Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
ASHLEY
“What’s wrong?” Carter shuts his laptop and stares at me.
How he can tell that I’m out of sorts, I have no idea.
“Nothing is wrong.”
His eyes remain on me as I cross the room, making my way to my desk. I grab my laptop and set it on the table in front of him before walking to one of the bookshelves.
“Is the fridge toast or something?”
“No, Neil fixed the fridge.” I grab the holiday candle, the scent of berries and cloves wafting up my nose.
“What is it then?”
“It’s nothing. Just drop it.” Blood rushes to my cheeks, and they’re probably redder than all the Santas.
I grab the lighter off my desk and light the wick of the candle before bringing it over, setting it next to my laptop on the coffee table. I’m going to need some zen vibes to deal with this man and all the tasks we have to complete. I sit on the couch beside Carter.
His closed laptop rests on his lap. “Did Neil do something inappropriate?” His voice is laced with… something. I’m not sure what though.
“Not exactly.”
“Well, what exactly did he do then?”
I recognize the note to his voice now for what it is—restrained anger.
I sigh. “He came on to me, and I turned him down, but he kept pushing.” I shrug. “I was just uneasy, that’s all. He didn’t do anything wrong. I embarrass easily. I don’t like uncomfortable situations.”
When I glance at him, he meets my gaze, and I’m pretty sure we’re both thinking back to that night we went out on a date and my reaction to what happened.
“Do I need to go kick his ass? Because I will.”
Appreciation warms my chest. “No, Carter, you don’t need to kick his ass. He’s clear on the fact that I’m not interested.”
His shoulders relax a bit after I tell him I’m not interested in Neil. Which is annoying, given how he made it clear he wasn’t interested in me this past summer.
“Why don’t you like him? He’s an okay-looking guy, seems like he’s successful.” Carter shrugs, but his nonchalant action belies the interest in his eyes as he waits for my answer.
“I had this traumatizing night with this guy six months ago, and I’m not eager to relive it.”
The corners of his mouth tighten. Our eyes lock, and I wait for him to say something. “Let’s just get this over with,” he says.
I open my laptop and type in my password, refusing to glance his way. “Get what over with?”
“What happened on our date.”
I don’t look at him as I open my email. Regardless, my face heats from remembering that night with him. The most humiliating night I’ve ever had.
“You made your feelings clear. There’s nothing to talk about.” I click my sister’s email in the long list of junk emails from companies I swear I’ve already unsubscribed from.
Carter sighs beside me. “I apologized. I don’t know what more you want from me.”
With a huff, I slam my laptop shut and put it on the coffee table, shifting to face him better.
“You acted like you wanted me, then once I was half naked, you pulled the ‘chute. Said you couldn’t do it.” I use air quotes around the words couldn’t do it.
“Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be all in, practically naked, and then you pull away and look at me with disgust in your eyes while you reject me?”
I’m not someone who sleeps with a lot of guys, and the fact that it was our first date and I was already willing to go to bed with Carter shows how much of a connection we shared. Or I thought we shared. I was the only one who felt that way.
“I wasn’t rejecting you!” He gets up off the love seat and paces on the other side of the coffee table.
“No? What would you call it then?” I cross my arms and sink back into the sofa.
“I told you that night—it had nothing to do with you.”
“And I told you that was BS.”
He pushes a hand through his dark hair. “You’ve gotta understand…
I’ve been best friends with your sister for more than a decade.
And you look identical to her. When I got you into bed and started undressing you, I looked down, and all I saw was Steph.
It felt weird. Wrong. Not only is she my friend, but she’s my other best friend’s fiancée. I freaked out for a minute.”
“I am not my sister!” I hop off the couch, leaning over the coffee table toward him.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a twin sister who looks exactly like you?
Especially one who is a celebrity? Everyone thinks you’re the same person just because you look alike.
But we couldn’t be more opposite. Steph craves attention and loves being in the thick of things, whereas I don’t.
I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get people to see that we’re not the same.
We’re our own people. Can you imagine what it’s like to be constantly compared to your sibling? ”
His shoulders drop, and he loses some of his defensiveness. “Yeah, I can actually.”
“Sure, you can.” I roll my eyes, sure he’s saying it to placate me.
“My older brother was an army ranger and before that, a football star—the kind of guy who’s always gone after what he wanted and succeeded, without fear.
I looked up to him so much growing up. Then there’s my little sister, who’s the baby of the family, plus the only girl, so she could never do any wrong.
I never really felt like I fit in, so I became the comedic relief.
Now that’s all they see when they look at me, so I keep the act going. ”
His expression is earnest and genuine. It pisses me off that some of my anger slides away at his admission and vulnerability.
I clear my throat. “I guess we both have our issues then.” I plop back down on the love seat.
Carter walks around the coffee table and sits beside me. “I really am sorry for how I made you feel that night. It wasn’t my intention.”
Nodding, I swallow hard. “Thank you. I just felt so stupid. The rejection stung.”
He frowns. “I never would have taken you back to my place—hell, I never would’ve let Steph and Doug set us up in the first place—if I’d known that was how I was going to feel.
But Steph’s been going on and on about how amazing her twin sister is for as long as I’ve known her, so when they tried to set us up, it seemed like a good idea. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
“Let’s just put it behind us. We have to work together to get all this stuff done for the wedding, so it’s probably good we had this talk, but let’s not bring it up again.”
