Her grin widened. “But if you’re asking if I’m ready to see Renee and get out of this car, then the answer is a big fat one hundred percent yes.” She leaned forward in her seat, fetched the last stick of gum from her purse and split it in half. “How about you?” she asked, placing one half in his mouth, and the other in hers.
He nodded in thank, but shrugged.
“You’re worried about your parents aren’t you?” she asked quietly.
He shrugged again, then sped up to move around the car ahead of them. “Do you still not want to tell Renee?”
She bit her bottom lip and turned toward the window, knowing full well what he was asking her, and raked her upper teeth over the skin. “I think it’s best, don’t you?”
He was quiet for a moment, forcing her to look back over again, but he didn’t answer.
“Last I spoke to Renee,” she began, “I was still with Steven. How can I tell her only days later that I…” But she trailed off, because what she really wanted to say was something she wasn’t quite ready to. That after last night, she could feel herself falling for him, so hard and fast it scared the crap out of her.
He took his glasses from his face and placed them on the dashboard. “I understand.”
She pulled her legs up in her seat and got up on her knees to face him. “I don’t think you do. Because if we say something now, this thing between us would be out there for everyone to judge. It won’t be just ours anymore. It will be your mother’s, your father’s, Renee’s. It’s probably selfish of me, but I don’t want to share this. I don’t want to share us. I want you to myself. I also want Renee to have her wedding, and I want no one to talk about the girl who just broke out of a six year long relationship and is already falling for another man.”
He remained quiet for a good five seconds, his lip lifting in a smile as he turned to look at her. “You’re falling for me?”
The way he said it, with a shy hesitation, made her breath catch in her throat. It was innocent, and sincere, and so utterly sexy. She laughed a little, tears blurring her vision. “Hard.”
He reached out, grabbed the back of her neck, and pulled her toward him. “Good.” He gave her a quick kiss, then let her go.
She settled down in the seat and burrowed into his shoulder. In less than an hour they would be at the hotel. In less than an hour, she couldn’t sit this close to him anymore. He wrapped his arm around her, and she moved as close as she possibly could. Until then, she would enjoy this. Until then, she would take all of him she could get.
At just before one in the afternoon, they pulled off the freeway to the supermarket right outside the city. Tristan hopped out of the car in a hurry, then held up a finger, letting her know to stay where she was. She frowned, wondering what he was up to, because by now she knew the car well enough to know they weren’t in need of gas, and her eyebrows pinched together as she watched him walk through the double doors. He was gone longer than she expected, so long that she plugged in one of her audiobooks to pass the time. But eventually he came out carrying a brown paper sack and a bottle of soda. He opened the car door and handed her the bag as he climbed into the Mustang, then turned to face her and fasten his seat belt.
Her brows instantly furrowed and she looked at him suspiciously. “What is this?”
He gestured for her to open it, and she pulled out a long narrow box from inside. She glanced up, wrinkling her nose with amusement. “A cell phone?”
He grinned back at her and snatched the box from her hand. “If we’re going to pretend nothing is happening, I’m going to need some way to get hold of you.” He took the phone out of the box and began reading the instructions for set up.
“True,” she said, biting her lip as she watched him do his thing.
He handed the phone back to her a short time later, satisfied with his handiwork as he lifted his chin. “There. Call me. Then I’ll have your number in my phone.”
She glanced down to the cell, instantly grinning at the name in the title bar. “Wild Stallion?” she asked, barely able to contain her laughter.
He only grinned. “It’s a code name,” he said shyly. But then he lifted his eyebrows and grinned wider. “I bet you can’t guess what yours is?”
She giggled, amused by the fact that he’d given her a code name. “Oh God. What?”
“Mona.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Samantha’s stomach dropped as they rolled into the parking lot of the Hobart Garden Hotel. This was it, what the whole trip had been leading up to, but now that she was here, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for it. She looked over at Tristan, thankful they’d be so busy during the wedding that she wouldn’t have time to miss him—but she feared that wasn’t true, and squeezed his hand as they came closer toward the valet stand.
Renee had explained to Samantha how much money was being spent on the wedding, but there was nothing that could have prepared her for this. The hotel was a hundred stories high, like a wall of windows looking over the big city. Pristine, beautiful, and made her instantly self-conscious about the way she was dressed. She tugged at the tattered edge of her denim shorts and waited in the car for the valet to retrieve her from her seat.
“Madame,” he said respectfully, offering his arm for her to hold onto.
She pulled down the hem of her tank top, then retrieved her backpack from the back seat before accepting his help. “Thank you,” she said, then stepped up to the curb, not knowing what else to do.
The valet turned to Tristan, offering a red ticket in exchange for his keys. “Should I send your bags ahead, sir?” the man asked, but Tristan only shook his head, set his glasses on the bridge his nose, and threw his backpack high on his shoulder.
“That won’t be necessary, but thank you.”
Samantha busied herself braiding her hair as she followed Tristan to the elevator. “Do you know where we’re supposed to go?” she asked, looking around to the masses of people, all dressed in business suits and dresses.
He shrugged and smiled down at her. “I haven’t the faintest idea.” He reached for her hand, but she immediately retreated.
“Wild Stallion, remember?”
He cracked a smile, but ignored her warning and stepped toward her anyway. “You can call me that whenever you want to, baby.” He then tugged on one of her braids and pressed the call button for the elevator.
They stepped out to the lobby a short time later, where a bus boy with a hopper full of matching luggage passed in a hurry. Samantha looked around for the reception desk, wondering if that was where they should try first. “Maybe we can call Renee—”
But before she could finish her thought, a squeal came from the other side of the elevators and traveled all the way down the hall. Not two seconds later, a flurry of light brown hair and skinny legs launched themselves to the top of Tristan’s back.
“It’s about time!” Renee shouted.
Samantha covered her mouth, watching Tristan almost tumble forward before catching his balance and reaching up over his head to flip his sister over his shoulders. She was in a headlock before she could even blink.
“Woah, woah, woah!” protested a very tall, very lean man who came to stand beside them. “That’s my future bride you have there.”
Samantha instantly grinned. She’d seen pictures of the handsome ballet dancer, but there were people who were more attractive in person, and Renee’s fiancée was one of them. He had a sort of James Dean quality about him. Inky dark hair that was both perfectly combed but messy at the same time, and his eyelashes were so thick it almost looked like a chore to hold his eyes open.
Renee glanced up, head twisted around Tristan’s death grip, and giggled. “Phin, you remember my brother Tristan.”
Tristan let go of Renee, almost dropping her, then draped his arm over her shoulder, anchoring her arms at her waist. “Sisters,” he said, holding a hand out to shake. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.”
Phin only laughed, and shook Tristan’s hand. “It’s good to see you again,” he said, then he turned toward Samantha and took the backpack from her shoulder. “And you must be Samantha. Renee has been talking about you for months.”