Chapter Eighteen

Brandy

I exhaled and made sure I had a good grip on my bag. Even though it was on wheels, it still took most of my strength to roll around. I really needed to learn to pack lighter.

As if Wyatt knew what I was thinking, he asked, "What is it with women and packing everything they own for a short trip? Look at that suitcase, it's huge and I bet it's packed to the hilt." He chuckled and shook his head, placing the key to the villa in the lock and unlocking the door.

I eyed him even though I knew he couldn't see me. "What is it with men and packing so light? You don't pack back-ups or anything."

Ignoring my question, he pushed the door open and let out a sigh. "We're going to have to turn the heat on," he noted.

"Good idea." The north Florida temperature was no joke, it was nothing like the Miami temperatures I was used to. It was down right bone-chilling, especially this early in the morning. I knew it'd heat up as the day went on and the sun came up, but I wasn't so sure about this pool party idea. I was shivering just thinking about it. Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in. "Honestly, I'm just glad to get out of that car and stretch my legs. I hate long drives, I feel so cramped."

He grabbed his bag and opened the door for me. "Ladies first."

"Thanks," I said and went in. I took a step inside and let my eyes roam over the space.

Kitchen and living area, check and check.

Bathroom, check.

But then I only saw one bedroom door. It was a one bedroom villa.

I walked to the bedroom and pushed the door open.

Of course. One bed.

"Um, Wyatt," I carefully began as I continued to look around. "I think there's been some sort of mistake."

"What's wrong?" he asked, coming in and closing the door behind him with a thud.

I nearly jumped at the sound, but more so at the realization that there were two of us and only one bed. This was so not part of the plan.

I felt his presence behind me. "Not a problem," I heard him say and I turned around, shocked.

"Not a problem?" I questioned his position. "This is the very definition of a problem." I shook my head and dropped my bags down on the floor. "I'm going to go talk to my mother, maybe she knows something about this."

He left his suitcase where it was on the floor and placed his hands on my shoulders, running them down my arms. "Hey," he whispered. "For all we know, she had some say in this. You don't want to raise suspicion. Besides, there's a perfectly good couch in the living room. I can sleep there."

I peered over at his hands that were still on me. I loved the way it felt, but also knew that he made himself very clear earlier. This was nothing more than an act. So we needed to remember that.

He dropped his hands and placed them in his pockets. "Why don't you get some rest?" He tilted his head toward the bed.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "You've been up for as long as I have. You need sleep, too."

He shrugged. "The couch," he reminded me. "Look how comfortable it looks."

I eyed it. It looked anything but comfortable. Hard? Maybe. Scratchy? Definitely. "Liar," I exclaimed.

He cocked a brow as he peered in the direction of the couch, too. I could've sworn he visibly cringed. "I won't take no for an answer. I'm going to go for a walk anyway, so the bed is all yours."

"Maybe I'll join you," I said, taking a step as he turned.

Wyatt rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, looking over his shoulder at me. "We don't have much time until the pool party. Are we really going to spend it bickering?"

I stifled a yawn.

"See," he said, pointing to my mouth. "You're tired."

"No," I lied, "really, I'm not that tired."

He rolled his eyes. "Have you always been this stubborn?"

I shrugged my shoulders and blew a loose piece of hair away from the front of my face. "Maybe," I replied.

"All right, well, I'm going to go."

He turned on his heel, but I grabbed his arm before he left. "Wait," I said. I cleared my throat when he turned back around and looked at me, his eyes searching mine. "I just wanted to say thank you." I looked everywhere but at him, suddenly feeling shy. "You know, for everything." I really didn't want to get into it, but didn't need to because I knew that he knew what I was talking about.

"I know," he told me. "Just do me a favor, don't become jaded. Not because of that idiot, he's not worth it. And you're giving him more power than he deserves."

I frowned. I knew he meant well, but I didn't think he understood just how badly it hurt. The way Nate just threw our relationship away like it never meant anything to him. I knew it hadn't been great for a while now, but I never would have cheated on him. I made sure he knew he was the only man for me, especially when this hole Wyatt fake dating thing started. But Nate, he didn't give a damn about my feelings. That hurt the most.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, searching my eyes again.

I brushed it off. "Nothing. You're right, I could use that nap."

I turned around and started walking to the bed when I heard the door. I looked back and saw that he was gone and I never felt more alone.

* * *

I slept fitfully, continually thinking about Nate. He occupied my thoughts and I wished like hell it'd stop. I almost felt more tired waking up from my nap then when I'd gone to sleep.

Worse, all I could think about was that redhead. It was like no matter how hard I tried, she kept creeping into my thoughts. Deanna. Ugh, the name was forever tarnished in my mind.

I understood I shouldn't care, that it shouldn't matter, that it was his fault and it shouldn't be my problem. I understood that, but that didn't stop the feeling I had of failure, like there was something I could have done to prevent it from happening. I mean, I was enough, wasn't I?

