Page 141 of He Loves Me Knot

“It was all part of the act.”

“I doubt that. Callum isn’t that good of an actor. And neither are you. You both seem to really get on well.”

We do get along . . . in some ways.“Callum made it clear he’s not the relationship type.”

“Hmm, that’s funny. Mason told me Callum’s ex-fiancée works here.”

Liddy furrowed her brows, trying to follow Rebecca’s train of thought. “Yes . . .”

“Callum Scott wasengagedbefore, Liddy. And when he was young, obviously. Which means he’s absolutely the relationship type. If he proposed to someone before, it’s because he wanted a happily ever after. He’s probably a goddamn bleeding-heart romantic who will spoil you to death—once he lets you in. Problem is, you let him shut the door.”

Was it possible? Did I let him?

He didn’t give me a choice, really.

Then again, she hadn’t pushed back—not when it came to ending this early anyway. She’d pushed for sex. “He told me we could only ever have a brief, physical relationship. He never opened the possibility of anything else—and I said I could handle that.”

“Oh please, Liddy. He’s known you for two years. If all you were was some girl he’d met and went home with, this would be a different conversation. Ipromiseyou that whatever rationale Callum used to go into this, it wasn’t done lightly. He’s probably been interested in you for a while.”

For a while?

A tiny lizard darted up the porch post, and Liddy watched it, her pulse speeding as she chewed her lower lip, considering Rebecca’s words.He asked me out two years ago. Before he knew who I was.

She still had that damn guidebook they’d flipped for. Every now and then, she’d come across the number he’d scrawled on the back page. And if he hadn’t ended up being her boss, she would have called him.

She’d never expected Rebecca to be this encouraging—especially after admitting to lying to her. But then again, maybe Liddy had never understood that this was how real friendship worked.

Liddy searched Rebecca’s face. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, if you two make each other happy, don’t let Callum’s stupidity stop something that could be good for you both. Go kick down the damn door. And I highly suggest you do it in a yellow minidress.”

ChapterThirty-Three

The energetic beatof loud Latino music filled the air. The rain had stopped for long enough that Callum and the other groomsmen were barefooted on the wet sand of the beach, smoking celebratory Cuban cigars that Aiden had brought. The bar was an open-aired place, right at the edge of the water.

“Dammit if I don’t feel old tonight,” Quinn said, sitting beside Callum on a long palm whose trunk had bent perpendicular to the sand before jutting out over the water. He stared at the cigar in his hand. “It’s amazing how little appeal these have for me.”

Callum chuckled. He’d snuffed out his own cigar against the trunk minutes before. “We are almost thirty. Nearly halfway to the grave. And soon enough you’ll have an infant, you poor sod.” He kept his voice low, as Quinn’s brothers were close enough to hear.

“God, that’s terrifying, isn’t it?” Quinn leaned back, then fell right off the other side of the trunk.

He must have had too much to drink already.

Throwing his head back with a laugh, Callum held out a hand to help him stand. “No need to be dramatic about it. Unless you want the bartender to cut you off early.”

Quinn took Callum’s hand and righted himself from the awkward position, then dusted himself off. “Yes, please. I don’t want to spend my wedding day hungover. And Mason seems hell-bent on getting all of us sloshed.”

“How about this? Every time he asks for a shot, I’ll take yours. He’ll have fun with that once I can barely stand.”

“Brilliant.” Quinn set his hands more firmly against the trunk again as he sat. “Oh bugger, I dropped the damn cigar in the sand.”

Callum shrugged. “I won’t tell Aiden if you don’t.”

“Have I told you how incredibly useful you can be, Cal? If you weren’t screwing my sister-in-law, you’d be my favorite groomsman.”

“I heard that,” Mason said, plopping down on Quinn’s other side. “What did the rest of us do to earn your scorn?”

“Apparently, it’s a lethal combination of whisky, cigars, and . . .” Callum looked at Quinn to finish.

---