Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Liam
I lean back against the plush sofa, my eyes drawn to Audrey as she emerges from her bedroom. We’re now in the presidential suite of the Four Seasons, trying to come up with a good backstory. Ethan, Lily, and Max tried to help, but when Cal arrived at the penthouse, it became a party, and we had to leave.
The suite feels like a sanctuary, a place where we can escape the pandemonium and focus on the task at hand. Am I happy that I’ll be sleeping alone? Not so much, but this is all pretend, right?
“Did you have a nice shower?” I ask, my voice softening as I take in her comfortable appearance. She’s wearing a pair of sweats and a hoodie, her hair still damp from the shower. The sight of her makes my heart skip a beat, and I have to remind myself that this is all just an act.
“Yeah, I should’ve used the bathtub—maybe you can keep the room for a few more days so I can come back?” Her smile is almost convincing, but I can see the strain behind it, the weight of the illusion we’re trying to create, and yet I haven’t been able to come up with a believable story. She tugs at the sleeve of her hoodie. “Then I’ll have my own clothes.”
She’s wearing the items I bought for her along with other stuff we needed on our way to the hotel. They’re hers to keep, but there’s no point in arguing about it. Though, the sight of her, so comfortable and relaxed, sends a warmth spreading through my chest. Audrey looked stunning earlier in the halter top and leggings, her beauty taking my breath away, but there’s something about seeing her like this, so unguarded and natural, that makes my heart skip a beat .
As she settles onto the sofa beside me, tucking her feet beneath her, my mind drifts back to the moment on the balcony when I knelt before her, holding out the ring Ethan bought for me when I called him. It’s not exactly what I would’ve picked for her, but it’s close to the ring I had in mind. Not that I should be thinking about it. I’m completely aware that this is fake.
Yet, in that moment when I was kneeling and showing her the ring I wanted to say something, not sure what though. Everything was so perfect and a part of me longed to offer her probably my heart or my soul, maybe forever. Yet I had to let the moment go because we Cohens suck at love.
What’s the point of thinking that I could be the exception?
I can still feel the weight of the ring in my hand, the way my heart raced as I looked up at her, her beautiful eyes wide with surprise, and something else I couldn’t quite decipher. In that moment, everything else faded away, and it was just the two of us, lost in a world of our own making.
I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I can’t allow myself to get carried away, to blur the lines between reality and pretense. We have a role to play, and I need to focus on making sure that we pull this off without a hitch.
But as I sit here, watching Audrey as she flips through the channels on the TV, her face illuminated by the soft glow of the screen, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if this were real. If the words I were supposed to speak during the proposal had been real and meant something—a commitment, a future. Love.
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to push those thoughts aside. We have a long road ahead of us, and I can’t afford to let my thoughts become . . . Well, feelings. In general, I have a rule: never be with anyone more than once. It helps both parties since you don’t catch feelings and do stupid things like falling in love.
Yet, being with Audrey right now feels about perfect.
“Find anything good?” I ask, my voice breaking the comfortable silence between us. I take a sip of my single malt I ordered from room service, savoring the smooth burn as it slides down my throat.
Audrey glances over at me, a soft smile playing on her lips. “Not really,” she admits, tossing the remote aside. She shifts on the sofa, turning to face me fully. “Maybe we should start planning what we’re going to tell everyone. I have texts that are asking for all the details.” She holds up her phone as she scrolls through the messages. “Mom suggests we get married this weekend while celebrating her anniversary.”
I choke on my drink, the liquid burning my throat as I cough and sputter. “Married?” I manage to gasp out, my eyes wide with shock. The word hangs in the air between us, heavy with implication.
Audrey nods her expression a mixture of amusement and trepidation. “Uh-huh . . . she says it’s perfect.” She groans, burying her face in her hands.
“This is not going to work out well. I can’t get married—not this weekend and not to you.” Her words are muffled, but I can hear the panic in her voice.
“Hey, what’s wrong with me?” I protest, placing a hand over my heart in mock offense. My eyes twinkle with mischief, trying to lighten the mood.
She shrugs, peeking at me through her fingers. “I don’t know. I barely know you, Liam Cohen.” Her words are teasing, but there’s an underlying truth to them that makes my heart clench.
“We’ve known each other since you were a baby,” I remind her, nudging her shoulder. The warmth of her body so close to mine sends a shiver down my spine.
“Sure, it’s been twenty-some years, even though I know who you were while growing up, I have no idea who you are right now.” She scrunches her nose, a gesture that’s both adorable and frustrating. “ What if you leave the lid up after using the toilet or don’t like to share chores? I can’t live like that.”