I couldn't stand this. Now fully awake, all I could think about was all the stupid things that he'd said to me recently, all the things he'd done. Our relationship was far from perfect, but was anyone's? I thought it was a rough patch and that we'd get over it.

Boy, was I wrong.

To me, cheating was the ultimate sin. It was the one indiscretion that was unforgivable and there was no way in hell I was putting up with that. Had I known sooner, Nate would have been out on his ass a lot sooner.

I deserved better.

One day I would have better.

I hoped.

Ugh, I mentally groaned, wishing like hell I could stop this train of thought.

This was like a vacation for me and I needed it, more than I could have ever imagined. And I was going to enjoy myself dammit. I was going to have a good time with Wyatt and no one, and I meant no one, was going to rain on my parade.

Just then I got a whiff of an incredible smell and my stomach growled as though on cue. It smelled like eggs and bacon. Following the scent, like a hound dog, I stood up and walked out of the bedroom. I inhaled and sighed happily.

"Hungry?" I heard Wyatt's deep voice ask me. "I imagined you would be, so I hope you don't mind, but I made us a little something to eat."

I opened my eyes and watched as he stood in front of the stove, his back to me. I could imagine what it would be like waking up like this every morning, to Wyatt making me breakfast.

I stretched, letting out a noise as I did.

"Enjoyed your nap?" he questioned, doing something at the stove.

I nodded, although he was still turned around and couldn't see me. "Well enough." There was no point in unleashing all my nightmares and self-deprecating thoughts on him.

"You know, I'm not much for naps myself, but now I understand why people like them so much," he said, turning around to face me finally.

"You tried out the couch?"

"I did. It's awful. Then I turned around and went back outside. I found a bench and closed my eyes, enjoying the breeze."

I gasped. "You didn't? Oh my goodness, Wyatt. You cannot sleep on a bench. We'll have to just be adults about this. You can't very well try the couch again and a bench is out of the question."

He shrugged me off. "Tonight's problem. For now, let's enjoy breakfast."

I agreed. "Fine by me. I could do without thinking about closing my eyes again." Then I dropped my voice as if I was saying something I shouldn't. "Every time I do, I recall the very vivid memory of my boyfriend cheating on me."

I watched his body tense and immediately regretted saying anything at all, regretted bringing it back up. It was clearly a topic he felt just as strongly about and I didn't want to get him worked up. He made me a nice breakfast, we were far away from my idiot ex and I wanted to enjoy all of it.

"Anyway," I said, hoping we'd move on to something safer.

He picked up my hint. "You snore, you know that?"

It caught me off guard and I gasped. I leaned over and grabbed one of the pillows from the couch, throwing it as far as I could, but it barely just hit the back of him before falling to the floor. "Take that back," I demanded.

"Hey, no fair. Those are like rocks. You can't throw those."

"Take it back," I insisted like a little kid.

He chuckled. "No can do. It's the truth and I'm nothing if not honest." Then he bent over in laughter, as if not able to hold it in any longer. "I'm sorry, I was only kidding, I have no idea if you snore. But did you suck in any flies with the way you gasped?"

He turned around and laughed some more, and I rolled my eyes at him. "So glad you had your fun. But just know this," I said, and pointed a finger in his direction as I got up and walked over to where he was. "I'm not sharing my bacon with you."

"You don't need to," he said, as he grabbed the pan and began plating everything. "I'd be the one sharing with you, and just for that pillow toss, I don't know," he teased. "I might not be so kind."

I stepped forward and extended my hand to grab a piece of bacon from the dish he was holding when he lifted it in the air. "Uh-uh," he warned.

I jumped up to reach for it and giggled. "Come on, Wyatt, you're not playing nice."

He chuckled and brought it off to the side, but lowered it to my height. "Better?"

I reached forward and our bodies touched, my breasts pushing up against his side. He must have felt the reaction my body had when he was around because he looked over at me, brought the dish closer, and cleared his throat. "It's not as good cold," he stated, passing it to me.

I quirked a brow and backed up. "True," I said, taking it from him. "Unlike pizza," I randomly blurted out.

He cocked a brow, questioningly.

"Yeah," I explained, "pizza is my favorite cold. I don't like it as much hot." I shrugged my shoulders and took a bite of the bacon. "Mmm," I moaned. "Now, this is some good bacon. You cook often?" I held up the rest of the bacon strip as I asked him.

He finished making his own plate of eggs and bacon and responded, "Sometimes. I enjoy it. My mom taught me. All of us, actually."

Just as I was about to respond, there was a knock on the door and Wyatt turned to me. "Are we expecting company?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He blew past me as he said, "I'll get it."

I finished swallowing my last bite and wiped my hands on the dish towel as he opened the door.

"Wow, Brandy wasn't kidding when she said she was bringing a man this weekend, but I don't remember my dear daughter ever saying just how handsome you are." I exhaled at the sound of my mother's voice. I should have known she wouldn't waste any time.

"Brandy," Wyatt admonished as they both walked over to me. "How could you not?" he teased. "You know the word handsome best describes me."

"Macie." He extended a hand and introduced himself.