“Onward and upward?” He arches an eyebrow and gives me a charming grin that I know has won him more than a few ladies.
“Something like that.” I grab my laptop off the coffee table, signing back into my computer.
My sister texted me late last night to thank me again for being willing to work with Carter to get everything done for the wedding. She knows what went down between us and knows it’s not exactly comfortable for me to be around him.
“Steph sent an email last night with a list of all the things we still have to do.”
Carter looks at the list on my computer screen. “I thought she said there wasn’t that much.”
The list is longer than I expected, but I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle. A lot of it is just following up with vendors, which should be easy enough.
The biggest job looks like it will be picking up the chairs, which are about an hour away.
I’m tempted to ask Steph if we can remove that from the list and find a rental company that will deliver, but I know how she fell in love with those particular chairs.
They’re antique gilded chairs she tracked down.
They have incredible detail, and she thinks they’ll look amazing in photographs if her wedding pictures get shared by the press.
She wants everything to look luxe. So, I guess Carter and I will have to play moving crew to get them.
Despite my sister’s lust for opulence, the wedding itself is small, which is why I’m able to host the ceremony and a small reception at the B&B.
“At least we get a meal out of it.” Carter points at the screen, where one of the items on the list is that we have to do the final tasting to approve the meal.
“Mmm. That will be good. Anna is a wonderful cook.”
“You know her?”
I nod. “She runs her catering business out of her house, and I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few events she’s catered. The food is always amazing.”
“Looking forward to that one then. Do you think it’s easiest if we divide and conquer most of this stuff? To get more done?”
I’m irritated that all I feel as a response to his question is disappointment that we won’t be checking these off together.
But that’s ridiculous. My whole plan was to avoid this man as much as possible throughout the wedding events.
Then again, that was before we went from best man and maid of honor to wedding coordinators.
“Yeah, that sounds great. Give me your email address, and I’ll forward this to you, then we can decide who’s doing what.”
Over the next twenty minutes, we go through the list and assign the tasks.
There are still a few things we’ll need to do together—picking up the chairs, the meal tasting, and Steph wants me to okay the fit of Carter’s tux when he goes to try it on.
Though I’m sure the man can handle that one on his own.
He manages to dress himself every day, and I begrudgingly admit that he does a good job.
Maybe she doesn’t trust him not to swap out what he picked for a bright blue tuxedo with ruffles as a joke.
The only task that makes me uncomfortable is trying on her wedding dress to make sure it fits properly.
She had her high-end designer ship it here a few days ago.
If I try it on ahead of time, there’s still time to get a minimal amount of alterations done in town.
One of the benefits of us being twins is that we’re still the same size and similar body shape.
Still, I never thought the first time I’d try on a wedding dress, it would be my sister’s dress.
I’m closing my computer when someone yelps, then a pained groan rings through the house. Carter and I exchange a confused look and jump off the love seat to investigate.
The moaning sounds as if it’s coming from the staircase, so I head in that direction. When we reach it, we find Nick arched over at the bottom of the stairs with one hand on the railing, his other hand on his lower back. His skin looks clammy, and his face is contorted in pain.
“Nick! What happened? Are you okay?” I rush over to him.
“My damn back,” he grumbles and winces.
“Did you fall?” Carter glances at the curved staircase, then at me.
“Nah, just lifted my leg to go upstairs, and something gave way. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last.”
He’s breathing hard and clearly in pain. I feel horrible. “What can we do?”
“Can you help me up to my room? I have some medication, and I need to lie down for a day or two, then I’ll be fine. I’ll take a heating pad too, if you have it.”
“Of course.” I gesture for Carter to help support Nick’s other side. “All right, put your weight on us while you walk up the stairs. Go as slow as you need.”
We make slow progress up the stairs, Nick cringing and biting back a few curses with every step. Worry settles into my chest. I know he’ll be fine, but I hate seeing him in pain. He’s my favorite guest right now.
About halfway up the stairs, Carter starts talking in what I think is an effort to get Nick’s mind off the pain every time he shifts his weight to move up to the next stair. “Don’t think you’ll be running any races anytime soon.”
Nick stops all forward movement at Carter’s comment.
“Nick?”
His face pales, and his shoulders sink. “The reindeer race is today. I won’t be able to participate.
” He sags a bit in our arms, and Carter and I use more strength to hold him.
“I was really hoping to win that money. Have a few things that need fixing at my place, and the prize money would’ve gone a long way toward that. ”
“I’m sorry, Nick,” I say.
Carter’s tipped-down lips say he feels as bad as I do. Then his eyes light up, and he nods at me as if we’re in this together. What is he thinking?
“What if I try to win it for you?” Carter asks.
I mouth “what the heck” to Carter.
Nick’s eyes widen, and he turns to me before giving Carter all his attention. “You’d do that?” The relief in Nick’s voice almost brings me to tears.
“I can try. No guarantee I’ll win.” He shrugs at my questioning look. We have a lot on our plates without him taking part in Santa Fest.
“Carter, what do you know about racing reindeer?”
“How hard can it be?”
He’s delusional, drunk on Christmas cheer, but I have to admit, the confidence turns me on.