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A little chuckle rumbles in her throat. “Why?”
“Kids, they kind of scare me. They can be evil little beings, you know. One time when I was in high school, my young nephew thought it would be funny to put blue dye on my toothbrush. It was my senior year and I was going on a date with this girl I was crazy about. Let’s just say it was my one and only date with her.”
“Why did he do that?”
I shrug. “I actually think my sisters put him up to it.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“They passed it off as an April Fool’s joke but deep down I think they were trying to sabotage my date.”
She frowns and puts her hand on my cheek. She doesn’t feel as clammy as she did last night. “That wasn’t very nice,” she says, siding with me, and I like that. Couples need to stick together, no matter what. Not that we’re a real couple, but Peyton would undoubtedly be a ride-or-die kind of girl when it came to relationships. If she were open to one, that is.
“Sisters.” I push her curls from her face. She’s a hot mess and never looked cuter.
“They must have had a reason.” She eyes me, curiosity all over her flushed face. “What did you do to them?”
“Me!” I exclaim, indignation in my tone as my head rears back in shock. “I’ll have you know I was a saint, Peyton. A damn saint.”
She laughs at that and the sweet sound goes through me.
“A damn saint? Yeah, and I’m Mother Teresa.” Long lashes blink over tired green eyes. “Seriously, why did they do it?”
“I think it was because they didn’t like the girl I was going out with. They all thought she wasn’t good enough for me.”
“Wow, tough crowd.”
“Right—now do you see what I mean about butting into my life?”
“Yeah, I guess, and I bet they’d hit it off with Cason. He’s always up in my business.”
“You really do know how it feels.”
“Something else we have in common,” she says, and glances down, her brow furrowed. Her head lifts and her eyes are brimming with questions when she looks back up at me.
“What?”
“Did they like your ex-fiancée?”
“Yeah, they did. I think at that point in my life they were anxious for me to settle down and have a family. They either missed the signs or she fooled everyone.”
“Fooled everyone?”
“Never mind. It’s not important.”
I’m about to stand when her hand on mine stops me. “Roman, if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.” She pastes on a smile. “I am your wife.”
I am your wife.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I really shouldn’t like the sound of that so much.
“She didn’t want me for me, Peyton,” I say, and go quiet as her eyes narrow, her brain absorbing that information. “She wanted my name and all that came with it.”
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” I say without thinking. The truth of the matter is, I was sorry to find out my worth to women, but deep down, I think I might have felt a measure of relief when she called off the wedding.
