Thunder - Willow Summers Page 0,14
just drop me at my room and sneak off afterward.”
“That sounds so much worse,” Janie murmured.
“Oh! No, not like that. Sorry, I’ll just start back up with the briefing, shall I?” Colton’s face was expressionless. She forged ahead. “I’d already booked a room in the wedding block when I thought Frank was going to go—”
“Frank was your recent ex?” Colton asked.
“Yes. After deciding to hire your…firm, I figured I’d leave the reservation. I had no idea how I’d explain the cancellation otherwise. It would seem like there was trouble in paradise. So, as far as you’re concerned, we’re staying in the hotel tonight but need to be out early—I still have to figure out why—so if we’re invited to any brunches or gift opening or whatever tomorrow morning, we sadly can’t go. Before all the other guests head to their rooms, you’ll drop me off upstairs. I’ll probably be loaded anyway, drowning my misery at forever being the nerd to his awesome—”
“Keeping it positive, I love it,” Janie said sarcastically.
“—so you can just open the door and shove me in. If you get caught leaving, you’ll have to come up with a reason why you had to leave the hotel. That sound okay?”
“Yes,” he said, his jaw clenching and unclenching.
“So you’re my boyfriend of…one year.” Madison asked Janie, “That’s long enough to be established, don’t you think? But we still wouldn’t know everything about each other.”
“Six months, but I’m madly in love with you,” Colton said, his velvety voice washing over her again, giving her shivers. “We can know next to nothing about each other that way.”
“I don’t play blinded by love very well.” Madison bit her lip.
“That’s where the alcohol comes in.” Janie made a circle in the air with her finger and tapped Madison’s glass. “Keep them coming. She needs it. She’s wound tighter than a corkscrew.”
“I’m not sure that makes sense,” Madison said.
“See?” Janie shook her head.
Colton set his half-empty glass down and started to make another martini. “Have you spoken to him recently?”
“No. Not since high school. We’re friends on Facebook, but we never interact there. I haven’t posted pictures of Frank in a long time, thankfully, or none of this would work.”
“And do you know the future spouse?” he asked.
“I’ve never met her. From the save-the-date, she looks pretty.” Madison shrugged, then held up her hand. “I’m not trying to get him back, or anything.”
“I didn’t think you were,” he said.
“Good. Because that’s not what this is about. I just want to show him that I’m doing great. That he didn’t break me.”
“I understand completely.”
“So I need you to be…” Her thoughts trailed away with her words as he started to shake that cocktail mixer again. Why it was so fascinating to watch, she did not know, but she was riveted.
When he was done, his eyebrows rose in a silent question. That, or he was wondering why she was staring at him like a drowning man would ogle a lifeboat.
“I need you to be personable and act successful. You can make up whatever job you want, but you should probably clue me in on your cover story if you don’t share it in front of me. Just make people like you, however that works best. I don’t care if you threaten to knife half the party and high-five the other half, as long as they all like you when it’s through. That make sense?”
“You want me to help you pull off the perfect image, and to do that, we need to be the perfect couple.” Colton topped up her drink before dropping in two olives. “Easy.”
Janie started laughing.
“Is there something I’m missing?” he asked.
Janie pointed at Madison.
Madison slapped Janie’s hand away. “I’m not exactly…good under social-pressure situations.”
“I saw that when I came in. Don’t worry; I’ll make you shine. I’m great at babysitting.”
His smile said he was joking about something, but Madison had no idea what. She was certain, though, that making her look good would be a lot harder than he anticipated.
Four
Colton kept pace with the stunning beauty as they walked to the overhang sheltering visitor cars. He’d been surprised to learn she lived in this apartment complex, it being on the cheaper side of town and not as nice as she could definitely afford.
He’d looked her up before fully committing to this gig, anxious that he’d made a huge mistake in agreeing to one more client before quitting completely. She was a director for a distribution company that dealt with various types of