Seeking Happily Ever After (Ever After #8) - Elena Aitken Page 0,20

might as well have lasted hours for the feelings and sensations that passed between them in that instant. Nick knew she felt it, too, because when she pulled back, she looked a little stunned before blinking hard.

And then, once more her sweet smile was in place. “I’m sure she won’t mind,” she finished. “I’ll be right back.”

Nick watched Charlotte approach Steph and have a quick conversation as next to him, Susan prattled on about how she was Stephanie Starz’s biggest fan and had seen all her movies, as if she hadn’t even seen what had just transpired between Nick and Charlotte, which likely was exactly the case. After all, they were supposed to be a couple. An innocent kiss was expected. But not for him. And even when Steph turned in their direction with her trademarked dazzling smile, it took all the focus he could muster to return the smile and lift his hand in a wave before both Steph and Charlotte joined them.

Having Stephanie show up right when she did turned out to be exactly what Charlotte needed. With the caseworker completely star-struck and distracted, Char could make her exit and take a few minutes to catch her breath. Although she was going to need a whole lot more than a few minutes to catch her breath. She’d said her good-byes and retreated to the bathroom to compose herself.

The moment the door shut, she leaned back against the door and took a breath.

What had she just done?

Char ran the water in the tap and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Had she really just told a stranger—a caseworker—that she was Nick Newton’s fiancée? Had she really just put his entire custody fight at risk because she thought she was doing him a favor?

She blinked hard.

He’d gone along with it, but he’d been surprised. Very surprised. Had she screwed things up?

And what did it mean now that she’d publicly declared they were engaged?

So many questions. And no doubt, there would be some kind of major debrief. There had to be. But she still had the meeting with Stephanie Starz to get through. The meeting that Nick had helped arrange. The whole reason she’d felt as though she owed him in the first place.

But the kiss. The kiss? She’d kissed him because not only did it seem like the right thing to do in that moment, but she’d wanted to. If she was honest, ever since she’d met him, she’d wanted to kiss him. Even though she’d met him almost immediately after returning home to Glacier Falls in the worst of situations, she’d always felt a draw to Nick. And…then with this situation, it just felt right. After all, they were trying to convince this woman they were a couple, right?

She could justify the kiss any way she wanted, but it wasn’t the actual kiss that was the issue; she knew that. It was the way he’d looked at her after. It was in that moment she knew that he’d felt it, too. They might be entering into the biggest game of pretend she’d ever played, but underneath it, there was definitely something real. She just had no idea what that was, or what she was ever going to do about it.

Char shook her head in an effort to clear her thoughts.

It didn’t work. There was no way she’d be able to think straight for this meeting.

Char bent down and splashed the ice-cold water on her face before turning the taps off and pulling a paper towel out to pat her face dry. The cold water helped. She took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and exhaling hard from her mouth the way her therapist had coached her.

Inhale calm.

Exhale stress.

Repeat.

After a few moments, she wasn’t feeling calm exactly, but she was no longer feeling as if she might jump out of her own skin. An improvement, to be sure.

Charlotte readjusted her tote bag on her shoulder, took one last deep breath, and headed back out to the coffee shop.

Stephanie was just finishing up with Susan, and was signing her notebook. The same notebook she’d been scribbling notes about their meeting in. She could only hope that was a good sign. As she rejoined the small group, Nick reached out and, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. He bent and whispered into her ear, “We’re going to have a lot to talk about,