"And a gentleman?" My mother gave me a very unsubtle wink. "Much better than the last one already."

I sighed and Wyatt looked over at me, clearly taking it all in. "Mom, please."

"Oh," she whispered and looked over at Wyatt. "Ignore me."

"Always," I said under my breath as they continued talking. Mom going on about how cute Wyatt was.

When I sighed again, she looked at me. "Oh, am I embarrassing you?"

I widened my eyes and made a cut-it-out gesture with my hand.

"You know," she began and held a finger over her lips, looking upward as she thought back. "The last time she was this embarrassed was when I told her I would chaperone the homecoming dance. Oh, she was so upset with me. She begged me not to."

"Mom!" I warned again.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm just so happy my daughter finally found someone else to date besides that bum." She rolled her eyes. "He was unemployed and was taking advantage of Brandy's good heart. She would never say so, but he was a leech."

I crossed my arms and was about to reply when Wyatt stepped in, coming over and placing an arm around my shoulder. "I'm always telling her how caring and considerate she is. Not everyone is to be trusted and some people can take advantage of a person with those qualities." He gave me a pointed look and I knew we were talking about the fact that Nate cheated on me and this was his subtle way of saying yet again it wasn't my fault and that Nate was in the wrong here.

I nodded slightly as though to tell him I knew what he was saying and appreciated him saying it.

"Well, I hope you don't mind," my mother said, "but I had to stop by, see your new man for myself. What a nice, strong man, too." Her gaze fell to the side. "Wyatt," she repeated to herself before smiling. "Brandy and Wyatt. It has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

I smiled. "It does, doesn't it?" It would be weird if I didn't respond cheerfully, right? After all, I was supposedly interested in this man.

Except there was no supposedly about it. I'd been interested in him from the word go.

And heck, she was right—Brandy and Wyatt, Wyatt and Brandy, I repeated to myself, it had a great ring to it.

But we were fake dating, I reminded myself once again and felt like a balloon that just had the air deflated out of it. I had never hated a word so much in my life. Fake. Ugh! I knew it was part of my plan, but sometimes I wished we didn't have to label it as anything.

Refusing to get wrapped up in those thoughts, I wrapped an arm around his waist now and leaned in closer, possibly taking this whole fake dating thing too far. "This villa is lovely, by the way, Mom, we love it."

That was just coupley enough that it was believable, right? I couldn't have her seeing right through the whole charade. Not this soon.

Did I ever notice how built he was? He was like a tank. Solid, strong. It felt good to have my arm around him. Too good, in fact. My mind wandered to what he'd look like with a little less clothes on.

Sirens went off in my head. Dangerous territory, retreat, retreat.

Meanwhile, Mom smiled wide. "Isn't it? And cozy, too. Perfect for a new couple romancing each other."

My eyes went wide. "Mom!" Now I knew she was behind this whole one bedroom thing.

Wyatt gave me a light squeeze as though to say, "Be cool."

She shrugged her shoulders. "That's all you two need, right? One bedroom, I mean." She fixed her clutch under her armpit and chuckled. "Please, Brandy, I'm not naive. I'm sure you and Wyatt are—" she paused and leaned in further as she whispered, "sharing the same bed. You're a couple now, it's to be expected. I am a modern woman, you know."

I widened my eyes and cleared my throat, suddenly feeling like it was a little too hot in here. Maybe it was the third person, too much body heat and all that. "All right," I said, walking out of Wyatt's embrace and clapping my hands together. "Time to go."

"Oh, no, already?"

I looked at the time on the wall clock and nodded. "Yes. Wyatt and I wouldn't want to be late for the pool party. And we still have to unpack and change, so," I said, letting my thoughts fall off and practically pushing her out the door.

She stepped out and I waved. "Sorry, Mom. I really wish you could stay and chat more with Wyatt and I. You know, really get to know him."

She smiled and winked at Wyatt. "There'll be plenty of time for that later."

And with that, I closed the door shut and turned to face Wyatt. "She's unbelievable."

He didn't say anything, just grabbed a couple bites and started loading all the dirty dishes in the sink. "I'll finish this while you get ready."

"Okay, thanks."

As I made my way over to my suitcase, I grabbed the handle and rolled it to the bedroom. I looked back at him and caught him looking at me, too. He smiled when our eyes met and I noticed, not for the first time, that he rarely ever smiled, but I seemed to be the exception.

Was it wrong that made me practically giddy? If someone would have told me that the man I knew nearly two years ago who left me with nothing more than a note, an emotionally unavailable man, was going to be my guardian angel swooping in to save the day, I wouldn't have believed them.

I knew he didn't like me thinking about him that way, but there was no other way to put it really. He did such a good job convincing my mom that for a moment there even I forgot it was all smoke in mirrors. I wasn't worried in the least bit about him meeting the rest of the family. He was going to do fine.

Frankly, the only thing I was concerned about now, I mused, as I pulled my bikini and cover-up out of my suitcase, was how I was supposed to pretend everything I was feeling was as fake as our relationship.