Some of us just never do, huh?”
“I’m plenty alive. And you haven’t been in a boardroom long enough to complain about it,” James says. “You’re neglecting your company.”
Alex shakes his auburn head. “It runs itself. I’m more interested in Nora. How are things going with the stalker?”
James lowers his glass. “Alex.”
“Are we not supposed to talk about that?”
My gaze flickers over to West, but he’s just watching me. There’s a steadiness there that brings me back to myself. “It’s okay,” I say. “We can talk about it. There’s not a ton of updates, to be honest. But we’re hoping he does something stupid now that I’m away. Pretending to date West has been good. Seems to have shaken him lose a bit from his old patterns.”
“Nora is safe,” West says. “We’re closing the noose, but it’s been a longer process than we would have liked.”
“This guy is a professional,” James says. “I don’t like that.”
“Me neither. I’ve been looking into it,” West says. I know he has been. He has his team searching for patterns based on lists of names both Rafe and I have given him. Every shoot I’ve done in the past year, itemized and submitted.
“What is it like to pretend to date West?” Alex looks at me with a grin. “Tell me it’s terrible, please.”
“You really want to know?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Give us ammunition,” James says.
I look over at West. He meets my gaze with one of his own, and there’s dry amusement there. “It’s been… a real learning experience.”
James looks at me. “What have you learned ?”
“Just how annoying he can be,” Alex suggests. “That he claims to hate being in charge but somehow always ends up there. He loves doing his duty. Whatever it might be. I think it’s his kink.”
“You having any kind of knowledge about his kinks is disturbing,” James says.
“Neither of you know my kinks,” West answers calmly. He’s still looking at me, and I hear him in my mind, whispering sweet, filthy praise. “And you weren’t the person asked. Nora was.”
“Well…” I reach up and rub my neck. “He is surprisingly good at pretending. Playing to a crowd when he wants to. But he’s also stubborn. Unfailingly honest. Argumentative.”
“All true,” James says.
“Have you discovered his doll collection yet?” Alex asks.
I glance at him. The large Scotsman is looking at me with too-bright, too-innocent eyes. “No.”
“He can be shy about it, but it’s something to behold.”
West groans. “Not this again.”
“His middle name is Maude, too.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Has been since our first year at Belmont. We had him re-baptized. Didn’t we, James?”
James lifts his glass. “To Weston Maude Calloway Junior, the greatest of his line.”
I laugh and meet West’s exasperated gaze. Adrenaline is still flowing in my veins from the day, and from my second margarita of the night. “I didn’t know that! Would have been great to know when your sister quizzed us about middle names at family dinner.”
He shakes his head, but his lips are curved.
“I love that you’re pretending in front of his family too,” Alex says. “You’re really doing him a solid there, you know.”
“Keeping his mother from throwing beautiful women at him?” I cross my legs again. The dress rides up another inch, and West’s eyes drop. “Yes, I’m doing him such a favor.”
James looks from West to me, his gray eyes narrowing.
“Well, you’re helping him buy time,” Alex says.
“Buy time?”
West leans forward. “We should order more drinks.”
“That we should.” Rafe says. He appears behind West and claps him on the shoulder. West tenses. Like the touch hurt. “The next round is on me.”
“I’ll come with you.” I stand to join him and make sure to bring my phone with me.
Rafe orders another round and leans against the bar. “You’re doing good,” he says. “Keeping up.”
“Keeping up? I plan on winning the poker game.”
His grin widens. “You remember how to play?”
“Of course. You and James taught me one holiday, remember?” I ask. James spent a few holidays with us during the boarding school days. He would rotate, sometimes at ours, sometimes at West’s.
“That was years ago.”
“I’ve still got it,” I say.
His gaze drops to my neck. “You’re hurt.”
Shit. I’ve forgotten to push my hair back. “Just a burn.”
He frowns. “A burn?”
“Yeah, from the shoot the other week,” I say with a little shrug. “They curled my hair and came too close.”
“Morons,” he mutters. “You okay?”
I roll my eyes at him. The lie came easily, but my heart is beating hard. “Yes. I’ll survive this grave indignity against my person.”
Rafe’s eyebrows lift. “You’re in a good mood tonight. You have been this whole trip.”
“I’m having fun.”
“I can tell. There’s something… different about you. You seem happier.”
“Maybe I am. Going to New York was a good decision.” I shake my head. “Even if Mom still asks me almost daily when I’m coming back to France. She can’t seem to accept it.”
“We’ll all feel better when you’re closer to home again.” He hands the bartender a large bill. “Coming?”
I shake my head. “I’m going to order something extra for me.”
And I’m going to text West that I forgot my underwear.