“Yeah, I should never order food when I’m hungry.” Which he still was. He’d been close to digging into the pizza when his dad called. “My dad and Laura came back early from their vacation. They wanted to get together this weekend.” Josh added as much food to his plate as he could.
After putting a spoonful of dip on her plate, she added several carrots and celery sticks. Carrots he’d eat raw or cooked. Celery, though, he avoided. Not only did he dislike the taste, it never filled him up and usually ended up getting stuck between his teeth.
“We can go if you want. You met my family.”
“Not this weekend. I want to take you up to Bar Harbor in the morning or when you get done with work. We can come back Sunday night. Or if you can work from home for a few days, we can stay longer.”
“Uh… yeah, I can work from home tomorrow and on Monday. But I have a meeting on Wednesday morning, so we’ll need to be back by Tuesday night.” Her eyes reflected the various questions or maybe they were doubts going through her head. Josh wasn’t sure.
“If there’s something else you want to do, name it.”
The questions remained in her eyes as she shook her head. “A weekend in Maine sounds nice.”
He heard the but in her voice. “Whatever you’re thinking, spit it out. You won’t offend or upset me.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and added an assortment of foods to her plate. Since her eyes never left his face, Josh doubted she knew what she’d even selected. After putting a spoonful of roasted tomatoes practically on top of a slice of pizza, she answered him. “Everyone is buying our story, Josh. We don’t need to make it look like we’re going on some romantic getaway.”
Her words stung. But he should’ve expected them. “This weekend isn’t about anyone else. It’s about you and me enjoying some time away from the city in one of my favorite places.”
He let his words sink in and dug into his pizza.
Josh was about to try the prosciutto melon skewer on his plate when she spoke again. “What time do you want to leave in the morning?”
“Traffic shouldn’t be too bad, but it’d be great if we can get on the road by eight.”
Courtney finished the wine in her glass and reached for the bottle. “Shouldn’t be a problem as long as Aimee Trainor isn’t camped out downstairs again hoping to do an interview with us together.”
He’d apologized already, but he felt the need to do so again. “Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up. How bad was it?” He’d dealt with Aimee so many times he knew how to steer her away from topics he didn’t want to discuss. As far as he knew, this was the first time Courtney had dealt with the woman.
She sighed. “It could’ve been worse, I guess. She probably asked me some of the same questions she asked you, like how we met and kept our relationship a secret.”
“Yeah, I got those too.” They’d been the first questions Aimee shot off after she cornered him. Then she’d asked how he felt about joining one of the most well-known families in the country. What other questions had she thrown at Courtney?
“She made sure to bring up your reputation and asked how I felt about it,” Courtney explained, picking up her fork and spearing a tomato.
Big surprise. If anyone knew about his reputation, it was Aimee Trainor, especially since she’d helped create it. He could check the Star Insider website or watch Aimee’s show in a few days and possibly learn Courtney’s response. But he wanted to know now.
“What did you tell her?”
“I lied.” She shrugged and closed her lips around her fork. Once she finished chewing, she sipped her wine and then continued. “I told her I’d seen people change when they fall in love and used Trent as an example. I finished by telling her I knew you loved me. She bought the whole thing.”
It might have been a lie at one time. Not anymore. What about for her?
No matter the dollar amount he and Evan had promised to donate, Josh didn’t believe she would’ve agreed to help if she didn’t care for him on a personal level. His belief was first backed up when they’d returned from the night at her parents’ and she’d asked him to move into her room. Courtney’s day-to-day behavior since then reinforced it. If she wanted, she could ignore him. The penthouse was large enough that they could each do their own thing and not bother each other unless they wanted sex. But that wasn’t what they did. Instead, they hung out watching television, playing cards, or sometimes chess. Even on the few occasions he’d put on the basketball game, she’d sat in the room with him and read. They never lacked for conversation. And the previous weekend, she’d treated his daughter like she was her own instead of a temporary stepdaughter who would pass through her life.
So yeah, he believed she cared about him. But caring about him and loving him was not the same.
“Can I ask you something?” Courtney asked, intruding on his thoughts. “Actually, a couple of things?”
“Shoot.”
“Aimee said Naomi called it quits because you cheated
on her. Did you?”
He had no proof, but he suspected Aimee had started those rumors to get her ratings up around the same time Naomi ended their relationship.
“If you did, I won’t back out of our agreement. I’m just curious.”