Chapter 7
Nikita
Iunderestimated how much alcohol had been in my system when I remembered that I had agreed to be Calvin’s date for his friend’s wedding. I can’t even remember the last time I had gone on a real holiday, so when the possibility of an all-expenses-paid trip was mentioned - the part of me that was desperate for an escape jumped at the opportunity before my rational mind had the chance to catch up.
I stare up at the ceiling. I have a pulsing alcohol-induced headache behind my eyes now, thanks to earlier. After we attempted lunch (which had turned out to be more drinking than anything else), we came back to my brother’s place, and I passed out; the physical and mental exhaustion taking its toll on me.
I reach for my phone, glancing at the time, to see it is only half past eight in the evening. Getting myself out of bed, I rummage through my handbag for some painkillers but come up empty. Dragging myself downstairs to Jay’s kitchen, I groan all the way. If I know my brother, which I do, I will find a cupboard filled with medication for any scenario - he was pedantic that way
As I turn the corner, I see Calvin sitting at the kitchen island, typing away at his laptop. We both stay silent as I glance around for my brother..
“Where’s Jay?” I ask to kill the silence.
“Work,” Calvin answers without looking up from his laptop. “He got called in for a last-minute broadcast or something.”
Opening the cupboard in the corner, I can see boxes of medication on the shelf above me. “Bingo.” I push up on my tiptoes, trying to reach for the tablets, but cursing my lack of height in moments like this.
“Need help?”
Immediately, I stand flat on the floor, glancing at Calvin over my shoulder, “I could use your height right now.”
“Typical damsel in distress.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m more than happy to climb on my brother’s counter, but I’d much rather give your life some purpose.” He scoffs at my comment but gets to his feet and makes his way over to me, the lingering smell of his cologne invading my senses as he stops in front of the cupboard. It smells good when you aren’t choking on it.
“What do you need, princess?”
“Don’t call me that.” I push two fingers against the side of my head in an attempt to alleviate the pressure. “I need something for this relentless headache I have.”
“Say please and I’ll get you your tablets.”
I glare at him, wishing I had a smartass remark but I can’t think of much else with this pulsing ache distracting me. He raises an eyebrow waiting to see what I will say next, but I refuse, so instead I huff and turn to start pulling myself up. Calvin’s laughter stops me, “Wow! And I thought I was stubborn.”
He rummages through the cupboard finding a box of tablets, tossing it to me.
“Ah, you are a lifesaver!”
He shows me a smug smile. “That’s what I like to hear.”
I ignore him as I pop two tablets into the palm of my hand, placing the box on the counter before going to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Calvin makes his way back to his laptop, returning to whatever he was busy with.
I swallow the tablets. “So… it’s just you and me here?”
“Indeed.” He flicks his eyes to meet mine, “Is that a problem?”
“Nope.” I place the bottle down on the island where Calvin is working. I move to stand directly across from him. He pays no attention to my new placement and continues to type away.
“We should probably talk about what happened earlier.”
“You mean when you agreed to be my date?” He looks up at me, his deep brown eyes unimpressed, “I figured that was the alcohol talking and now that you’ve had a chance to consult with your sober self, I take it you’re retracting your offer?”
He was spot on.
Sober me is sounding the alarm at what a terrible idea this would be. No free holiday is worth having to tolerate Calvin Rhodes for a week. However, there is nothing that I hate more than people deciding for me. Whenever someone assumes they know what I will do, I have to challenge them.
Yes, I am that stubborn.
“Why do you do that?” I question.
“Do what?”
“Act like you know everything when you don’t.”
He sighs and shuts his laptop. “Nikita, you and I both know that it would be a terrible idea.”
“I know it would be a terrible idea, but I’m curious to know why you think so.” I prop my elbow up, resting my chin in my hand and flicking my gaze over to him.
“Let’s call a spade a spade here.” He clasps his hands together. “You don’t like me, I don’t like you. So being forced to deal with each other for a week is a disaster waiting to happen.”
He was right, again. The only kink in this, otherwise foolproof plan is the fact that I will have to pretend to be his girlfriend.
But you’d get a free holiday.
And with how my anxiety has been flaring up, I could do with an escape. I have no job, a flooded apartment and no idea of how I am going to move forward. While I would usually relish in challenges like this, it just feels like a bit too much right now. But that is not something I will admit to Calvin. “Humor me, Rhodes,” I say, moving into interrogation mode. “Whose wedding is it?”
“Friends of mine.”
“Are those their legal names?” I ask dryly.
“What does it matter what their names are?” He argues back. “You’re not going to know them.”
“I could know them.”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes, “You just love to argue.” He rests his one hand on his thigh that is bobbing up and down. “Kenneth and Britney are the ones getting married.”
“In Algarve?”
“Yes.”
I straighten up and reach for the bottle of water, swapping it from hand to hand. “And you’re going for a week?”
“Yes. Apparently, one day is not enough of a celebration.”
I snort, “First world problems.” I point the bottle in his direction. “And your ex is going to be there?”
He sighs as he folds his arms across his chest. “Yes. Violet and I are both part of the wedding party.”
I cringe. “Eek!”
“I am sure you can understand why I would prefer to not go alone.”
I could have used this opportunity to have a go at him, but there is something in his eyes that stopped me. A brief flash of vulnerability reveals itself and for a moment, I feel bad for him. This takes me by surprise because I didn’t think Calvin was capable of real human emotions.