“Hey, I stopped being that messy years ago.” I lean back, studying her face. “But your point is valid, Little McCallister. So what is it that attracted me to you in the first place?” I raise an eyebrow, challenging her to come up with an answer.
“My sense of humor?” she offers, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes sparkle with mirth, and I can’t help but be drawn in by her infectious energy.
“I don’t know if I find you funny,” I tease, flicking her nose. The scent of her shampoo, something floral and sweet, wafts over me, making my head spin.
“Obviously, you don’t, but there has to be something that attracted us to each other. A hook. How did we meet?” Audrey asks. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, a nervous habit that I find endearing.
“You mean re-meet?” I clarify, my mind racing with possibilities. The idea of creating a new beginning for us, even if it’s just for show, sends a thrill through me.
“Is that even a word?” she questions, her nose crinkling in confusion. “You meant to say, reconnected.”
“Who cares? The point is that we need a story now, and I think that what Ethan said at the beginning was smart. We need to stick to reality as much as possible.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. My eyes lock with hers, trying to convey the urgency of the situation.
“Hate to admit that if Ethan and Max said it, it must be true. My parents never caught my brother on his lies—never,” she sighs, shaking her head in disbelief.
I don’t tell her that we were good. More Ethan and Max than Cal or me. They planned way ahead before they did anything, unlike Cal and I who just acted and then had to figure out how to cover our tracks. Which we were really good at. No one ever caught us, unless we were too messy.
Clearing my throat, I start, “So we met at the airport while I was arriving from somewhere, and you were going . . . somewhere?” I tap my chin trying to come up with something smart, but in the end, I realize that maybe the way it happened last night was just the perfect way. “What if we met while we were both going to . . .? Where do you usually fly to?”
“New York, but my family can’t know that because they’ll want to know why I don’t come to Boston. ‘It’s so close.’” Audrey rolls her eyes. “In the past year I’ve been to Seattle, Florida . . . There’s the trip I took to London a year ago. ”
“London is perfect,” I say. That’s where I go at least twice a year, and my parents know about it. “I like that, and I went there about a year ago, too. So we both can say that it was an unexpected encounter. We sat together during the entire flight. I saw you a couple of times during the trip, but you left for San Diego early?—”
“But I stayed there for a month.” Audrey interrupts me. She sits up straighter, her hands gesturing as she speaks. “It was a small project but the client wanted me onsite.”
“Oh, then I left two weeks earlier than you,” I clarify, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth as it seems as if we’re coming up with what might be the perfect story. “We messaged each other every day after my departure and I surprised you by picking you up from the airport. And from that point forward, we became inseparable.”
“That’s too easy,” she protests, her brows furrowing in discontent. She crosses her arms over her chest.
“Why make it complicated?” I lean back, studying her face, trying to decipher the emotions that flicker across her features. “Not that I want what Eth has, but look at his relationship with Lily. They seem to work well and there’s no drama.”
“I don’t know . . .” she trails off, her words hanging in the air between us. She looks down, fidgeting with the hem of her hoodie. “Between Ben and me, things were explosive, you know?”
I raise an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. “Explosive, as in the sex was amazing, or you two were fighting all the time?”
She sighs, a wistful expression crossing her face. “Everything was difficult, you know, and then the smallest of things ended up in a big fight, though he said it’s normal for adults to have those kinds of relationships.”
“Is it?” I ask, my voice laced with skepticism. “Because I don’t think love has to be a bunch of fights all the time. More when you love the other person, you should find ways to communicate, to compromise, to work through the challenges together.”
“How do you know? You’ve never been in a relationship,” she counters. Her eyes narrow, challenging me to prove her wrong.
“No, but I know what I grew up with—lots of fights. Mom has never had that kind of explosion with Dad, and it wasn’t love. Love is what she has with Malcolm,” I explain, my voice soft but filled with conviction. The memories of my parents’ tumultuous relationship flash through my mind. Those two taught me what love shouldn’t be.
“You know what, now that I think about it, after every fight—which usually he started—he’d ghost me for days,” she confesses, a mirthless laugh escaping her lips. “God, it was right there. How didn’t I see it?” She shakes her head.
“Because you trusted him,” I offer, my tone gentle and understanding. I reach out, placing a hand on top of hers, squeezing it.
“I did trust him,” she confirms. “Love sucks.”
“Sorry he broke your heart.”
She snorts. “Actually, he didn’t really. Every time I try to remember when or how I fell in love with him, I come up empty. He seemed so perfect online.”
