Wedding Date with Mr Wrong

‘I don’t love him.’

Artie merely smiled and moved down the bar towards an edgy customer brandishing an empty sangria jug, leaving her to ponder the conviction behind her words.

* * *

While Callie would have loved to linger over a sangria or two when the Spanish Flamenco band fired up, she had more important things to do.

Like visiting her mum.

Nora hated it when she fussed, so these days she kept her visits to twice weekly—an arrangement they were both happy with.

The doctors had given her three years. The doctors didn’t know what a fighter Nora Umberto was. She’d lasted seven, and while her tremors seemed to increase every time Callie visited the spark of determination in her mum’s eyes hadn’t waned.

After the life she’d led, no way would Nora go out without a bang. She continued to read to the other residents and direct the kitchen hands to prepare exotic dishes—dishes she’d tried first-hand during her travels around the world, during which she’d met Bruno Umberto.

Callie’s dad might not have stuck around long in his first marriage—or any of his subsequent three marriages, for that matter—but thankfully Nora’s love of cosmopolitan cuisine had stuck. Callie had grown up on fajitas, ratatouille, korma and Szechuan—a melting pot of tastes to accompany her mum’s adventurous stories.

She’d never really known her dad, but Nora had been enough parent and then some. Dedicated to raising her daughter, Nora hadn’t dated until after she’d graduated high school and moved out. Even then her relationships had lasted only a scant few months. Callie had always wondered if her mum’s exuberance had been too much for middle-aged guys who’d expected Martha Stewart and ended up with Lara Croft.

As she entered the shaded forecourt of Colldon Special Accommodation Home she knew that made it all the harder to accept—the fact her go-get-’em mother had been cut down in her prime by a devastating illness no amount of fighting could conquer.

She signed in, slipped a visitor’s lanyard over her neck and headed towards the rear of the sandstone building. As she strolled down the pastel-carpeted corridor she let the peace of the place infuse her: the piped rainforest sounds, the subtle scent of lemon and ginger essential oils being diffused from air vents, the colours on the walls transitioning from muted mauve to sunny daffodil.

Colldon felt more like an upmarket boutique hotel than a special home and Callie would do whatever it took to ensure her mum remained here.

Including shacking up with Archer Flett for a week to work on his precious campaign.

She shook her head, hoping that would dispel the image of her agreeing to his demands. It didn’t, and all she could see was his startling aquamarine eyes lighting with a fire she remembered all too well when she’d said yes.

She’d been a fool thinking she had the upper hand: she’d known his identity; he hadn’t known the woman behind CJU Designs. However, the element of surprise meant little when he’d been the one who ended up ousting her from her smug comfort zone.

Her neck muscle spasmed and she rubbed it as she entered Nora’s room. She didn’t knock. No one knocked. Her mum’s door was perpetually open to whoever wanted to pop in for a chat.

Vibrant, sassy, alive: three words that summed up Nora Umberto.

But as she caught sight of her mum struggling to zip up her cardigan that last word taunted her.

Alive. For how much longer?

She swallowed the lump of sadness welling in her throat, pasted a smile on her face and strode into the room.

‘Hey, Mum, how you doing?’

Nora’s brilliant blue eyes narrowed as she gestured at the zip with a shaky hand. ‘Great—until some bright spark dressed me in this today.’

Her defiant smile made Callie’s heart ache.

‘Buttons are a pain, but these plastic zips aren’t a whole lot better.’

Need a hand? The words hovered on Callie’s lips but she clamped them shut. Nora didn’t like being treated like an invalid. She liked accepting help less.

Instead, Callie perched on the armchair opposite and ignored the increasing signs that her mum was struggling.

‘I’ll be away next week.’

Nora instantly perked up. If Callie had to sit through one more lecture about all work and no play she’d go nuts. Not that she could blame her mum. Nora loved hearing stories of Rivera’s and dancing and going out, living vicariously through her.

Callie embellished those tales, making her life sound more glamorous than it was. Her mum had enough to worry about without concern for a daughter who dated only occasionally, went Spanish dancing twice a week, and did little else but work. Work that paid the hefty Colldon bills.

‘Holiday?’

Callie shook her head. ‘Work. In Torquay.’

