Page 25 of Three Little Wishes

She groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“Ah, Noah, I kind of have to go to the bathroom,” Riley said.

Willow swatted Noah’s arm, sending a pointed look from the back seat to him.

“She didn’t hear me,” he said under his breath before meeting Riley’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “We’ll be at Willow’s place in about five minutes.”

Willow’s gaze shot to the familiar scenery rushing past the passenger-side window. She hadn’t been paying attention. She looked back at her aunt. “Cami, you should catch a few more z’s. The doctor said you need lots of sleep, remember? And it’ll take me a while to pack up some things for you.”

Her aunt had refused to wear her own clothes and was wearing a pair of pull-on palazzo pants Willow had brought with her and the top Willow had worn the day before, albeit with a pair of Jimmy Choos that probably cost more than Willow made in a month. Apparently seventeen-year-old Cami didn’t have a problem wearing designer heels.

“And a bag for yourself,” Noah reminded Willow.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

And she knew this because, even before he’d teased her about seducing him, she’d fantasized about kissing him. She blamed being trapped in a car with him for five hours, ten if she included today, for those hot, seductive images that were burned into her brain. Then again, he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He even smelled great, and his deep, velvet-smooth voice… Yeah, totally fantasy inducing.

After Noah had held her in his arms at his apartment the night before, her fantasies had progressed from kissing to making out, and she was afraid the temptation of being under the same roof with him for a week would be too much to withstand. She wasn’t exactly known for her self-discipline. It didn’t help that she hadn’t had sex in almost a year. In an effort to become a contributing, responsible adult who would make her family proud, she’d sworn off men.

Earlier today, when Noah had told her the only way Cami was staying with him and Riley was if she did too, she hadn’t protested. There’d been benefits, not the friends-with-benefitskind—at least, that wasn’t what she’d been thinking at the time. She’d been thinking of all the opportunities she’d have to change his mind about closing the station.

She hadn’t been surprised he’d insisted. He was doing her a huge favor, and it wasn’t fair to expect him to look after her aunt. But he’d been hinting that Willow should stay at the beach house when it was just him and Riley. It had been obvious the siblings hadn’t spent much time together, and Noah was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do with his baby sister.

“Fine, they can both stay with you,” Noah said.

She gritted her teeth and turned to Riley. “Why don’t you listen to your audiobook, honey? It’ll distract you.” She glanced at her aunt, who was watching Willow with an eyebrow raised, looking every one of her experienced forty-seven years or at least thirty-two years. She was remarkably well preserved.

“I’m not tired,” Cami said with a cheeky grin on her gorgeous face. “And your conversation is too interesting to miss.”

Willow didn’t know her aunt but sensed, whether she was seventeen or forty-seven, that no one won an argument with her, and since they were only five minutes from her place, Willow didn’t have time to test her theory.

She faced forward and lowered her voice. “Riley doesn’t want to stay with me, Noah. She wants to stay with you, her brother. She needs this time with you. And you know why my aunt can’t stay with me.”

“I don’t,” Cami said into Willow’s ear.

Willow swore, swiveling her head to her aunt, who was right in her face. “What are you doing? Put your seat belt back on and sit back.”

“Not until you tell me why I can’t stay with you,” her aunt said, looking every inch the mutinous teenager.

“I told you. We don’t want anyone to tell the family that you’re in town before they get back from their vacation. It’ll ruin the surprise,” Willow said with what she felt was incredible patience. She couldn’t tell her aunt the truth. Seventeen-year-old Cami adored her family, and the last thing Willow wanted was to hurt her.

“I can’t believe they went on vacation and left me home on my own,” Cami grumbled, struggling with her seat belt. Riley leaned over to help her.

Willow covered her face with her palm. There was no way she’d survive a week of this. Through her fingers, her street came into view. It couldn’t be. She spread her fingers to get a better look. It was!

She swallowed a panicked yelp at the sight of the people carrying boxes out of her house before demanding, “Noah, do not stop at my place. Drive past it and drive fast.”

“Faster than twenty-five miles an hour?”

Okay, that was kind of funny. But right now, she could do without a teasing Noah. He obviously hadn’t noticed that her mother, her grandmother, and Bruno were moving her out of her house.

“Fifty. A hundred. I don’t care, just make sure we’re a blur,” she said, twisting in her seat as she undid her seat belt. She dove into the back seat to hide her aunt from her family’s view.

“Willow, what the hell are you…?” Noah growled, and then he must’ve seen what she had and hit the gas.

She wanted to kiss him—again—but she was too busy fending off her aunt’s slaps.

“Are you nuts?” Cami cried. “You could’ve given Riley a concussion and me another one.”

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