Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Had Sophia overheard Callum?

He appeared to be occupied by his mom and their standoff. Maybe Lety had scolded him about the scene in the office the night before.

Either way, neither of them seemed to catch Sophia's hostile glare.

Then Sophia noticed Liddy's stare and her expression cleared instantly, a pleasant smile returning to her lips. She sidled over toward Liddy. "Are you going to play fútbol with the men? You should."

"Liddy rarely plays contact sports," Elle said, and Liddy raised a brow. She'd almost forgotten her sister was quietly observing everything going on around her. Elle's voice held a protective tone, and not in how Mom usually tried to discourage her from doing "dangerous" things.

Had Elle seen Sophia's look of dislike, too? Liddy tried to catch Elle's gaze, unsuccessfully.

"You really don't have to, Lid," Callum said in a low tone, taking her hand.

"I'll play," Isla announced cheerfully. She tied her hair up and bounded over toward the group, leaving a trail of prints in the sand. If Liddy had any doubt that she'd been purposely trying to lighten the air between her mom and her brother earlier, she no longer did. Isla was clearly used to playing the peacemaker.

This time, Isla's antics didn't seem to affect the strained group, who paid her little attention.

"You should let your girlfriend play, Callum." Sophia raised her chin, squaring off with Callum. "Unless you think she can't keep up with you."

Is that a dare?

Why was Sophia purposely trying to rile up Liddy—or Callum? She must have heard him mention her mother and grown defensive.

"Maybe she's standing right here and can speak her own goddamn mind without your interference," Callum said in a cold, stern tone.

Callum's mom looked tense as she glanced between Sophia and Callum.

Liddy shifted her weight, feeling only slight comfort from Elle's presence. Her gaze flitted to Isla, whose words earlier came back to her.

". . . the ex my brother was still hung up on five days ago."

Was this why Callum had wanted to pretend to be dating? Not because he worried about his mom's interference but because he wanted to make Sophia jealous? There certainly seemed to be tension between them, that was for sure.

"I can play, but I don't want to," Liddy said in a quiet voice. Her gut roiled as she turned to go, and Callum's hand tightened against hers.

"Stay," he said, stepping closer to her. His eyes searched hers, a piercing intensity to his gaze. "Please. I enjoy seeing you here."

He didn't lower his voice or say it in a way that only she could hear, but it somehow still made her feel as though he couldn't care less who was around and listening to them.

God, I wish I could fully believe he means that. That it's not all just a show for his mom or Sophia or whoever.

But that would also mean believing that he could feel more for her than he did. And he'd been clear that would never happen.

Liddy held his gaze, then nodded. Isla unwrapped an orange sarong from her waist. "Here, you can sit on this. These are my favorite things to carry onto the beach. They're practically sand proof."

Liddy thanked her for it, then spread it out onto the sand a little way off from where Quinn and his brothers had gathered and were discussing the boundaries of the "soccer field." She sat, then Elle popped down next to her. "What was that about?" Elle hissed, resting her weight back on her hands.

"What?" The mixture of emotions in her heart was becoming almost too much to process.

"I-I don't know. But something's off. Between Callum and his mom and you and him and Sophia. Even Isla was hopping around acting nervous."

Liddy focused her attention on the beach, where Mason was setting up a few fallen coconuts on either side of the playing field to mark off the goals. Callum had joined the men, along with Isla, Taryn, Rebecca, and a couple of their female cousins. As Callum laughed at something Mason said, Liddy envied his composure.

But that's Callum.

Emotionally disconnected and unavailable.

Cool under pressure.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here feeling like I'm fraying at the seams.

Not because she couldn't handle a sexual relationship with Callum where he promised nothing but the thrill of right now. Right? I can do that.

It was fun. Exciting. Sexy as hell.

And terrifying.

Callum peeled his T-shirt away at that moment, revealing his muscular frame, and Liddy felt her mouth go dry. Would she ever be able to look at him at work again without remembering his taste?

And he looks so fucking good in a suit, too.

"You look like you could eat him," Elle said with a quirk of her brow. "Man, Lid. I mean, I didn't know you were so into him." She ducked her chin. "Now are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"Sophia is Callum's ex-fiancée, that's all," Liddy whispered. The game started, and Callum sprinted forward onto the sand, his muscular frame quickly overtaking Quinn, who was doing his best to hold onto the ball.

He dodged forward, getting one bare foot on the ball, then swiped it away from Quinn in a blink with fast, fancy footwork.

God, he's beautiful.

And clearly good at this.

Which doesn't surprise me, his past career aspirations aside. Isla was right. Callum was good at everything he did.

"That's all?" Elle gripped Liddy's elbow. "That's huge. Quinn never told me that."

