Then he pressed one soft, perfect kiss against my lips. “Good night, Rachel. And if you change your mind, you know where to find me.” He disappeared into his room.
I stood in the hallway for a moment, trying to collect myself enough so that I could find my keycard and let myself into my own room. I will admit that I considered knocking on Camden’s door more than once and it was only through sheer force of will that I didn’t.
Grabbing my keycard, I let myself into my room and slumped against the wall, going down until I sat on the floor.
Obviously, I was willing to ignore my own rule about not dating anyone from a wedding. I’d moved past that line a long time ago, even if I’d kept denying it. And even though I usually felt like men were untrustworthy, that wasn’t at all true when it came to Camden. I knew I could trust him.
But it wasn’t just about trust. It was about me literally not being able to tell him the entire truth. I racked my brain, trying to remember the details of Sadie’s non-disclosure agreement. If it hadn’t been so early in New York, I would have called my attorney.
Camden said he was willing to wait. Would he wait ten years? Because that might be how long the NDA was going to last.
It was so frustrating because this was entirely my fault. I had insisted on those non-disclosure agreements for so long, wanting to keep things totally aboveboard and professional, and now it had come back to bite me in the butt. Maybe if I could have been more relaxed, more open, I wouldn’t be in this situation now.
I was leaving in twenty-four hours. Maybe I should be focusing on that instead of trying to come up with a way to have everything I wanted without breaking anybody’s rules—either mine or the legal system’s.
There had to be something. A way around this.
All I had to do was come up with it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Apparently my subconscious mind took my challenge seriously, because when I woke up the next morning, the answer was clear.
I couldn’t break the NDA, but what if Sadie could? I sent a text to our lawyer, asking for the specific language. I used the bathroom and came back out to find a response from Gerald—a quick runover told him that while I couldn’t disclose, there wasn’t any kind of similar language for Sadie. She was free to tell whomever she wanted.
At the combined bachelor/bachelorette party last night I’d been so worried about Sadie accidentally exposing the truth and it sounded like I should have encouraged her. Then I could have cleared the air with Camden, explained everything to him, and things would all be okay.
That might have been overly optimistic, but it was the one hope I had right now. Because the alternative, that I’d have to cut him completely from my life when we got back to New York, was too overwhelming for me to think about. I didn’t want that.
But could I even ask that of her? I hoped that she’d be amenable to it, but I would still feel like a very selfish person for asking. It was her wedding day and everything should be about her and her happiness.
Maybe once she was home from her honeymoon I could check in with her and see if she was open to it. Despite how hard she was trying to push me and Camden together, I had to admit to myself that there was the very real possibility she might not want this information to ever get out. She was so protective of her online image and I knew this might hurt her.
One thing at a time. I put on the outfit Sadie had selected for us—blue T-shirts with the word bridesmaid on them. She would be wearing one that said Mrs. We were all going to wear the same black yoga pants so that we’d look oh so cute in her videos and pictures.
I made my way down to Sadie’s villa. Both she and Dan had been given villas on the beach, with their own private pools. The nice thing about it was that she had several rooms, which helped with the absolute zoo that was happening when I got there.
There were several hairstylists and makeup artists, a camera crew, Stefan and his dress team, one of Troy’s assistants, Irene, Mandy and Brandy, and then me and the two other bridesmaids. The crowd surprised me because I was twenty minutes early.
Somehow Sadie sat in the midst of the chaos, looking serene and happy. I opened my bag, putting some of the contents on the table. “Okay, I’ve got acetaminophen and Visine if you need it.”
“Grab something to eat first,” she said. “I’m feeling great. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“That’s my job.”
She took my hand, squeezing it. “You’ve done amazing so far. I’m so grateful for you. Now, go eat!”