“Wait, you met him online?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I’m too busy to waste my time searching for Mr. Right myself—I don’t even know where I would look for him.”
“I can’t say that an app is the obvious way to find cheaters. Those are everywhere, but I guess it’s easier for anyone to make themselves look like what you’re looking for,” I state.
“Yeah, he sounded like the perfect candidate to bring home,” she confesses. “I think I was so obsessed with pleasing my parents I didn’t even stop to figure out how I really felt about him.”
“Probably, and I’m sorry that asshole took advantage of you,” I say, my thumb rubbing soothing circles on her palm. I wish I could show her that love can be so much more than what she’s experienced, but I’m just like my father—not good at it.
I suck at it.
“How pathetic is that after an almost year relationship all I have is anger inside me—none of that love I thought I had for him.”
“Maybe it’s grief speaking. Isn’t anger one of the steps?” I offer, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“Do you know how to kiss?” she asks abruptly, her eyes locking with mine. The question catches me off guard, and I feel my heart skip a beat.
I blink a couple of times, trying to process her words. “Kiss?”
“If we have to sell it, we might as well go all the way. PDA and all that shit.” Her lips curve into a smirk, and I can’t help but be drawn in by her sudden change in demeanor.
I’m tempted to ask what all the way or all that shit means, but I keep the response simple. “Yes, I think I’m proficient in the art of kissing.”
Before I can think better of it, I lean in closer until our faces are mere inches apart. The floral scent of her perfume surrounds me, intoxicating. “Like this,” I murmur, my voice low and husky.
I lean closer, my heart pounding in my chest as I close the distance between us. Gently cradling her face in my hands, I brush my lips against hers in a featherlight caress. I meant to just demonstrate, to keep things simple.
But the moment our mouths connect, it’s like a dam bursting.
Heat surges through my veins as her soft lips move against mine, igniting a fire deep within me.
A ragged groan escapes me, the sound primal and needy.
What started as an innocent demonstration quickly deepens into something rawer, more intense. I angle my head, my tongue delving to taste the sweetness of her mouth. Audrey whimpers, melting against me as I pull her lithe body flush against mine. The feel of her curves pressing against my hardness sends a shiver down my spine, and I can’t help but crave more.
My hands roam down the curve of her spine, mapping the contours of her body as our kiss turns hungrier, needier. She tastes like sin and temptation and everything I’m not supposed to want. But I’m powerless to resist the smoldering fire between us, the magnetic pull that draws me to her like a moth to a flame.
Too soon, I force myself to pull back, my chest heaving as I struggle to catch my breath. Audrey’s pupils are blown wide, her lips swollen from my kisses. Her cheeks are flushed, a rosy hue that only adds to her allure. Tenderly brushing back a stray lock of hair from her face, I rasp, “I think I know the basics of kissing, sweetheart.” My voice is rough with desire, betraying the depth of my longing.
“You— You definitely do.” Audrey’s breath hitches as she stares up at me, her eyes dark and filled with something I can’t quite decipher.
I can feel the heat radiating off her body, matching my own. We are both sitting still, in silence for a few moments, both of us trying to catch our breath.
I know I should say something more, try to diffuse the tension that’s still crackling between us like electricity. But part of me doesn’t want to. Part of me wants to just give in to this wild, reckless desire that’s been building between us from the moment I saw her at the airport.
But I can’t do that. I won’t let myself give into temptation and risk ruining . . . What will get ruined if I act on this attraction?
Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s not like we see each other often. But then there’s her brother who is not only one of my best friends but also a business partner. If anything goes wrong here it’ll be a fucking disaster.
With a heavy sigh, I reluctantly move away from Audrey and run a hand through my hair. “I think we’ve covered everything that needs to be covered. We should probably watch a movie or something,” I say, forcing my voice to sound casual and unaffected.
She nods slowly, her lips still slightly parted as she struggles to regain control of herself. “Right,” she mumbles, avoiding my gaze.
I hate seeing her like this—unsure, vulnerable—because of me. Guilt claws at my chest and I have to remind myself again why not touching her is for the best.
But as I pick up the remote and turn on the TV, a nagging voice in the back of my mind wonders if it really is for the best. Maybe giving into temptation wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all . . .
Shaking off those thoughts, I focus on the television. Audrey does the same and soon enough we’re both lost in thought while searching for a good movie, while pretending the kiss didn’t happen.
But every once in a while, when she glances up at me with those soulful hazel eyes, it’s as if the air between us ignites, and it takes everything in me not to be consumed by the flames.