Free The Honeymoon Arrangement by Joss Wood Page B

took a seat on a cane chair and propped his feetup on the coffee table. After a minute of comfortable silence he spoke again.
    ‘So, you said that there were things we needed to discuss?’
    ‘I did.’ Callie kicked off her sandals and felt comfortable enough to tuck her feet under her bottom on the denim fabric of the swing. ‘I put in for a month’s holiday today, and I also managed to organise it so that I don’t have to fly to Paris this week. So I am, in the most virginal sense, all yours until we go.’
    ‘That makes it easier, because there are a couple of things we need to sort out before we go.’
    ‘Like?’
    ‘Like the lawyers for the magazine would like you to sign an indemnity form, and they’d also like you to go for a full medical—just to cover their legal asses.’
    Callie wrinkled her nose. ‘What a pain.’
    ‘I use the same travel clinic all the time. I’ll make an appointment for you.’ Finn rested his beer bottle on his flat stomach. ‘You’ll need clothes that are suitable for five and six-star resorts—’
    Callie looked down at her designer sundress and lifted her eyebrows. ‘Finn, I am a fashion buyer—I think I have the clothes covered.’
    ‘Glad
you
do,’ Finn grumbled, looking frustrated and miserable. ‘Because I sure don’t. I keep thinking that I have to get my act together and I keep putting it off. I hate clothes-shopping.’
    ‘You always looked okay to me.’ Better than okay—mighty fine, in fact. And his clothes were nice, too. ‘So, does your ineptitude with home decoration extend to your wardrobe?’
    Finn tipped his bottle up to lips. ‘Yep. In spring and autumn Liz would drag my ass to the shops. She’d choose and I’d pay.’
    Callie’s lips quirked. Shopping was something she
could
help him with. After taking a big sip of wine, she stood up and jerked her head, indicating that he should get up too. ‘Let’s go.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Up to your bedroom.’
    When she saw his eyes widen and a gleam appear, she rolled her eyes and thought that she should explain—quickly.
    ‘Since you’re giving me an all-expenses-paid holiday, the least I can do is to help you out with your wardrobe. I’ll go through your clothes, pick out what’s suitable, and then we’ll go shopping for what you need.’
    Finn looked suddenly and momentarily panicked, but she put it down to the fact that no man—especially one as masculine as Finn—wanted to spend any part of his evening discussing clothes.
    ‘Trust me … it’ll be painless.’
    ‘I don’t think that having you in my bedroom is a very good idea,’ Finn stated as he followed her through the house and up the stairs.
    ‘We’re taking it slow, one day at a time, and today is not
that
day, Banning,’ Callie told him as they hit the top floor. ‘Where’s your bedroom?”
    Finn gestured wordlessly to the closed door on their right. Callie opened it and walked into a white-on-cream, endlessly pale bedroom. Placing her hands on her hips, she lifted her eyebrows as she took in the cream and white striped walls, the deep beige curtains and the neutrally shaded pillows piled high on the floor.
    She felt as if she’d stepped into a dairy.
    ‘Wow …’ she murmured.
    ‘I hate this room,’ Finn muttered, standing at the door, glaring.
    ‘It’s not that bad … it just needs some colour,’ Calliesaid, forcing herself to sound cheerful. She gestured to the bed—a white wood canopied monstrosity that dominated the room. ‘You must also have hated the mattress.’
    ‘What?’ Finn barked.
    ‘The mattress—it’s gone.’
    Finn shoved both hands into his hair and dropped his head, for a brief instant looking like a little boy who’d been slapped. Then his face changed and turned hard and determined.
    ‘You know what? Let’s not worry about checking what I have that I can take. I’ll just buy a whole new wardrobe.’
    Callie started to argue, but stopped when she saw the misery underneath the fury.