Page 76 of Forty, Flirty & F*cked

He appears in the doorway as I'm trying to tame my hair. "Actually, I would."

Our eyes meet in the mirror, and suddenly getting to the board meeting doesn't seem so urgent.

"Connor..."

He steps closer, hands sliding to my waist. "Yes?"

"We're going to be late."

"Worth it." His lips find my neck. “I am curious about how many other CEOs have emergency yoga clothes for you, by the way.”

I elbow him. "Didn't realize CEOs could be so jealous."

"I'm not jealous." He definitely sounds jealous. "I'm professionally inquisitive about your crisis management techniques."

"My techniques?"

"Very thorough techniques." His hands slip under the borrowed top. “But, um, I’m sure your form could use work..."

My phone buzzes again:

KAT: Dad's not answering his phone

KAT: Please tell me he's not experimenting with protein smoothies again

KAT: The blender is still recovering from last time

Reality crashes back.

I step away from Connor, reality slowly starting to seep in.

Dammit, I almost forgot.

I have responsibilities. A family that needs me. A marriage I need to fix before it ruins both our careers.

"Ariana?" Connor's voice is soft. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I straighten my borrowed clothes. "Just... remembering real life."

"This is real life."

"Is it?" I turn to face him. "Because from where I'm standing, this looks a lot like a fantasy. One that doesn't include family emergencies or protein powder disasters or..."

"Or what?"

Or the fact that I'm lying to you about our marriage. That I'm supposed to be the strong one, the responsible one, the one who fixes everything.

But I can't fix this without breaking something else.

"Or board meetings," I say instead. "Which we're very late for."

He studies me for a long moment. "We should talk about this."

"About being late?"

"About whatever's making you semi-panicky.”

“This is not panic.” I grab my phone. “This is being realistic.”

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