Pretty in Ink (Voretti Family Book 3) (15 page)

No fooling around. Because after the wedding, Joslyn and I are going to pick up where we left off.

The memory of Caleb’s pronouncement jolted Liv upright. “Where’d my pen go?”

Caleb dangled the ballpoint just out of her reach. “What are you going to write about me?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t written it yet. Because someone won’t give me a pen.”

“So you’re going to wing it? Write whatever comes to mind?” He sounded worried.
 

Probably her imagination.
 
What did
he
have to worry about? She was the one who was going to lose her loan if they didn’t write a decent set of vows. “Is that a problem?”

“I don’t want to write something snarky if you’re going with sweet.”

“You tell me, then. Snarky or sweet?”

He stared at her, eyes dark. Shuttered.
 

“Sweet,” he said, finally, holding her gaze.
 

Awareness sparked down her spine.
 

Don’t get too excited. He’s talking about the wedding vows.
 

“Fine. Sweet.” She grabbed her pen without touching him. So far so good.
 

My wedding vows
, she wrote across the top of the page. That was as far as she got before the scratch-scratch of Caleb’s pen distracted her. She wasn’t touching him anymore. She wasn’t even looking at him. But she was all too aware of his presence next to her.

“Can’t think of anything sweet to say?” he murmured.

“Of course I can.” She angled her paper away from him and scribbled the first thing that came into her mind.

I, Olivia, take you, Caleb, to be my husband
.

Great. That sounded like she’d copied from some cheesy wedding website.

Which, come to think of it, was a great idea. There must be creative but sweet wedding vows somewhere on the internet.
 

She slid her phone out of her pocket.

“Nuh uh.” Caleb grabbed it before she could open the web browser. “No cheating. If I have to do this, so do you.”

“I was only checking if I had any missed calls.”

Caleb glanced at the screen. “You don’t.”

She slid the phone back into her pocket reluctantly. It was a good thing she wouldn’t be in this fake relationship long, or she’d end up as honest as Captain Integrity.

Inspiration struck, and she started writing.

You keep me honest. You calm me down and help me make better decisions. I’m so glad I found you, because when we’re together, I’m the best version of myself. So I promise you my love and my loyalty. I promise to stand by your side, making your life brighter and more exciting, even as you make mine smoother and more manageable.

She put her pen down.

Caleb was still going, his pad angled away from her. What was he writing? Surely he didn’t have
that
much to say about her.

She scooted closer, trying to get a glimpse, but he flipped the notebook closed.

Ella popped up at exactly the wrong moment. “No peeking, Liv. Don’t you want it to be a surprise?”

“No!”
 

Ella’s eyes gleamed with triumph. “All right, everyone. Pens down. It’s time to share. And since Liv is so anxious to hear Caleb’s vows, we’ll start with him.”

Liv took a deep breath. There was no reason to worry. No way would Caleb screw her over. It would go against his Captain-Integrity code.
 

“Ready?” Ella chirped.

Liv pulled on a smile, trying to pretend she wasn’t sweating through her embroidered tunic. Everyone knew guys weren’t romantic. She’d pretend she found Caleb’s horribly mangled vows cute. Throw her arms around him and give him a kiss. A little tongue action would make everyone forget that he hadn’t vowed to love her for as long as they both lived.

“Uh,” Caleb said. “I guess.”

Ella’s smile widened, showing her perfectly straight, perfectly white incisors. “Go ahead.”

“Olivia Voretti, I choose you to be my wife for many reasons.” Caleb stared at his paper, avoiding eye contact.
 

Liv folded her hands together to keep from grabbing the notebook. It didn’t matter how bad Caleb’s vows were. If she interfered, it would only make things worse.
 

“I love the way you say what’s on your mind, even when it gets you into trouble.” There was a burst of knowing laughter from the crowd, forcing Caleb to pause.
 

Liv forced in a breath. Okay. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a
complete
disaster.
 

“I love that I can always find you in a
 
crowded room, because whatever you’re wearing, it’s different than what everyone else has on.”
 

More
laughter.
 

