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“That’s true.” Chewing on her lip, she wondered at the sudden pained expression on Jarrett’s face.
“Are you ready?”
Those eyes! Did he know how she melted inside every time he gave her that intense stare?
“Now?” she rasped.
“I already sent an office memo for everyone to gather in the auditorium. I assume you didn’t see it.”
She scrunched her nose in apology. “I kind of ignore those during the day. I usually check them at lunch and right before going home.”
He gave her a crooked smile and held out his hand. She could only stare at it. Touching him in front of all those people would be a really bad idea. Maybe, if her attraction showed, Jarrett would think she was performing for the benefit of the employees.
She put her fingers in his and let him pull her to her feet and tuck her hand in the crook of his arm.
“Here goes nothing,” she mumbled.
He propelled her down the hallway, bending to bring his mouth close to her ear. “What we have is not nothing, Rylie. It may not be conventional, but it’s important. You’re amazing, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make you feel appreciated.”
“You’ve done nothing but thank me since this whole thing started. I feel plenty appreciated.”
But not loved.
* * *
Jarrett’s announcementwent off without a hitch. Rylie’s shyness actually worked to their advantage, as she clung to his arm like they were newlyweds in love. He didn’t even bring up the fact that Carlie was Rylie’s identical twin sister, and as he expected, not a single soul had the nerve to ask for clarification. The rumors would probably be rampant until Carlie sent out some sort of clarifying tweet to counter her original social media announcement, but Jarrett couldn’t have cared less.
On the other hand, Rylie would probably be sensitive about it. He certainly intended to make sure her reputation was protected when he and Carlie came to an agreement about their official statement tonight. Rylie wasn’t the type to make demands, so he planned to take her with him to the meeting and attempt to read her facial expressions during the discussion. It was frustratingly difficult to read her emotions, but he was getting better at it. A good husband should know what his wife was thinking, right? Even a platonic husband.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He walked her toward the elevator, having planned the announcement so he could immediately take her out to lunch.
“Almost as fun as stubbing my toe,” she murmured, her death-grip on his arm cutting off his blood circulation.
“But aren’t you glad we don’t have to keep it a secret?” he asked, shifting her hand to a more comfortable spot further up his bicep.
“I guess so,” she mumbled as they got on the elevator, packed with Phantom employees.
The doors closed, and the elevator fell into awkward silence. “Congratulations,” someone said, followed by a chorus of congratulatory comments.
“And we’re happy about your son,” said Angie, a programmer who’d been with the company since he opened the Denver branch. “And we’ll be praying for him.”
“Yes, we’ll all be praying.” Another chorus followed, and Jarrett voiced his thanks. Though he was certain many of those were empty promises of prayer, he knew their intentions were kind.
Rylie shrank against him, in a vain attempt to disappear. She had on her glasses today, but they only drew more attention to her piercing blue eyes.It must be hard to be shy when you’re so beautiful.
She relaxed over lunch, probably because he took her to his favorite dive restaurant in his home neighborhood, where he was known to most as the scrawny kid brother of the gorgeous Alvarez sisters. He let the owner know his parents were in town and promised to send them over. And if anyone recognized Rylie as Carlie’s sister, they kept their mouths shut about it. By the time they’d finished eating Rylie was back to normal, laughing and joking.
On their way back to work she said, “I figured out what to call you.”
“Besides Jarrett?”
“Not a new name. An alternative to husband. It’s a cross between husband and buddy.Busband. What do you think?”
He rather liked being her husband, but he didn’t say it. “Does that make you mybifeor mywuddy?”
“Wuddy sounds better. Don’t you think?”
“If we’re going down this road, we should revisit the kiss thing. Your busband should be able to give you abiss.”
