Chapter Seven

Zoey

Brent pulls under the large, covered parking area by the front glass doors of the hotel to let me out.

"Why don't you go in and get our room keys while I unpack the back of the SUV?" Brent offers.

"Good idea," I tell him, grabbing my purse off the floorboards. Then I text my sister to let her know that we just arrived.

A text comes through almost immediately with a large amount of dirty emojis. She must already be a few drinks in if she's feeling that frisky.

I walk into the ritzy wide-open lobby with a ten-foot Christmas tree sparkling in the corner by the reception desk, wreaths and twinkle lights strung up through-out.

The travertine stone floors sparkle as I walk through, my chunky heels making an echoed clacking noise as I walk through the lobby and head for the reception desk.

I wish I could take a moment to admire the space with its expensive furnishings and beautiful finishes, but when I look to my left, I see the bar door is open. Liam, Phoebe, and David are at the bar top, and I'm sure everyone else we know is in there too.

"Zoey!" My sister's voice echoes and rattles the glass of this place.

Before I see her, she comes careening toward me and wraps her arms around me in a bear hug.

"Where's Brent? I thought he couldn't get a room here?" she whispers.

"He couldn't… He's staying with me."

Her eyebrows hit the ceiling, and her mouth drops open.

"You mean, like in your room… with only one bed?"

My sister grips around my shoulders so tight I'm sure it will leave a bruise later.

"Ouch, you're hurting me," I mumble, glaring at her to release me. "And the room is a double queen so chill out."

She grins and lets go of me. It's not the single bed she was hoping for, but it's still in the same room.

I step around her and head for the check-in desk—Phoebe follows closely behind me.

A man in a nice fitting suit stands on the other side of the check-in desk, Christmas garland strung up behind him against the wall.

"Checking in, miss?" he asks.

"Yes, please," I say, reaching in for my wallet out of my purse and pull out my ID to hand it to him. "Zoey Kloss. I'm here with the wedding party."

"Good afternoon, Miss Kloss, and thank you for choosing us to book your stay," he says, clicking away at his computer.

"Huh…" he says, his eyebrows downturned as he views the monitor, "I don't have a Zoey Kloss in the system. Could it be under a different name?"

A different name?

No…

Oh, right. I booked it under Zoey Smith when I assumed I'd be married to Liam by now.

"Can you try Zoey Smith?" I ask him a little under my breath even though Phoebe and I are currently the only two in the lobby while everyone else we know are inside the bar.

I know my sister will understand, but it's still embarrassing that I booked a room under a last name I never had. And then to be using it while my fake boyfriend is unpacking our luggage for us to stay in the room together.

It just feels weird.

"Well, it says here that Liam Smith already checked into your room."

Liam checked into our room?

"Shoot, I forgot to take him off the reservation," I say as I think through the day I booked this hotel.

David and Phoebe had already been engaged before Liam broke off our engagement. With this hotel requiring over a yearlong booking to get a spot, Phoebe had already booked her wedding location, so I booked a room for Liam and me, and for obvious reasons, I assumed we would be married by then since our wedding should have happened a year ago.

"You didn't change your reservation?" my sister asks, her eyebrows downturned like that was a silly oversight on my end.

"I didn't think to do it because I forgot that I didn't book it under my maiden name," I tell her, a tingle of panic starting to clog my throat, my pulse starting to rise.

This can't be right. Liam wouldn't have done this.

The hotel must have made a mistake.

Yeah… some kind of mix-up.

There's no way that Liam would have checked into the reservation I made for my sister's wedding for him and the woman he left me for. It's impossible—he'd never do something this cruel, not to me.

"Okay, do you have a second room booked for Liam Smith? They must have checked him into my room instead by accident. I'll just take his, "I tell the hotel receptionist.

He barely even looks over the guest list on the computer before answering.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't see any booking for a Liam Smith other than as the second guest for your room."

It's an oversight, as simple as that. I'm not going to lose my cool over it.

"That little shit stole your room too? I'm going to kill him." My sister starts to turn around and heads for the bar to do something unsavory on her wedding weekend when I grip her arm and pull her to stop her from making a scene.

"It's fine, Phoebe. It's not a big deal. We can sort this out."

