Page 54 of He Loves Me Knot

Nervous energy made her want to bounce her legs, but she knew she was still reeling from the effects of that hug. That hadn’t been like the kiss he’d given her to pretend they were dating. They didn’t have to fake anything here.

And what I felt was the furthest thing from fake imaginable.

She’d wanted to kiss him.So badly.

She was probably just out of it. And tired. Jet lag was wearing at her again, and outside of the fruit they’d bought at the market this morning, she hadn’t eaten. She still had fruit in her backpack, in fact, but she was craving something more.

I’m hangry. I have to be. Why else would I be thinking I might be feeling something for Callum?

She wished she had her cell phone. She really, really needed to talk to Elle. Hell, she wished someone other than Kyle knew about this mess she was in. Kyle and Liddy didnottalk about relationships or sex, except superficially. That was what her big sister was for.

Kyle had told her to be careful, and he was right. Ifanyonehad told her forty-eight hours ago that she would wander around the countryside of Costa Rica with Callum, sharing some of her deepest and most personal secrets, she would have laughed and bet good money that it wouldn’t happen.

This wasn’t a stranger she was talking about—it was her boss. If anyone even suspected she’d been flirting with him, she would lose the respect of some of her coworkers. Last year, an intern had started with the company—a gorgeous, busty blonde named Amanda who spent a few weeks working closely under Callum.

When the rumor had started that she was sleeping with Callum, she became the girl who was “shagging her way to the top” and a pariah.

Amanda had quit a week later.

And while these were all things sheshould haveconsidered before she’d accepted Callum’s ludicrous proposal, she was only thinking about them now because she’d felt something when he’d touched her.

The door to the church salon opened, and Liddy straightened, her hand inching closer to the door handle.

Callum came out, a plate in one hand, punch cup in the other.

She gave him a quizzical look as he climbed inside the car. A couple of pastries were on the plate, as well as a slice of cake.

“You were . . . eating?”What the what?

“It’s a . . . Latina thing. Short story is, here’s some food if you want it. The cake is amazing. The pastries are meat empanadas—sort of like a Cornish pastry.” He set the cup in the cupholder. “And this is Coke.”

She examined them and then took one. “It’s a good thing I’ve lived in London for the past couple of years because savory pies are so not an American thing.” She took a bite, not even caring about how good it was, her hunger overtaking her. Though, to be fair, it wasfantastic. “Okay, tell me about Sergio.”

Callum started the car. “He’s not there.”

The food sank to her stomach like a rock. “What?”

Callum set his hand on the shifter, looking over his shoulder as he backed away from the curb. “But I know where he’s heading.”

She dropped her chin. “You might have started with that.”

“I might have,” he said with a ghost of a smile on his lips. “But it would have made my success less drawn out.”

She shook her head, slugging his arm. Then she returned to the food. “How on earth did you find that out?”

Callum shrugged. “I just showed up, pretended I belonged there. Went up to a bloke about our age and talked for a while. I’m certain this bloke kept hoping someone would remind him of my name because he tried to play it off like he remembered me. Eventually, I asked him if he knew if Sergio had come. The party was just big enough that I blended but small enough that my guess that the younger crowd might know each other helped me.”

“So he knew him?” Liddy tried not to think about how nauseating doing what Callum had done was to her. If the roles had been reversed, she would have probably frozen at the doorway and learned nothing.

Callum nodded and pulled out onto the street. “He said Sergio had already left. That he’s taking a tour up to Arenal for the next couple of days and had to cut out early from the party.”

“Wait—what? He really is a tour guide? What else did you find out?”

“Not much. I didn’t want to seem overly suspicious, though it occurred to me at one point that maybe a blunt approach might be more effective. But if I had tried that and it backfired, I wouldn’t have found out anything.”

“But . . .” She didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

But that’s not a lot to go on.