Page 28 of The Love Trick

Sure. Totally fine.

Blaze stands behind me as I swipe the key.

Holding my breath, I swing the door in.

Oh no. Mom wasn’t kidding when she said she gave me a smaller room.

I let out a sharp breath, instantly worried. Usually, I prefer the smaller rooms when I’m staying by myself, but now…

“There’s nowhere for me to sleep.” Blaze says exactly what I’m thinking as he tosses our luggage down on the king-sized bed. I watch him as his eyes scan the rest of the room, complete with just a mini fridge area and a desk. There’s not even a couch—there’s no roomfor it. Which means, there’s no room for a pull-out bed either…

“It’ll be fine,” I say, my voice breathy as I walk toward the balcony. “I mean, look at this amazing view.” I slide the door open and step out on the top-floor balcony, which is nearly the same size as the room itself. “Who needs space when you have this?”

Blaze steps out behind me, the ocean breeze tussling his dark hair. “It’s nice, for sure. I can sleep on the floor, though. Or maybe there’s a bathtub. That’s what Cam did when he and Nila got stuck together in that cabin.”

“No,” I vehemently counter him. “No way. Cam may have slept in the bathtub, but that’sonlybecause he and Nila were practically strangers at the time. We’re not them. We’ve been friends for a decade, Blaze. We can share a bed.”

He looks over at me. “Are you sure? Because I don’t know about all this. We’re already touching each other a lot.”

I make a face. “What?”

Blaze lets out a heavy sigh before stepping back into the room. “We held hands for pretty much the entire flight, and then you fell asleep on me.” His voice comes out cautiously as he turns to face me. “I just want us to be careful.”

My brows shoot skyward as I start to grow offended. “Are you implying that I’m gonna try to break the rules or something? Because I can’t help what I do when I sleep, Blaze.”

“Exactly.” His eyes dart toward the bed.

“Oh my… Are you serious right now?” I exasperate. “You act like I have cooties or something! It’snotthat big of a deal. I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen asleep on you almosteverytime we watch a movie together. I don’t see how it’s any different now than it was then.” I fold my arms across my chest, determined to make my point.

He huffs, raking his hands over his face. “You know what, you’re right. I’m stressing outwaytoo much over this. I’m sorry.” He frowns and then heads to the bed, grabbing his suitcase and unzipping it. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”

“It’s just the nerves,” I say softly, placing my hand on his shoulder as I begin unpacking alongside him. “I’m nervous, too, but I really think it’ll be fine. Let’s just get settled in, have dinner, and then we can come back here and be our normal selves. Nothing crazy. Just two best friends.”

“Sharing a bed.” Blaze grunts, grabbing an armful of T-shirts and shoving them into a drawer. “For a whole week.”

“Well, five nights, technically,” I correct him, grabbing one of my dresses from the bag. Blaze stares at it. “What?”

“You brought a little black dress?”

I shrug, feeling my cheeks warm. “Yeah? So? You never know when you might need one. I could … I could, um, meet someone or something.”

He narrows his eyes. “Really?”

“You could meet someone, too,” I quickly add, playing it off like I’m not rambling just to fill the space. “We won’talwaysbe around my family. But anyway, that’s not why I packed it. I didn’t know what we’d be doing in our free time, so I thought I’d come prepared for any scenario. We might go for a nice dinner.”

“Yeah, I guess.” His eyes stay on the dress. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one before.”

“You haven’t,” I chime, heading for the closet to hang it up. “I bought it specifically for this trip. I actually bought a lot of new stuff for the trip…” I ignore the look on his face. “But I did that before I knew you were coming.” It’s a partial truth. I boughtsomeof the outfits before I knew he was coming, but honestly, the little black dress came after. Maybe I want to impress him as his fake girlfriend…

But in a friendly way. Of course.

“What time is dinner?” Blaze asks, ignoring everything I just said. “I’d like to go get a quick workout in, or at least take a shower—I just need a reset.”

I spin around to meet his gaze. “Is it really that bad?”

“No,” he answers, giving me a smile. “It’s not bad at all. This is just a lot. I’ve never been…” His voice trails off as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Addy, I’ve never been on a family trip before, and I’ve definitely never gone on any sort of vacation with a significant other.”

My mouth falls open, and suddenly I’m racked with guilt. “Oh, Blaze.” I sigh. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about that. What can I do to help you?”

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