“No.”
In Courtney’s opinion, the denial came a little too quickly. “Really?”
“Fine, maybe a little. But I did also invite Gray and Kiera as well as Derek and Brooklyn. Derek and Brooklyn can’t come; they already have plans. Gray’s going to let me know by tomorrow.”
Courtney truly enjoyed spending time with her cousin, his wife, and son. Countless times since her move back to Providence, she’d spent time at their place. She hated to deny herself another enjoyable evening with them. “I’ll come as long as you promise not to force Tom and me together.”
“Fair enough. It probably isn’t a good idea anyway. Tom will only be in town for the week.”
Addie appeared deep in thought as she reached for the other half of her sandwich, and Courtney simply couldn’t resist. “Trying to decide on your next victim, Cupid?” she asked.
Shaking her head, Addie laughed. “No, just trying to decide if I should ask you something I promised myself I wouldn’t.”
Okay, a comment like that would get anyone’s attention. “Go for it.” It wasn’t like she had any secrets.
“I was scrolling through the internet yesterday and came across an article about Josh Williamson. According to the article, he’s been keeping a low profile for the past few weeks and no one has seen him with anyone since you.”
Delight snuck its way into her chest. Since her return from Hawaii, she’d gone out of her way to avoid any sites that might mention Josh and who he was spending time with.
“And I wondered if that was because the two of you were together,” Addie said.
She’d known going in that she’d be just another woman as far as Josh was concerned. Unfortunately, that didn’t change the fact she wished the opposite was true. “Nope. We haven’t talked since I was on vacation.”
“You could always call him, Courtney.”
She could, but she wouldn’t. “Did I miss the memo that said I wanted to talk to him?”
“No.” Addie drew out the word before continuing. “But I saw the pictures of you two together. I know you. Regardless of how good the sex was, you wouldn’t have spent so much time with him if you didn’t like him. Maybe your sister would have, but not you.”
How did she respond to that? “We had fun together, but we’re not compatible long-term. Besides, he’s too much like Trent was before he met you. Even if I wanted a relationship with him, he wouldn’t be interested.”
“Key word there, my friend, is before Trent met me. Maybe you’re the person Josh needs to settle down.” Courtney opened her mouth, a rebuttal prepared, but Addie didn’t give her a chance to speak. Instead, she held up her hands and continued. “I promise not to bring up the subject again, but think about what I said.”
Addie’s words bounced around in her head throughout the rest of their lunch. Even as she prepared what she needed for her meeting with Evan Williamson, Josh’s older brother, they haunted her. Trent had been like Josh in almost every way. It had taken meeting the right person for him to change and settle down. The same might be true of Josh—not that Courtney believed she was the one for him, but they did have a lot in common, and they’d had a lot of fun together both in and out of the bedroom. Maybe she should call him and just see what happened.
Later, when she wasn’t about to head off to a meeting with his brother, she’d give it more thought. Right now she had her meeting at Epic Gaming to focus on.
Rather than have his assistant call and set things up, Evan had called himself. He claimed he wanted to partner up with the foundation and help with its charity programs. She’d agreed to the meeting immediately, even though the idea of sitting across from Josh’s brother unnerved her a bit. The chances of Evan not knowing about her little fling with his younger brother were virtually nonexistent.
Josh listened to his attorney and once again wondered what the hell his ex-girlfriend, Naomi, was thinking. For the past three and half years, they’d shared custody of their daughter without any problems. They even made an effort to spend the major holidays and Adalynn’s birthday together whenever possible so she could celebrate with both of them. Well, they had until Naomi moved in with her fiancé. Still, not once in all that time had Naomi suggested she would file for sole custody someday. Yet, she’d done just that right before he arrived home from Hawaii last month. So rather than arriving home and spending a few days making sure everything was ready for Adalynn’s visit before picking his daughter up the day after Christmas, he arrived home to a letter listing the date and time to report to the courthouse. Unfortunately Judge Dennis Wilkins, who’d heard their case, had a known track record of always ruling in the mother’s favor regardless of the facts. Between that and the fact Naomi’s lawyer claimed things that were not true, it hadn’t surprised him when the judge awarded Naomi temporary sole custody until either their next court date or, as Josh hoped, Naomi changed her mind, because the last thing he wanted was the media to learn about this. If they did, they’d drag his daughter into the limelight. Unfortunately, that had been weeks ago, and so far, Naomi hadn’t dropped her suit.
“If anything changes, I’ll be in touch,” David Kensington, Josh’s attorney, said.
“Thanks.” Ending the call, Josh resisted the urge to hurl the cell phone across the room and instead placed it down on the conference table.
“Any new updates?” Evan, his older brother, asked.
At the moment, they, along with Pauline Carten, Josh’s publicist, were seated inside Evan’s downtown Providence office. While Josh had taken after their mother and her love of acting, Evan had inherited their father’s entrepreneurial spirit. His most recent endeavor was a video and computer game company. It, like all of Evan’s previous endeavors, was doing phenomenally well.
Shaking his head, Josh reached for his coffee, but rather than take a sip, he set the cup back down. Right now his stomach was so much of a mess, he wasn’t sure adding anything to it was a good idea. “Just more of the same.”
Frequently movie roles forced him to pretend to be in love with a woman. He regularly kissed costars and appeared in intimate situations with them while the cameras rolled. It never caused him sleepless nights or upset stomachs, because it was his job. What they planned to propose in this meeting was something else entirely, and he’d been having second and third thoughts about it all week.
Courtney’s perfect for the role. For at least the tenth time since he agreed to the plan, he reminded himself of this fact. Her reputation was without a single blemish, and the media had already circulated several pictures of them together in Hawaii, making it easier for them to pull off the charade. Perfect or not, his conscience kept jabbing him, urging him to rethink the plan.
They’d been almost inseparable while in Hawaii. While they’d spent every night together in either her suite or his, they’d spent their days outside doing everything from surfing and sailing to lounging by the pool. And for the first time in longer than he cared to admit, he’d felt connected to a woman. He’d not only enjoyed making love to her, but he’d enjoyed talking and spending time with her. Despite their different personalities, they had a lot in common. When he’d left her suite his final night in Hawaii, he’d considered asking if she wanted to continue their relationship once they returned home. He’d kept his mouth shut though, because she’d said nothing to make him think their time together was anything more than a fun fling while on vacation.