"They broke up five years ago. I mean—" She steadied her breath as Callum kicked the ball and it went sailing through the goal. I never knew I could get so turned on by soccer. "Quinn probably knows about it. But he doesn't know that it didn't end well between Sophia and Callum—she cheated on him—and Callum never told Quinn."

"Oh, wow. That's awful. I wish I had known." Elle's gaze was fixed on Quinn. "I can't believe he didn't?—"

"Is this seat taken?" Sophia's voice came softly.

Liddy glanced up at her, the rising sun making it hard to see her shadowed face.

Seriously?

"Um, no." She scooted closer to Elle, who'd tensed.

Sophia settled down beside Liddy but sat on the sand rather than on the sarong. She smiled at the game. "It's good to see Cal playing again. When I last saw him, he swore he'd never touch a ball again."

"He's amazing," Liddy said, surprised at how genuine she sounded. Partially because it was true—Callum was amazing at the sport. Quinn and his teammates were struggling to keep up.

"I just wanted to apologize." Sophia sifted some sand between her fingertips. "I wasn't trying to pressure you to do anything you didn't want to do. My apologies."

Elle grazed Liddy's elbow ever so slightly, as though to offer the reassurance of her presence, and Liddy smiled to herself, grateful for her sister. Whether or not Callum was hung up on Sophia, he'd spent the night in bed with Liddy. The past few days with her, in fact. And that wasn't nothing either.

And you have no right to be jealous anyway. She wasn't in a cat fight for Callum's feelings, after all. That would only end badly for her.

"You don't need to apologize," Liddy said with a breezy smile. "All you did was ask a question."

Sophia stopped fidgeting with the sand, then nodded. She looked over Liddy's profile toward Elle. "Speaking of questions, your planner told me you are all leaving today? I just wanted to confirm since you paid in advance. If no one is here, I can refund you the money and try to rebook some rooms."

Elle cleared her throat. "No, that's unnecessary. I mean, of course, feel free to rebook the rooms once we leave, but you don't have to refund us. Quinn and I don't want to do that to you all."

Liddy shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun against the sea. Her guilt at Elle's words ebbed closer now. Her sister and Quinn had paid for everyone's stay at La Hacienda . Even if it wasn't as expensive as whatever Quinn's mother had planned, they would still lose money over it.

Because I should have stayed when Elle asked for my help.

"What time do you think you will check out?" Sophia asked, smoothing her hands over her bare, tanned legs.

"I'm not sure." Elle pursed her lips. "I can check with the planner. Do you need us gone by a certain time?"

Hopefully, Sophia doesn't hear the hostility in Elle's tone like I do.

Liddy drew her brows together. After all, they had a right to be here if the rooms were paid for.

"By three would be perfecto." Sophia smiled, clearly missing the point of Elle's inquiry. "I just want time to turn the rooms over before?—"

A soccer ball whizzed between Sophia and Liddy, nearly hitting Sophia. Both Liddy and Sophia let out startled cries, springing back as the ball tumbled harmlessly onto the sand behind them.

Then Liddy whirled back in the direction the ball had come from. Callum jogged toward them, his stride relaxed. "Sorry about that." Callum stopped in front of Liddy. "The ball went off my foot the wrong way."

She could practically see the smirk in his eyes. If he kicked it, he did it on purpose. "Yeah, well, try to be more accurate, Mr. Scott."

Callum bent down and scooped her into his arms. His chest was damp with sweat, his skin scorching to her touch. He kissed her hard.

Just for show.

It's just for show.

But her heart was slamming against her ribs.

She pulled away and tipped her lips to his ear. "You better not be kissing me to make your ex jealous," she whispered.

"What ex?" Callum's lips grazed her earlobe. "I'm kissing you because I want to kiss you. Kicking the ball over here was just my excuse to sneak away to kiss the most gorgeous woman on this beach."

Her legs were unsteady as he set her back down again. Liddy caught the approving expression on Elle's face as she stared at Callum.

It shouldn't matter to me if Elle likes him for me.

But she also wanted her to.

She wanted Callum to fit with her crazy family. To show him off to her parents and aunts and uncles. They'd all been whispering about "Liddy's new man" this whole trip.

She looked over her shoulder. Sophia had disappeared.

Elle nestled her head against Liddy's shoulder. "I like seeing you happy."

Liddy murmured a response, letting them slip into silence as they watched the game. With the sea sparkling in front of them, and the sound of family laughing, it was so easy to push away the troubled thoughts that had plagued her during yoga.

But a voice at the back of her head wouldn't stop chattering either, reminding her how quickly things could change— will change...when I return to London.