AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hang my suit jacket over the back of a chair and start unbuttoning my shirt. “Probably.”
Mila had Clark Samson eating out of her hand earlier. She was smart to spin the news that our marriage is fake the way she did, which was to say it’s only because she’s a woman. No one points out when men get married after whirlwind courtships, but women are always presumed to be manipulating a situation or lying. Thanks, patriarchy.
I kept my arm around her and told Clark I’m crazy in love with my little dove, which I said is my pet name for her. She pursed her lips as I told him, the irony of calling her a peacemaker not lost on either of us.
“I don’t know,” I say, wondering if she’s ever going to relax and get out of work mode. “You want to order some food?”
“I ate during the game.”
I can’t help letting my gaze follow the line of her long legs before it settles on the jersey she’s wearing. Seeing her in a jersey with my name on it ignited my possessive side and now, despite promising myself I wouldn’t complicate things by sleeping with her, I’m hard just looking at her.
“Hey, I have a possible strategy for us to use,” I say, trying to speak her language.
She looks up from her phone. “What is it?”
I sit down next to her at the foot of the bed. “We want people to think we can’t keep our hands off each other, right? Banging every chance we get.”
“Right.” There’s a skeptical note in her voice.
“So what if we actually do? Then we won’t be pretending. It can’t look any more natural than it will if we’re actually fucking.”
She nods slowly. “So it’s not that you want to fuck me, per se, just that you’re willing to for the cause? To help our relationship look legit?”
“Exactly.”
“Bullshit.” She laughs and returns to her phone. “You’re just horny, and I’m not going to be your cheap, expendable hole.”
“Christ, could you be any more unromantic?”
She laughs, genuinely amused. “What, like you were trying to woo me or something? You just want to get off and go to sleep.”
“You’d get off, too. And there are worse things, you know.”
She sighs, exasperated. “My mind is a thousand miles away from sex right now. I’m trying to kill these rumors Mills is stirring up.”
“At midnight?”
“No rest for the wicked.”
“Stalking the Chronicle’s website on your phone won’t change anything.”
She glares at me. “But…you’re not in the mood right now, are you?”
“I could be.”
“I think it’s best if we don’t complicate things with sex.”
I don’t respond, instead flipping open my suitcase and looking for a shirt and jeans to change into. When I walk out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I grab my wallet and phone.
“I’m going out.”
She balks. “Out? You can’t go out. We’re supposed to be in here fucking each other’s brains out.”
I shrug. “We’re not, though. So I’m going out.”
“Out where?”
“Wherever my teammates are. I’ll text someone and ask.”
She sets her phone down, looking exasperated. “Please just stay here. We need to be in here alone tonight.”
I shove my wallet and phone into my pocket, feeling like a puppet.
“Look, I’ve been more than cool about this whole thing. You gave my brother a shot a little earlier than he would have gotten it on his own, but I’ve done a hell of a lot more for you. Celibacy is taking things too far, though. I’m not doing that.”
She runs to the door and presses her back to it. “No. You can’t fuck anyone else. It’ll ruin everything.”
With a single note of sarcastic laughter, I put my hands on either side of her and lean close.
“Move, Mila.”
She raises her chin, her gaze fearless. “No.”
“If you want me to keep playing along, get out of my fucking way.”
Tears pool in her eyes. “I know I’m hard to get along with. I’m too intense and I work too much. No one wants to be around me because I’m…a lot.” She lowers her voice to a whisper, fear swimming in her eyes. “But if I get sent back to Russia, I’ll be captured within an hour. My father has enemies who would love to get their hands on me.” Tears fall onto her cheeks. “Death would be merciful compared to what they would do to me. And I no longer have contact with my father, so he will not help me.”
My anger softens. From everything I’ve read about her father, she’s telling the truth. And I can’t be part of anyone being held captive and tortured.
I take a step back, folding my arms over my chest. “I’m worried about what your father and his enemies might do to me, too.”
“Don’t be. As long as we’re in the United States, nothing will happen. My father doesn’t care about what I do unless it affects him, and this doesn’t.”
