AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nods at the waiter, and he pours us both a glass and then leaves us to review the menu. I haven’t given food a moment’s thought, so I look down, trying to remind myself that this is all fake.
We are fake dating so she can figure out who I am and what I want because this is her job, to find me a wife. To find me someone else to live the dreams that I’m only picturing with her by my side. She can’t be the one because she’s already someone else’s.
The waiter returns, and we place our orders as he drops off bread that smells like garlic and rosemary onto the table with oil for dipping. When Grace takes a piece and offers it to me, I smile. I love that she enjoys food as much as her wine.
She pours a generous amount of oil on her plate, adds a little red pepper and parmesan, and mixes it together. I watch as she dips the bread into the mixture, brings it to her lips and closes her eyes as she takes a bite, moaning quietly. My dick jumps as I remember how she moaned like that while I slid in and out of her.
I remember looking down and staring at our connection, watching the way she swallowed me and commanding that she watch as I fucked her. Her lip between her teeth, she watched and the same moan fell from her lips.
Fuck, I need to stop thinking like this.
I attempt a topic change. “How do you spend your Saturdays? With your husband, I mean?”
Grace pauses midbite and looks at me. I can’t read her expression, but to me it appears like she’s working through something in her mind. To lie or not to lie.
“I need the truth, Grace.”
Dropping the bread onto her plate, she picks up her napkin and wipes her hand. Then she takes a sip of her wine. When she finally places the glass down and meets my gaze, I see what I think is an honest expression. “I haven’t spent a Saturday with my husband in a long time.”
I fucking knew it.
“Why?” I ask with more excitement than I’d like to admit.
She shrugs her shoulders. “We are both busy. Stopped making time for each other.”
“That’s not the type of marriage I want,” I say quickly, as if I’m in a competition with her damn husband. Trying to show her I could be better. We could be better.
Grace lets out a breathy sigh type laugh and rolls her eyes. “No, I don’t think anyone would willingly sign up for my marriage.”
“What do you do on a Saturday then?”
She bites her lip. “Meet friends for lunch, go for walks, read, paint.”
Involuntarily, I feel my lips curve up in a smile. “Paint?”
Grace’s face relaxes. “Yes, as you know I enjoy painting.”
I’m taken back to the Keys. To watching the caricaturist. To the little girl with the ice cream. “What kind of painting do you do?”
She shrugs. “Any kind really. I love watercolors. Sitting outside on the weekend with an easel and capturing what I see. Or what I wish I saw. My memories.”
“Do you think you’ll paint anything from Florida?” I sip my wine as I watch her, fascinated with every breath she takes and every thought that comes out of her mouth.
Grace’s smile grows bigger. “I have a few things in my mind that I have memorized that I’d like to take a shot at.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Anything that you need a refresher on?”
Grace closes her eyes and touches her lips. I’m not even sure she realizes she’s doing it, but the gesture makes me want to move closer so that I can place my lips against hers. “Couldn’t forget it if I tried,” she murmurs.
“Are you happy, Grace?”
Her eyes fly open, and she stares at me, before replying, “Almost.”
“Almost?” I can feel the excitement bubble in my stomach; it’s the same feeling I get when I’m closing a deal at work—I’ve finally gotten through to her. “What would make you happy? What are you waiting for?”
She sighs and bites her lip. “This project to be over. Finding you a wife. Once I do that my boss is giving me the company. It’s what I’ve been working toward for years. The reason I missed dozens of dinners with my husband.”
And there it is. Her ability to be happy relies upon me being with someone else. It’s cold water on the heat that has been burning between us, or at least what I thought was burning. A reminder that she’s a married woman whose goal is to fix her marriage, not walk off into the sunset with me.
