Page 51 of The Fake Husband Play
Home…
The word hits differently than it used to. In just a fewdays, Elly and Mimi have changed everything for the better.
Am I ready to put that at risk for something more?
And should that even be my decision? After all, Elly’s the one with so much to lose. She needs this break, this safety and space. How can I even think about putting her in a position where she has to give that up?
Or, even worse, pretend to feel something she doesn’t in the name of staying in that safe space… The thought sickens me. I would never want anyone to fake feelings for me, but especially not Elly. She’s been through too much already.
So, I should keep my mouth shut and my hands to myself. It’s the only honorable option.
Except…
God, every time she looks at me with those big, soft eyes—trusting me, letting me in, letting me be a part of her little family—my chest cracks open even wider. Every time she laughs at one of my jokes or teases me in that playful, but clever way of hers, all I want is to pull her closer and see if she tastes as good as I remember.
I want her pressed up against me in the kitchen again, only this time with no rainbow sweatpants emergency to save me. I want her head tipped back, her lips parted, her breath catching when I finally stop being a coward and kiss her the way I’ve been dying to since the courthouse.
So yeah. I should keep my mouth shut. I should be patient. But the truth is, I’m already so far gone, I don’t know how to walk this line much longer.
A man can’t control his dreams, and mine after hugging Elly before waving her off to bed are…filthy.
Filthy and sweet and so good, morning comes way too soon.
Chapter
Fourteen
ELLY
It’s Friday night,and Nancy’s here to watch Mimi so I can do somethingfunfor once.
I’m not going to work; I’m going on a date with a drop-dead sexy man who makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the room. Heck, theonlywoman in the room. When we were out for dessert last night, Grammercy’s gaze didn’t waver from me for a second, not even when half a dozen sorority girls in microscopic skirts wiggled past our table on the way to the bar.
The man either has a thing for me or he’s secretly gay, and no man who kisses women the way he does could be gay.
I should be giddy. Elated. Dancing around my bathroom while I put on my makeup like I used to before a hot date as a teenager.
Instead, I’m staring at my glassy-eyed reflection in the bathroom mirror, wondering if it’s possible to die from a bad case of “about to do something scary.”
And stupid.
And scary. So scary.
Seriously, why am I eventhinkingabout doing this?!
Everything is going so well!
Only an idiot would risk screwing this up.
Grammercy’s home is the nicest place my daughter and I have ever lived—byfar—and Mimi’s new health insurance has already kicked in likewoah. All her medications were instantly covered,in full, and we’re starting physical therapy with the best pediatric practice in the city next week. We never would have been able to access that kind of care with our old insurance.
Just like we never would have been able to go to the Voodoo’s opening night game, I would never be able to eventhinkabout going back to school, and Mimi would never have a pool to swim in every day—something that seems to be significantly helping with her pain.
And she certainly wouldn’t have a father figure to drink “fancy” water with while he grills on the terrace…
Grammercy adores my little girl, and Mimi already considers him her buddy for life. The two of them are kindred spirits, and who am I to get in the way of something like that?
Nobody, just a woman who hasn’t felt this kind of longing in her entire damned life and suddenly can’t think of anything except how desperately she needs her fake husband to take her against the nearest wall.