Resting the bottom of the bottle against my chin I begin, “Hypothetically, if I were to help you, wha-what exactly would you need from me?”
He eyes me, still clearly weary of my willingness. I can’t blame him, I am just as surprised by my actions.
“Well…” he clears his throat. “When we’re around other people from the wedding, you’d be my-”
“Girlfriend?”
He shrugs it off as if it was normal, “Pretty much.”
I pause for a moment, contemplating my next question. “And we’d have to touch?”
“In brief moments, yes.” I narrow my eyes as he continues. “If we were to do this - hypothetically of course - we’d have to discuss some ground rules.”
“Right. Of course.” I watch him, a flicker of curiosity igniting inside of me. “Like what?” I am not sure why this is intriguing to me, but it is. At least during this time, I will be able to take a step out of my life. I won’t have to think about all the things I have yet to face. The idea of that alone thrills me.
Calvin shakes his head, pulling himself to his feet. “Like nothing, Nikita. We’re not doing this.”
As he turns to take off I make my way around the island, leaving the bottle behind and stopping in front of him with my hand against his chest. This is the first time I allow myself to touch him and there is something - some kind of brief flicker inside of me that unlocks a new curiosity.
My eyes dip before lifting to meet his. “Look, I need this holiday. You need a date. We’ll lay out the ground rules for when people are around; otherwise, we’ll stay out of each other’s way.” There was skepticism in his eyes, but it was clear that I was slowly convincing him. “You can organize a room with two beds.”
He sighs, moving to place his laptop down as my hand drops. “Let’s discuss rules.”
“Limited touching. Holding my hands and my waist - those basic kinds of things, I’m all good with.”
He nods in agreement. “I don’t think we’ll need to do anything more than that. I’ve never been into PDA.”
“Shocker.” This was not surprising in the slightest. “Get a room with two beds. I’m not sharing a bed with you.”
Calvin sneers at this, “Ditto, princess.”
“We’ll split the room in half. I’ll have my side, you’ll have yours. But when we’re around other people, we’ll be the cutest damn couple there.” I have never been one to turn away a challenge, and pretending to be Calvin Rhodes’ girlfriend is about to be my biggest one yet.
“And what if we have to, for whatever reason—” clearing his throat again, “Kiss.”
My eyebrows raise. “Why would we?—”
“I said for whatever reason.”
“I heard you.” I fold my arms across my chest, thinking for a brief moment. “I think cheek and forehead kisses will suffice.”
Calvin nods his head in agreement.. “We will use them sparingly.”
“You can’t be your usual robot self when they do happen.”
“Robot self?” He repeats my words, clearly confused. “I am not a robot.”
“I’m going to need to see some evidence disproving that point.” I shrug teasingly. “I don’t want to speculate, but I’ve never seen you near water. Wouldn’t want you to malfunction.”
He rolls his eyes, and I take this opportunity to step closer to him, invading his personal space to test something out. From what I can tell by his reaction, I had caught him off guard. He remains still, looking down at me.
“What are you doing?” His voice is low.
“Testing something.”
“You’re testing something?”
“Yes, that’s what I said,” I mutter as I lift my hand and place it on his chest again but this time his face twists into confusion and… distaste? “It’s a good thing we’re doing this because look at you. You look disgusted.”
“I don’t look disgusted,” he argues back.
“Tell your face that,” I mutter. “I’m guessing that physical touch isn’t your love language.”
“I don’t have a love language.”
“Everyone has a love language.”
“Not me.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh right, ‘cause you’re an emotionless robot. I forgot they haven’t installed that option yet.” Whilst still remaining in place, he shakes his head, huffing in response to my retort. My hand is still on his chest and I am trying my best to ignore the heat seeping through his shirt. Clearing my throat, I tilt my head to glance up at him, only to find that he is already looking at me. I swallow, attempting to ignore that flicker of tension in the air. I can brush that off as a by-product of my little experiment. If we are going to do this, we need to do this right.
“Calvin,” I murmur his name. “If you want people to believe we’re a couple, we have to look like a couple.”
“That’s a fair point.”
“You can’t shy away from my touch.”
With his eyes still holding mine, I suddenly feel his hand rest against my waist, causing a slight jump reaction.
“You just did the same!” He exclaims and removes his hand.
“You caught me off-guard!”
It was only once I took a step back, separating our personal spaces again, that I’m able to snap back to reality. For a slight moment I might have forgotten that this was Calvin. Calvin. That brief flicker of intrigue clouded my general dislike for the guy and was replaced by - ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this - attraction.
“We have to warn each other before we’re about to do something like that, okay?” I explain to him. “Just a quick little, ‘I’m going to touch you now’ will suffice.”
“Fine, whatever. Hopefully, those moments will be few and far between.”
“Agreed.”
A moment of comfortable silence settles between us as we just watch each other. A part of me still believes that this is a terrible idea, but I suppose there is no backing out now.
“So… are we doing this?”
This is my last opportunity to pull the plug on this plan before I get in too deep, but the desperation for a break is achingly strong right now. There is no way I can’t go through with this.
“I’m in,” I agree, extending my hand to him to seal the deal. But I remember one last condition, “Granted that all costs will, in fact, be covered since I am without employment right now.” I finish extending my hand once more, waiting for him to shake it in agreement.
His eyes shift between my outstretched hand and my gaze, the last bit of apprehension slipping from his eyes. Sighing, he extends his hand. “You, Da Silva, have yourself a deal.”