Free The Honeymoon Prize by Melissa McClone Page B

not. He avoided any kind of confrontation, always had. But they had nine days of acting like honeymooners ahead of them. They couldn’t avoid this conversation, not if she wanted to remain sane.
    Addie needed to say something, apologize for attacking him the way she had. Oh, she had a reason to kiss him the way she had. Nick had looked so . . . intense. A wild, almost maniacal expression had crossed his face and his eyes hardened like stone. She hadn’t been scared of him, but she’d been frightened by what he might do to Brad and been spurred to act. But she had to take responsibility for what she’d done and her response to the kisses. “We need to talk.”
    His jaw tensed. “Shoot.”
    Addie took a breath, then another, mustering her courage. Okay, she could do this.
    “I’m sorry for jumping on top of you and kissing you the way I did. I didn’t mean . . .” The words rushed from her mouth like soda from a shaken can, spewing every which way. “I thought you were going to hurt Brad. I figured if I distracted you—”
    “I would forget what Brad said.”
    She nodded. “I debated between kissing you and dropping my bikini top. Kissing was faster.”
    “It worked.” Nick winked. “Though the bikini top would have, too.”
    He wasn’t upset. Good. Maybe she shouldn’t be. People kissed all the time. Well, everyone except her. Not passionately, at least. Not for a long time, but no reason to freak out now. If anyone understood her, Nick did.
    “The crew seemed pleased by our enthusiasm,” he added.
    Nodding, she stared at a tiny sand crab digging a hole in the sand. As soon as her lips touched Nick’s, she’d forgotten about the filming. No cameras and crew had existed. Only Nick. Getting caught up in her first real—well, pretend—passionate kiss in years could happen to anyone when your toes curled, right? She looked over at him. “No retakes required.”
    “We got it right the first time.” His grin spread to his eyes, crinkling the corners. He was so gorgeous. “Thanks to you, Brad got the lip action he wanted.”
    “A little awkward.” There. She’d said what else was bothering her.
    “You think?”
    Huh? She searched Nick’s face to see if he was joking. He looked serious. Odd, because friends normally didn’t straddle friends while wearing almost nothing and kissing them at the same time. “Didn’t you?”
    “Seemed like a regular kiss to me.”
    “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say. Not many kisses had left her clinging to a guy, hot and aching for more. But then again, kissing wasn’t something she’d done since she dropped out of college. “It’s just, we’re friends. Things have always been platonic between us, and then we’re out in the water kissing like crazy.”
    “Not awkward. We did what they asked us to do. We kissed like two newlyweds who can’t keep their hands off each other. The film crew is happy. Brad, especially.” Nick opened the lid to the picnic basket. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were on our honeymoon.”
    Her heart hammered against her breastbone, so loudly she could count each beat. She felt the same way. Maybe that was why she’d felt so awkward. Kissing Nick seemed natural and right, the way she’d dreamed kissing him would feel. Her desire hadn’t been faked. Nothing about her actions had been pretend. “Then I . . . we succeeded.”
    He nodded, removing containers from the basket. “I have no doubt we’re going to pull this off now.
    Addie couldn’t disagree, but this felt weird. Friends shouldn’t be so comfortable kissing one another.
    “We’ve got lobster, roasted vegetables, bread, fresh fruit, and cookies for lunch,” he said.
    “I know what I’m starting with.” Exotic orange, yellow, and pink fruit filled a small basket he’d set out. She chose a red apple, something familiar, and took a bite.
    Kissing Nick had proven they could act like a honeymoon couple. Nothing else had changed. But a part of