“I love that you know how to find joy in life. I’m not sure why you want me—”
 

This time, her relatives roared with mirth, everyone apparently of the opinion that Liv should be beyond grateful Caleb had consented to date her. She pulled on a smile, trying to look sweet for her parents, while at the same time shooting eye-daggers at her brothers, who were wiping away actual tears of laughter. She was going to strangle them as soon as her mom was looking the other way.

“You’re unique and you’re fearless, and when you commit to something, you do it with everything in you. So that’s the way I promise to commit to you.” Caleb finally looked at her, and she forgot to be angry. Forgot to do anything but stare as he spoke the words she knew he couldn’t possibly mean. “I love you, Olivia.”

This isn’t real. He’s playing a role. The role you
asked
him to play.

But Caleb was a better actor than she’d given him credit for, because he looked serious. He looked hungry.

“I love you with all of me. Forever.” His voice pulled her into a dream where the rest of the world fell away. He was hers and she was his and—

The applause snapped her out of her trance. The entire room was clapping. Her cousin Claire was on her feet, giving Caleb a standing ovation.

“People, please. Let’s hold the applause until the very end.” The giant frown on Ella’s face should have made Liv’s day, but she was dizzy and disoriented. She could still see the look in Caleb’s eyes as he’d proclaimed his love.
 

She snuck a glance at him. He met her gaze, calm and controlled and perfectly Caleb, but she hadn’t imagined that heat. It was the same heat she’d seen right before he’d kissed her. Maybe it had always been there, lurking right below the surface.
 

The idea electrified her. It made sense. It explained why Caleb had responded to her so strongly the night of the barbecue.
 

It was dangerous what he was doing—bottling up his emotions until they exploded. Their kiss had temporary relieved his emotional pressure, but it was only a matter of time before it built up again. And, next time, the resulting eruption might not be a harmless little kiss with an understanding friend. The next time it might throw his whole life off-track.
 

He was doing her a favor by pretending to be her boyfriend. Maybe she could do him a favor, too. She’d spend the rest of their time together helping him get in touch with his emotions. She’d get her loan, and Caleb would learn to live his life to the fullest.

*

“Here you go, Caleb. You and Liv are in cabin eighteen.” Ella forced the key into Caleb’s hand. Which was even sweatier than when he’d been reading his vows.

All day he’d been in a state of high alert, performing a delicate dance where he stayed close to Liv but not too close. When Ella had finally announced that scheduled activities were over for the day, he’d thought he’d be able to find some peace. And now
this
?

“So we’re, uh, sharing a room?” His brain pulled up an image of Liv lying on soft cotton sheets. Her eyes were hot and her smile was soft and her hands were stretched over her head, gripping the rungs of an old brass bed frame as he—
 

“Unless there’s some reason you don’t want to.” Ella’s voice was sweet, but her eyes held that same predatory gleam they’d had all day.

“Of course we want to.” Liv cuddled up to Caleb like he was a goddamn teddy bear. He tried to uncouple his brain from the physical sensations, but he felt her all over. Even in places she couldn’t possibly reach while he was fully clothed.

He squeezed the key until the ridged edge bit into his palm. “We’d love to. But you know how Francesca and Antonio are. And I don’t want to ruin your party.”

“Don’t you worry about them.” Ella smiled wide. “Actually, Aunt Franny already knows about the sleeping arrangements. She wanted to make sure you and Liv had plenty of privacy.”

“Oh. Well, that’s…”

“You didn’t think Liv’s parents thought she was a virgin, did you? I don’t think
anyone
thinks Liv is a virgin. Did you know she was only fifteen when—”

“Thank you, Ella,” Liv broke in. “We’re going to bed now. Where we’re going to have lots of sex. In lots of different positions. Because I’ve been doing it for so long that I’m an expert.” She pulled Caleb toward the door.

“No problem whatsoever,” Ella called after them. “Have a great night. Hope you’re nice and cozy.”

Liv shoved the door open.

The lodge hadn’t been particularly warm, but the outside temperature was downright frigid, and Liv started to shiver. He pulled her close. She was too small to maintain a healthy core temperature without some extra body heat.

Sure, buddy. Keep telling yourself that.