I'll just book another room. No need to add unnecessary drama to this emotionally charged wedding weekend.Besides, Liam would never have done this on purpose. It had to have been an honest misunderstanding.

Maybe the hotel lost the reservation he made after he ended things with me and realized he would need his own room.

I hear the sound of the heavy luggage dolly echo off the travertine floors as it enters the hotel. Brent must have unpacked everything and is headed this way. What will he say when he gets here and finds out that my room was already checked into?

Phoebe huffs, not letting it go. "It is a big deal. There are no more rooms available. They're booked. That's why that little shit probably took yours. You were always taking care of everything. I bet he never booked his own reservation and then took yours when he showed up empty-handed."

My chest tightens at the thought of no more rooms.

I forgot that Brent already said he couldn't get a room here because all the rooms were booked.

"Are you sure that there are no more rooms?" I turn back to the hotel receptionist to ask.

He scrunches his nose, looking torn about it.

"Yes, I'm sorry. All of our standard rooms are booked up for this wedding and for Christmas travelers."

I can't believe Liam would do that. He wouldn't do that to me. It must be a computer glitch, and they lost his reservation.

Although Phoebe is right. I took care of everything that didn't have to do with work at his father's firm.

"What's going on?" I hear David's voice as he comes from the bar to see what has Phoebe animated, Liam trailing behind him.

My belly flips at the sight of Liam standing there, his dirty blond hair styled the way I like, his deep blue eyes staring back at me with a slight smile across his lips.

I hate that my instinct is still to run into his arms and inhale his minty aftershave.

It's been a year since I've seen Liam in person, but that doesn't stop the feeling like no time has passed… except a little over eleven months, a move to Seattle, and his new fiancée.

I wondered what this moment would feel like, seeing him again. The butterflies that I knew would be there erupt low in my belly, but when a tall blond woman sitting at the bar catches my eye from where Liam came from, those flutters turn to nausea instead.

Shelby.

"Hey, man! You made it!" David says, walking over and patting Brent on the back. It's weird how much broader and taller Brent is than David and Liam. I don't think I noticed it before. David's brandy sloshes a little in his whiskey glass. "The Hawkeyes let you out of your cage that they had you holed up in, huh?"

"Yeah, and don't forget, I'm just on loan. I had to offer up a kidney as collateral to guarantee my return, but hey, I'm here," Brent teases.

Liam glances over at David and Brent, who are catching up a few feet away. His gaze lingers on Brent, but it's the sight of my camera bag hanging off of Brent's shoulder that has Liam zeroing in on him.

Liam's eyes narrow, locking with mine. There's no more need for words to be exchanged about the subject. I can tell from the squinting look that Liam sends me that he's assuming a lot of things right now. If there were any way to signify that Brent and I are dating without using words, this would be it because Liam knows that I don't let that bag out of my sight.

I fight back the urge to put Liam's mind at ease.

To reassure him that this thing with Brent isn't what it looks like… that it's not even real, but I know better. If I want to make him thoroughly regret letting me go, I need to make him live the hell I have since he broke it off.

"Phoebe, what happened?" David asks, finally remembering why he came out here in the first place.

"A rat stole Zoey's room, and now there aren't any left." Phoebe huffs, sliding a look of irritation in Liam's direction, but Liam acts as though he's unaware of what has Phoebe pissed off as he takes a calm sip of his whiskey… his drink of choice. I know because I'd always order it for him whenever I'd make it to the restaurant we would be meeting at for dinner.

He was always running late for reservations, but I always had his drink ready when he'd arrive.

"You don't have a room?" Brent asks, shooting a look over at me.

"There was a mix-up," I tell him without any more explanation.

"Liam stole it," Phoebe says under her breath, but Brent hears it.

I wish she wouldn't make Liam look bad. There's already a lot of bad blood between Brent and Liam. If Brent thinks that Liam took my room on purpose, he might not agree to help me anymore.

"It's fine. I'll handle this." Brent tells her, walking up to the check-in desk next to me, making eye contact with the hotel receptionist. "Are you completely booked, or do you have any other rooms available for the duration of our stay? My girlfriend is the bride's sister and wedding photographer. She needs to stay close."

I know we're faking it, but this is the first real time that Brent has called me his girlfriend. And he just did it in front of Liam, Phoebe and David.