She said it casually, as if heading to the beachside town didn’t evoke visions of sun, surf and sexy guys in wetsuits.

Particularly one sexy guy. Who she’d been lucky enough to see without a wetsuit many years ago on another sun-drenched beach.

‘You sure it’s work?’

Nora leaned so far forward in her wheelchair she almost toppled forward, and Callie had to fold her arms to stop from reaching out.

‘You’ve got a glow.’

‘It’s an “I’m frazzled to be going away the week before Christmas” glow.’

Nora sagged, her cheekiness instantly dimming. ‘You’ll be away for Christmas?’

Callie leaned forward and squeezed her mum’s hand, careful not to scratch the tissue-thin skin. ‘I’ll be back in time for Christmas lunch. You think I’d miss Colldon’s cranberry stuffing?’

Nora chuckled. ‘You know, I wouldn’t mind if you missed Christmas with me if your trip involved a hot young man. But work? That’s no excuse.’

Ironic. Her trip involved a hot young man and work, and she had a feeling she’d need to escape both after a long week in Torquay.

She stood and bent to kiss her mum’s cheek. ‘Sorry it’s a flying visit, but I need to go home and pack. I’m leaving first thing in the morning.’

To her surprise, Nora snagged her hand as she straightened, holding on with what little strength she had.

‘Don’t forget to have a little fun amid all that work, Calista.’ She squeezed—the barest of pressure. ‘You know life’s too short.’

Blinking back the sudden sting of tears, Callie nodded. ‘Sure thing, Mum. And ring me if you need anything.’

Nora released her hand, managing a feeble wave. ‘I’ll be fine. Go work, play, have fun.’

Callie intended to work. As for the fun and play, she didn’t dare associate those concepts with Archer.

Look what had happened the last time she’d done that.

* * *

Archer didn’t jerk women around, and after the way Callie had reacted to him yesterday he shouldn’t push her buttons. But that was exactly what he’d done in hiring the fire-engine red Roadster for their trip to Torquay.

She’d recognise the significance of the car, but would she call him on it?

By the tiny crease between her brows and her compressed lips as she stalked towards him, he doubted it.

The carefree, teasing girl he’d once known had disappeared behind this uptight, reserved shadow of her former self. What had happened to snuff the spark out?

‘Still travelling light?’ He held out his hand for her overnight bag.

She flung it onto the back seat in response.

‘Oo-kay, then. Guess it’s going to be a long trip.’

He glimpsed a flicker of remorse as she slid onto the passenger seat, her rigid back and folded arms indicative of her absolute reluctance to be here. To be anywhere near him.

It ticked him off.

They’d once been all over each other, laughing and chatting and touching, a hand-hold here, a thigh squeeze there. When she’d smiled at him he’d felt a buzz akin to riding the biggest tube.

But you walked away anyway.

That was all he needed. For his voice of reason to give him a kick in the ass too.

But she hadn’t been forthcoming during their meeting yesterday, and he’d be damned if he’d put up with her foul mood for the next week.

If he showed up at Trav’s wedding with her in this snit his mum would know Callie was a fake date and be inquisitive, effectively ruining his buffer zone.

Yeah, because that was the only reason he minded her mood...

He revved the engine, glanced over his shoulder and pulled into traffic. ‘You know it’s ninety minutes to Torquay, right?’

‘Yeah.’

Her glance barely flicked his way behind Audrey Hepburnesque sunglasses that conveniently covered half her face.

‘You planning on maintaining the long face the entire way? Do I need to resort to I-spy and guess the numberplate to get a laugh?’

‘I’m here to work—’

‘Bull.’

He swerved into a sidestreet, earning momentary whiplash and several honks for his trouble.

‘What the heck—?’

He kissed her, pouring all his frustration with her frosty behaviour into the kiss.

She resisted at first, but he wouldn’t back off. He might have done this to prove a point, but once his lips touched hers he remembered—in excruciating detail—what it had been like to kiss her.

And he wanted more.

He moved his mouth across hers—light, teasing, taunting her to capitulate.

She remained tight-lipped—until his hand caressed the nape of her neck and slid into her hair, his fingertips brushing her scalp in the way he knew she liked.

