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“Yeah,” I agree, but I know I’m lying. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do better when all that I want is my hands all over her.
I’d never let myself consider Monroe as an option for me. She was my friend. She’s a friend of my best friends and my pseudo little sister's best friend. That’s all kinds of twisted and complicated. I had her in this box. One that I wasn’t allowed to open. She was this insanely gorgeous and fun girl who was way too young for me. She was tucked away in that box securely.
Until she volunteered to be my wife.
That day, the box was opened, and the complications of what I felt for her were set free to bounce around inside my chest and my mind. I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know where we go from here. What I do know is that with every minute spent with her, these feelings grow.
We’ll go slow. We’ll see how we adapt to married life and take it from there. I’ve never wanted someone like I do Monroe. I’ve never dreamed of a woman being mine forever.
Until now.
Maybe it was our vows? Maybe it was promising before our friends and family to love and cherish her.
It could just be today.
That’s what I tell myself as I close my eyes and will sleep to claim me. When I wake up, things will be back to normal. Monroe will be a friend who’s helping me out and also my wife in name only. It’s just the meaning of the day. That’s all this is. The wedding has me all up in my feels. I let myself get caught up in the moment.
It's a good lie.
Too bad I don’t believe it.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Monroe
My eyes aren't open, but I know I'm in bed alone. I don't feel the warmth of Legend’s body wrapped around my own. I stretch my arms over my head and reach over just in case I'm wrong, but the sheets are cold. I fight back the disappointment of not getting to wake up in his arms. Forcing my eyes open, I look at the spot that’s his side of the bed and run my fingers over the cold sheets.
Memories of last night, of how he held me. The way he was adamant that he wasn’t pretending with me. I should have asked him what was happening between us, but I chickened out. Not only that, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it either. We were both content to be in each other’s arms and let the memories of the day surround us.
It’s dangerous, but I don’t know how to stop it.
I can feel things shifting between us. It’s not something that I expected to happen. Legend is a good man, and he’s opened up a side of himself I’ve never seen before. He’s no longer just this fun-loving guy who likes to shamelessly flirt with me. He’s now the man who worries about my needs. He’s the man who, no matter how we fall asleep, ends up wrapped around me sometime in the middle of the night. He’s the man who claims he wanted to touch me, to kiss me, who declares he wasn’t pretending.
That’s a lethal combination that I know I can’t fight.
Last night, he didn’t even wait for me to fall asleep. He just wrapped himself around me and held on tight. Somehow, in the midst of all the crazy wedding planning and moving in with him, I’ve come to crave his hold on me.
That’s an issue. Because I told Legend this would be fine. I told him we were just friends who would do this wedding thing, stay married for a year, get him his inheritance, and go back to the way things were. The problem is, I know I’ll never be able to go back. I’ll never be able to forget what it feels like to wake up in his arms. I’ll never forget what it feels like to be the center of his world.
That’s what he’s made me.
My heart leaps in my chest when his figure appears in the doorway.
“Morning, gorgeous. How'd you sleep?” He leans against the frame of the door, arms crossed over his bare chest. His voice is still gruff from sleep, and his hair is rumpled. He’s every woman’s fantasy, standing there looking like a sleepy, sexy god.
I allow myself a few moments to take in this beautiful man standing before me. My eyes rake over the tattoos on his chest before they come to meet his. “Like a baby.”
He grins at my response and takes a step into the room. “I've got breakfast ready, and we need to hit the road if we want to make it to the cabin before noon.”
“Do we want to make it to the cabin before noon?” I ask.
He takes a seat on the bed next to me and places his hand on my thigh. “Well, we have the cabin until Wednesday. I thought you’d want to get started on our little vacay sooner rather than later. Besides, it’s snowing there, and I want to make sure we have time to stop and get all the supplies we might need in case we get snowed in.”
“Good thing there are lots of things to do at the cabin if we do.”
He smirks. “I think we’ll be able to figure it out, gorgeous.” He squeezes my thigh and stands. “Come on, lazybones. We’ve got a honeymoon to start.”