Of course, Phoebe already knows that this is fake but neither of the other two do.

It's different hearing the word girlfriend slip off Brent's lips when he's referring to me. Not bad or good, just… different .

Liam is the last person who's used that title in years, and in my peripheral vision, I see Liam shift his weight uncomfortably. He must have heard it too.

"Let me check to see if we have anything available," The receptionist says, typing away on the computer, checking for a vacancy. "Yes, I do, but it's our deluxe honeymoon suite. It's quite a bit more than the standard rooms."

Phoebe turns her attention from the receptionist back to me and smirks.

"Oh! The honeymoon suite?" she says loud enough for Liam to hear. "How romantic. I heard the jetted bathtub is built for two. You two are going to have so much hotel sex." She winks.

"Phoebe!" I warn, inhaling at the wrong time and choke on my own saliva, causing me to start sputtering out a cough. Did she really just blurt out the word sex in the middle of the hotel lobby?

The receptionist doesn't look the least bit phased and Brent chuckles at my sister's attempt to make Liam jealous and embarrass the crap out of me.

Mission accomplished.

Once I recover from my coughing fit, I lean in and whisper low enough, so Liam won't hear.

"Shouldn't you and David have the honeymoon suite?"

She copies my posture and leans in too. "We booked a red-eye flight for Jamaica after the reception. We wouldn't use it," she whispers back.

She and I both straighten our spines as it would seem the arrangement is settled.Not that I have much of a choice. It's the honeymoon suite or Brent's room down the road.

I want to be here with my sister so there is only one choice.

"Whatever my girl wants," Brent says, fishing out his wallet.

Whatever my girl wants?

Liam shifts uncomfortably in the corner of my eye and a little flutter erupts around my heart at Brent's words.

"I'd rather have the king-sized bed in the suite than the queens in the regular rooms anyway. I'll actually get some sleep this way," he says and then hands his card over the reception desk.

"Just the one bed?" I whisper up to him.

When we first agreed to share a room, we were going to have two queen beds so the sleep arrangement would be a little awkward but nothing we couldn't handle. This one bed situation is a completely different story.

He bends down to my ear. "I'd offer to sleep on the couch, but my back can't handle it, and we play our rival team right after Christmas."

He pulls back, and our eyes lock as if he's giving me one last chance to back out of this situation. We're too committed at this point.

The receptionist breaks my focus off him.

"Will this be the card you would like all incidentals and room service charged to as well?"

Brent turns to him and nods.

I have no idea how much he spent on this room, but based on the looks of this place and the astronomical standard room rates when I booked them, I know he just spent a small fortune on me.

"Brent…" I say to get his attention.

I should tell him he doesn't need to do this and spend his money.

He turns to me and smiles, pushing back from the counter as the hotel receptionist swipes his card. He wraps an arm around me and pulls me against his hard chest.

"Did you hear Phoebe? A two-person bathtub. We can't pass that kind of opportunity up, now can we?"

His eyes flicker at Liam to make sure he's watching, and then he presses a kiss to the top of my head. Phoebe's eyes widen, and her face lights up.

She's loving this, but she's the only one because Liam clears his throat and then turns and walks back toward the bar.

The hotel receptionist pulls a receipt off the print to his left and then lays it on the marble bar-height reception desk.

"Here you are, Mr. Tomlin. Here are your keys. Your suite is on the fifth floor. If you could just sign this receipt, you'll be on your way."

Brent releases his hold on me and turns to the desk. I do too. I can't ignore the number of zeros on the receipt page.

That can't be right, can it?

It's that much for one weekend?

It's more than David spent on Phoebe's engagement ring… and I thought even that was extravagant.

With Liam no longer in sight, I start apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry. That's way too expensive. Let's just cancel and go down the road," I beg.

"Zoey, it's not a big deal, I promise you. I can afford it easily, Okay? And it comes with a king-sized bed, which is better for me than the queen bed in the standard rooms." He signs the sheet and scoops up the two white plastic key cards with the hotel logo on them.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and squeeze my eyes shut for a second, trying to shake the crushing feeling that I owe Brent a lot more than pretending to be his fake girlfriend with how much he just spent.

Either he's going to expect something else in return or fake girlfriend duties are expensive.