Page 32 of He Loves Me Knot

Liddy gave it a pointed look. “We arenotsharing that. This is my room, and your body parts aren’t getting close to my body parts. You can get a cot.”

The corners of Callum’s mouth twitched. He set his bags down near a desk in the room, so narrow that Liddy doubted a laptop could even fit comfortably there. “Don’t worry, my body parts aren’t interested in getting close to yours. I’ll happily take the floor.”

Ass.

She should have expected that. But then again, she’d set herself up for it. She pursed her lips, realizing how immature she’d sounded when he’d repeated it back to her, then grudgingly said, “Thank you for your help back there.”

Callum pulled out his laptop case and set it on the chair. “Thank you, too.” His eyes were unreadable as he set his suitcase on the floor and crouched. “I’m going to take a shower and change, then head into the main strip to get some work done.” He opened his bag. “But if I could make a suggestion, I think we should call a truce.”

“A truce?” Lydia went over to the bed and dumped her sweatshirt and carry-on on the tropical-patterned comforter.

Callum nodded. “There’s no use avoiding the elephant in the room, Lydia.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, her back aching from the morning’s adventure. “If we’re going to pretend we’re dating, you’ll have to call me Liddy. Anyone close to me knows I like it better.”

“What’s wrong with Lydia?”

“Other than that my mom named me after one of my least favorite and most annoying Jane Austen characters?” She rolled her eyes. “At least it’s not as bad as my sister—who she felt the need to christen Ellis.”

Callum smirked. “You should talk to my sister. Her name means ‘island’ in Spanish. Wouldn’t be such a terrible thing—if she hadn’t been partially raised in a Spanish-speaking country.”

“Yikes, that’s true.” She flexed her fingers, a shooting pain going through her limbs. “What was that about the elephant in the room?”

Callum shut the suitcase and set some clothes and a pair of flip-flops on top of it, along with a toiletry bag. “You and I . . . don’t have the best relationship.” He stood and came closer.

“That’s putting it mildly.” She set her hands on either side of her and leaned back. “But you’re also my boss. This feels threatening to even discuss, if I’m being honest.”

And it was weird, how refreshing it was to be honest with him. She rarely had honest conversations with him. Except maybe on the plane, and that had been because she’d been buzzed from drinking champagne and flirting with Sergio.

“You know you won’t be fired, no matter what happens. You have the security of your connections.”

She didn’t like the implication that she hadn’t earned her position, as he’d done in the past, but that was an issue for another time. “Yeah, but you can make my life a living hell. Or more of one. Because if you think I haven’t noticed you giving me the worst assignments in the past year, you’re naive.”

His eyes flickered. “The worst?”

She held his gaze. “You give every hard job—everything that’s going to require hours of overtime—to me. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

Callum didn’t respond, the seconds ticking by in deafening silence as he seemed to absorb her statement, his expression unreadable. He secured his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans. “Right. Well, I promise I won’t make your life a living hell because of anything that happens here. Good enough?”

She stood to face him and crossed her arms. “What happens in Costa Rica stays in Costa Rica?”

He nodded. “And I would expect your discretion about the circumstances as well. Particularly to do with anyone we work with. For obvious reasons.”

Except . . . she’d already probably told Miranda more than she should have. But Miranda would be discreet, wouldn’t she?

God, I hope so.

Also, the Camdens would be here. And Mason was bringing Rebecca. What would they think about Lydia and Callum’s “relationship”? She might figure out a way to share enough with Rebecca that she would understand what was going on. Rebecca was trustworthy.

“What about the Camdens? And Rebecca is going to have a hard time believing all this.”

“Convince her any way you like. Then we can explain how our relationship fell apart after the trip.”

So basically, more lying.This was what she had agreed to, though.“All right. No more kissing me like that, though. Holding hands and hugging is fine, but I think it would be best if we kept all physical contact at first base.”

Callum’s eyes lit with amusement. “You realize that includes kissing.”

“No, it doesn’t.”