She gave a little protesting groan and he sensed the moment of surrender when she placed her palm on his chest and half-heartedly pushed. Her lips softened a second later.

He didn’t hesitate, taking advantage of her compliance by deepening the kiss, sweeping his tongue into her mouth to find hers, challenging her to deny them, confident she wouldn’t.

For what seemed like a glorious eternity they made out like a besotted couple. Then he eased his hand out of her hair, his lips lingering on hers for a bittersweet second before he sat back.

What he saw shocked him more than the rare times he’d been ragdolled by a gnarly wave.

The old Callie was back.

Her brown eyes sparkled, her lush mouth curved smugly at the corners and she glowed.

Hell, he’d wanted to get her to lighten up. He hadn’t counted on the winded feeling now making his lungs seize.

Being wiped out by a killer wave was easier than this.

But in the few seconds it took him to come up with something casual to say Callie closed off. Her glow gave way to a frown and shadows effectively cloaked the sparkle.

‘Happy you sneaked a kiss for old times’ sake? Did you want to prove something?’

He shook his head, still befuddled by the strength of his reaction to a kiss that should have meant nothing.

‘I wanted to make a mockery of your “just work” declaration.’

She quirked an elegant brow. ‘And did you think one little kiss would do that?’

He hadn’t. Been thinking, that was. Like feeling the overwhelming rush he got from riding the perfect set on a huge swell he’d done the spontaneous thing. And now he had to live with the consequences: working alongside Callie for the next seven days while trying to forget how incredible she looked all mussed and vulnerable, and how she tasted—like chocolate and coffee.

‘I guess I’m just annoyed by your attitude and I wanted to rattle you.’

As much as it turned out she still rattled him.

He expected her to bristle, to retreat behind a mask of cool indifference. He didn’t expect her to unravel before his eyes.

‘Hell, are you crying?’

He reached out to hold her, but stopped when she scooted away.

She dashed a hand across her eyes before turning to stare out of the window, her profile stoic and tugging at his heartstrings.

‘It’s not you. I’m just juggling some other stuff, and it’s taking a toll even though I have a handle on it.’

He’d never heard her sound so soft, so vulnerable, and he clamped down on the urge to haul her into his arms. Mixed messages be damned.

‘Anything I can do to help?’

‘Keep being a smartass. That should make me laugh.’

The quiver in her voice had him reaching across, gently cupping her chin and turning her towards him.

‘I can back off if you’re going through stuff. Cut the jokes. No kissing. That kind of thing.’

She managed a watery smile. ‘No kissing’s a given while we work together. The jokes I can handle.’

As she gnawed on her bottom lip realisation slammed into him as if he was pitching over the falls.

She probably had boyfriend troubles.

‘Is it another guy? Because I can kick his ass—’

‘Not a guy.’

Her smile morphed into a grin and it was like surfacing for air after being submerged underwater for too long.

She held a hand over her heart. ‘I promise to lighten up. I’m just...overworked and tired and grumpy in general.’

‘That seventh dwarf had nothing on you,’ he mumbled, eliciting the expected chuckle—the first time he’d heard her sound remotely light-hearted since yesterday. ‘Maybe you should thank me for kissing you. Because you’ve had an epiphany and—’

‘Don’t push your luck,’ she said, tempering her growl with a wink, catapulting him back to Capri, where she’d winked at him in a tiny dinghy the moment before they’d entered the Blue Grotto, warning him to be careful because the cave was renowned for proposals and he might succumb.

She’d been teasing, but it had been the beginning of the end for them: no matter how carefree their fling, he’d wondered if Callie secretly harboured hopes for more.

And Archer had already learnt that the price paid for loving wasn’t one he was willing to pay.

‘Okay, so if kissing’s off the agenda, work it is,’ he said, holding her gaze for several long, loaded moments, daring her to disagree, hoping she would.

‘Just work,’ she echoed, before elbowing him and pointing at the road. ‘If we ever get to Torquay, that is.’

As he reversed out of the sidestreet he knew he should be glad he’d cracked Callie’s brittle, reserved outer shell.

But now he’d seen the woman beneath—the same warm, lush woman who’d almost snared his heart eight years ago—he wondered if he should be glad or scared.

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