“Sorry,” Liv muttered. “I didn’t think about the sleeping arrangements.”

“No big deal.” He couldn’t even sell that lie to himself. Not when he and Liv were alone in the dark, the only light coming from the stars above. It was the kind of pure darkness that made it easy to imagine they were alone in the world, no reason he couldn’t act on the crazy attraction that had only gotten stronger since he’d kissed her.

His mind raced, trying to come up with some way out of this mess. “You take the cabin. I’ll bunk with Alex and Matt.”

“Yeah. Because that won’t be suspicious at all.” Liv sighed. “Ella might be a bitch, but she’s right. Even Nonna Hazel knows I’m not a virgin.”

He stubbed his toe on an exposed tree root.

“You okay?” Liv asked.

He muttered a soft curse—but not because his toe was stinging. “I’m fine.”

“Come on.” She fumbled with her cell phone, and then a light pierced the darkness.
 

They used the makeshift flashlight to find their way to his SUV. After grabbing their bags, they started down the narrow dirt path that led to the cabins.
 

“Don’t worry,” Liv said. “We don’t have to share the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor. I’ll take the floor.” They reached the end of the main circle of cabins but there was no number eighteen. “If we ever find this place.”
 

“That way.” Liv’s cell phone lit up a small wooden sign reading
Cabin Eighteen
with an arrow pointing to the right. They followed the narrow path through a grove of oaks dense enough to blot out the little starlight that penetrated the cloud cover, finally emerging at cabin eighteen.
 

And that put an end to Caleb’s final desperate plan, where he waited until everyone was asleep and then drove to the nearest hotel. He couldn’t leave Liv all alone in the middle of nowhere.
 

“It figures Ella would exile us to Siberia,” Liv muttered as Caleb fitted the key to the lock. “There better be a bathroom, or I’m leaving.”

There was a bathroom and a bed, but that was it. The place was so small there was barely room to walk in the space between where the king-sized bed ended and the wall began.

Liv rubbed her hands over her nearly bare arms—the fuzzy sweater she’d thrown on over her top was so thin it might as well not have been there are all. “I think it’s colder in here than it was outside.” She squeezed her way over to the thermostat. “It looks like it’s on. Do you see any heating vents?”

With nothing adorning the bare wood walls, it was easy to rule out the bedroom. He poked his head into the tiny bathroom. “There’s one in here.”

He held his hand under the vent. It was pumping out hot air. But such a pathetic amount that it couldn’t make up for the cold seeping in from outside. For once, nature was on his side. With his body busy maintaining a safe core temperature, he wouldn’t be able to fantasize about Liv.

He stepped back into the bedroom. “Get under the covers. You’ll warm up.”

“I don’t know about that,” Liv said, but she slipped off her boots and dove under the blankets.

“Better?”

“I don’t know yet.”
 

Caleb toed off his shoes. At least it wasn’t gonna look weird that he was keeping all his clothes on. He eyed the floor, finally settling on the thin strip at the base of the bed. He might
almost
fit there.

He grabbed a pillow and the thinnest of the blankets. At least, he tried. Liv’s hand shot out, snatching the end of it. “What are you
doing
?”

“You expect me to sleep on the floor without any blankets?”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor. This bed is huge. And I’m wearing every single article of clothing I own. It’s not like we’re going to have accidental sleep sex.” She shivered.

He was so cold his balls had disappeared inside his body. But his ears were working fine, and that last word echoed inside his head.
Sex. Sex. Sex.

“You just don’t want to give up any blankets,” he said, trying to remember that he was too cold to be turned on. But Liv’s hair was spread out on the pillow, exactly the way he’d pictured it, and he was getting warmer by the second.

“Come on,” she said. “Get in bed.”

He didn’t let himself think. He switched off the lights, flipped back the covers, and slid onto the edge of the mattress, as far as possible from Liv.

He closed his eyes. Took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly.

Liv was right. The bed was so big that he really couldn’t tell she was there, and the mattress was surprisingly comfortable. He focused on his breathing. In, then out. In, then out. After the stress of the day, his body welcomed the chance to stop thinking, taking him straight toward the convenient oblivion of sleep.