Page 54 of Married to Lies

“Cute,” Coretta said, giving me a wink.

“Rei said something to Daniel, and he laughed. That’s when I started to get jealous. Then he replied, and I heard her laugh for the first time...” He looked me straight in the eyes, his words swirling around me like a warm blanket. “I thought, I want to hear more of that laugh.”

“Quentin...” I said, genuinely touched.

“Of course, I was too nervous to actually talk to her. Didn’t have a picture or anything to practice with.” He winked at his mom. “So I wrote her letters.”

“Letters?” Coretta said with a dreamy sigh while Tyrone said, “Letters? You couldn’t text her?”

His dad swatted Tyrone. “Not everything needs to happen on a phone, son.”

“Well,” Quentin continued, “she got tired of me writing notes. She wrote one back and told me to do something about it or quit writing to her.” He grinned at me. The smile was brighter than anything I’d seen. His voice warm as he finished, “Now here we are.”

“Here we are,” I echoed, realizing... I liked him.

Shit.

It was one thing to use a contract marriage to save my company.

It was another thing to start our relationship on a lie.

25 Quentin

I held the car door open for Rei, and she took my hand, using me for leverage as she climbed onto the door runner and into the SUV. Her foot rested on the line where the door would meet the doormat, and I reached down, palming her calf to scoot it over.

God, I loved the feel of her. She was solid and incredibly sexy. More than that, touching her was a reminder that this was real.

She graced me with a smile. “So chivalrous,” she teased.

What else was I supposed to be? I wondered as I shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Inside, I made sure the dials were adjusted to keep Rei warm and that the music was turned to a station she liked.

“Can you give me your address to program in?” I asked.

She glanced over at me, nervously chewing her cheek. “You promise you won’t judge?”

I set my phone in the console and turned to face her. “Look, Rei, I know I have a lot. But I didn’t always.” I nodded toward the big house where we’d just enjoyed a meal. “I didn’t grow up like this.”

She raised her eyebrows, inviting me to continue.

“Mom raised us in a two-bedroom house near the school. She worked in the front office so she could get to as many of our games as possible and still bring in an income. Then she met Pops when we were in middle school. They got married when I was a freshman, but he was a coach and science teacher–didn’t make much money. All of this came later.” I gestured toward the house.

That didn’t seem to set her at ease though, so I added, “Look, if we’re going to get married, we have to be honest with each other. That starts here.”

Finally, she nodded and then whispered out an address.

I typed it in and then looked at the location. It was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the metro. “Here?” I asked, turning the phone toward her to make sure I’d entered it correctly.

She nodded.

“Do you live with your parents?” I asked. Maybe that’s why she was being cagey about her house.

“I own my own home,” she replied, just enough pride in her tone for me to notice.

Curiosity nagged at the edge of my mind as I pulled out of the drive and followed the directions to Rei’s home. There was so much about her I didn’t know, so much I longed to discover. So I started with this question: “Were you telling the truth? About talking to your teddy bears?”

She seemed taken aback, her spine stiffening a little defensively. “Why would I lie about that?”

“I didn’t know you were adopted,” I said. All of it had been news to me.