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To my surprise, she doesn’t argue. She slips the hoodie on, grabs a bag of candy, and situates on my bed.
“What are we watching?” I lean forward, grabbing a bag of candy myself as she picks up the remote and flips through the screens till she finds the romantic comedy she’s searching for. She hits play and settles back against the pillows.
“It looked cute. Rumor has it the actors were hooking up during filming so the chemistry is off the charts.”
I smile, watching her pop a candy in her mouth between fits of laughter. She is far more interesting to me than any movie could be. Her laugh, her smile, the way she kicks her leg out at a particularly funny part.
“What?” She eyes me.
“Nothing.” I shrug, turning my attention back to the movie.
As much as she tries to fight it, I can see sleep slowly taking over her body. Her eyes grow heavy, her head nodding to the side. Finally, her breathing deepens and her hand slides from where it’s resting on her pillow down to the bed.
I watch her sleep, running my fingers gently through her hair. She looks peaceful and younger than her twenty-four years. Suddenly it hits me; she doesn’t have any family. She told me that. It’s no wonder the small things are important to her, the little gestures of spending time, a dinner, or even a movie matter so much. My heart aches at the thought of her feeling rejected by every person in her life growing up and even worse at the thought that I’ve contributed to it.
Chapter 13
Stella
Something is different. He’s been nothing but pleasant since the night we watched a movie in his bed almost a week ago. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe he’s planning to kill me for the life insurance after I get comfortable in the sham marriage.
“Stella?” I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear his voice, my phone flying onto the floor. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yes.” I stand up and turn around. “You just scared me is all.”
“I have to fly to Kansas for a meeting. I’ll be gone for no longer than a day.”
“You’re going to fly there and fly back the same day?”
“That’s the plan,” he says, straightening his tie. It’s still a touch askew so I walk over to him and reach out to adjust it. His hands settle against my waist, like this is just a typical Monday with a typical married couple. “Would you like to come with me?”
I release his tie and step back. “What for?”
He shrugs. “No reason. I wasn’t sure if you had anything going on this week.”
I shake my head. “I don’t. I guess I could come since it’s just a day trip. Why not?”
“Great, I’ll let the flight crew know to expect you.”
“I don’t need an overnight bag or anything, right?”
“No.” He glances at his watch. “I’ll be heading to the airport in about thirty minutes.” He winks at me, then walks out of my room.
Thirty minutes later we’re on our way to the private airport. Thirty-five minutes after that, we’re in the air, headed to Kansas. A few hours later, we land beneath a darkened sky, the wind starting to pick up.
“Stay with Mac while I’m at my meeting.” He grabs his phone and pulls his jacket on before cupping my chin and tilting my head upward. “I’ll head straight back to you when I’m done.” Something in the way he phrased that has my lower belly doing flips.
“Good luck.”
Within two hours of him leaving, the sky has turned black. Rain mixed with hail pelts the ground. We moved from the airplane into the hangar, alarms starting to ring out around us.
“What’s that?” I ask Mac who’s texting someone furiously.
“Sounds like a tornado alarm.”
“Tornado?” I shout, reaching for my phone. “Where’s Atlas?” I no sooner say his name than a black SUV pulls up, Atlas jumping out almost before it’s stopped. He grabs me, wrapping his arms around me as he pulls me into the lobby of the small airport.
“There’s a big storm rolling in. All flights are grounded.”
