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“Because someone else would want…” His voice drifted off to nothing. His hands still played with the ends of my hair, so I knew he hadn’t fallen back asleep.
“What?” I broke the silence that had fallen between us.
“More.” His voice sounded gruff. My fuzzy still sleepy brain was slow to process what he meant.
“More,” I repeated and swallowed hard. “Right,” I whispered. I could have sworn his heart started to thunder beneath my ear, but I ignored it. Instead, I slowly turned around.
Us against the world? A team? What was I thinking? March and I had just met. What we were doing was a business deal, and I needed to remember that. It was not the time to start getting hearts in my eyes over the handsome cowboy.
“Where are you going?” he asked, his hand on the small of my back as I sat up.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I whispered, not bothering to look at him. I couldn’t.
I knew if I did, he’d see the disappointment in my eyes. And honestly, that wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t March’s fault one night sleeping tucked by his side had turned me into delusional girl! I’d never been a hopeless romantic, and I didn’t need to start being one now.
I hurried and shut the door behind me. I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned. I was blushing. My hair was wild from sleep. “This is a business arrangement,” I quietly reminded myself. “No more sleeping next to him.”
Tonight, I would take the couch or maybe ask if we could pick up an air mattress to toss into one of the guest rooms. Anything that meant not sleeping in his arms. The thought made my whole body, from head to toe, ache with sadness.
I needed to shake that off, and quickly. I needed to remember what this whole thing was about. We were going to get married and start a family. Not because we were in love but because we each had something we wanted.
He needed me to keep his business, and I needed him because I was tired of being alone.
March
I’d fucked up, and I knew it the moment the words had skated out of my mouth. But like the stubborn asshole I was, I hadn’t taken them back.
And I’d been paying for it since.
It had been three long days and nothing like that first night and morning. Sunny had put a wall between us, a thick impenetrable one, and I was the only one to blame.
And because I was a real bastard, I still hadn’t told her the complete truth.
I only needed to be married to her till the end of March, and then I’d be filing for divorce. I would compensate her handsomely and help her set up a life somewhere. Maybe she’ll want to stay in Odyssey? I shook my head. No. I couldn’t have her stay in town. Seeing her around, one day start a life with someone else, and watch someone claim my beautiful ray of sunshine would be too damn hard.
Then claim her! that stubborn voice shouted in my head.
One I ignored as I looked out at the house from my driveway. I’d pulled up ten minutes earlier, but I hadn’t moved. I just sat there, with my hands on the steering wheel, watching the house, wondering what she was doing in there. That’s when I saw it. Headlights drove down my street and stopped right in front of my place.
My brows bunched as I wondered what the hell Luke Clark’s Sheriff SUV was doing at my place. I watched from the rearview as my soon-to-be bride slid out and smiled before waving goodbye.
What the hell? I’d never thought of myself as a jealous man. But in that moment, something came over me, something I didn’t like and sure as hell couldn’t stop. I got out of my truck and watched the very smile, the one she’d given my friend and town’s sheriff, slip away.
“Where were you?” I roughly asked, and her eyes widened.
“You’re home,” she noted but didn’t answer me.
“I am. Now, why weren’t you?” Again, I couldn’t stop the asshole tone of my voice.
“I went into town and?—"
“How?” I barked, and she stilled. Her arms crossed in front of her. She didn’t have a car, and I hadn’t left her with one. Town was about five miles away.
“I walked,” she shared quietly. “I left in the morning and explored. I even applied for a job,” she stated with a hint of attitude.
“A job?” I asked, horrified.
