Page 66 of Tour Wars
“Oh, really? Yesterday, you said to me—and I quote—‘Whatever we do, we can’t miss that train.’ Do you remember?”
She groaned. “That was yesterday. Now we have to put on our clothes and go back to being responsible adults and start hating each other again.”
He froze beside her. “Wait. Hating each other? I thought…we were going to stay together.”
Wanting to console him, she placed a soft kiss on his shoulder. “Sorry, I should have phrased that better.Actinglike we hate each other again.”
Because honestly, even when she’d first started working with him at Pompeii, she’d never truly hated him. At times, he’d been exasperating beyond belief, but sparring with him had always been a challenge she relished.
“Can’t we admit we’re together?” he asked. “If we don’t, you’ll have to spend the rest of your time at Pompeii secretly pining for me. Letting out dreamy sighs every time you see me, craving my touch but being unable to act on it.”
She smacked him in the chest. “Your ego is the worst. I’ve never given a dreamy sigh in my life.”
He smirked. “You did last night. Several of them, in fact.”
“That was in the heat of the moment.” Even as she said it, she knew he was right. What good did it serve them to keep acting like rivals? “But you make a fair point. Working at Pompeii would be a lot more fun if we’re a couple.”
“Really?” His voice rose with enthusiasm. “You’re okay with making this public?”
“Hang on a minute.” She sat up quickly, wanting to take control before his excitement got the best of him. “Before we do anything, we need to make a plan. First, we wait two weeks before telling everyone so it doesn’t look like we hooked up while we were on the tour. We don’t want Angelo thinking we broke the rules. He’d use it as an excuse to dock our pay.”
“Smart move. Especially since weactuallywaited until the tour was over.”
“Second, we’ll stage a big fight scene where we go from enemies to lovers and end up kissing, much to everyone’s shock and amazement.”
“I love it.” He grinned. “A sort of Han Solo-Princess Leia vibe.”
“Whatever, nerd. Third, before we make things public, you should let Marie down gently, and I’ll do the same for Paulo.” Even if she didn’t like Marie, the girl didn’t deserve to be blindsided.
“Don’t worry about that one. Haven’t you been checking Instagram?” TJ reached for his glasses, then grabbed his phone and scrolled through it.
“Not really. Other than posting a few photos for Buon Viaggio, I’ve barely looked at it.” As TJ passed her the phone, she gaped at the picture on the screen. Paulo and Marie on a beach in Mykonos with their arms around each other. “Whoa. Didn’t see that one coming.”
“Apparently, they were an item two years ago. Being on a sun-drenched Greek island must have brought those feelings back.”
“Perfect. We’ll get back to Pompeii, bicker like always, then stage a passionate fight scene in about two weeks. The weekend after that, we’ll book a getaway in Naples so we can have sex. Sound good?” She was getting turned on just imagining it.
“It’s perfect, but that’s a long time to wait for sex.”
“I know, but think how good it’ll be.” She rubbed her hands together. “All that waiting will make it even more spectacular.”
Her last two months in Pompeii suddenly looked very promising. And if they were both picked to stay until next June?
Even better.
* * *
As TJ followedEmilia off the train at Ercolano, he almost took her hand but stopped himself in time. If he wanted their ruse to work, he needed to play by her rules. For the next two weeks, he couldn’t touch her, kiss her in public, or give any hint he was into her. Though the term “into her” barely scraped the surface of what he was feeling. He wasn’t just “into her”; he’d fallen head over heels in love. Not that he’d told her yet. If he hit her with a heartfelt confession so soon after having sex, he might scare her away. Instead, he’d work up to it over the next month and profess his love during one of their weekend getaways.
She stopped walking and peeked behind her. “You coming? Or are you staring at my butt?”
He gave a half-hearted groan. “One last stare. Remembering how it felt to—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. No more of that. We have to behave like rivals. I’m going to be grumpy Emilia again, and you can revert to being overly enthusiastic, thoroughly obnoxious TJ.”
“I’m notthatobnoxious.”
“In the mornings? When you try to talk to me before I’ve had my coffee? All sunny and cheery? I’d call that obnoxious.” She hitched her thumb forward. “Let’s go.”
