Page 15 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 3
A Whirlwind of Color - Chapter 7
Thursday
James hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since I laughed at our apparent meet cute. A coffee shop? Too cliché to have really happened, but a dream was supposed to be cliché, right? But him being my professor on top of that? Ludicrous. Hilarious. Absurd. So why wasn’t he laughing?
It wasn’t worth dwelling on. This man sitting next to me wasn’t real. And he certainly wasn’t a professor. No chance. I knew professors. They were usually in their fifties, had comb-overs, and carried their weight all wrong. James was the complete opposite. He was older than me, but he was still young. And fit. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had abs of steel under his dress shirt. And why wouldn’t he? It was my dream. I had plenty of dreams of hot men falling head over heels for me. Didn’t everyone?
He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together like he was holding back a sigh. I stared at the dark circles under his eyes again. Or maybe he was holding back a grimace. He truly did look like he was in pain. Before I could ask, he opened his eyes again and ran his fingers through his hair.
More proof that he wasn’t a professor – he had a head full of dark hair that just begged for me to run my fingers through it. Now I was the one pressing my lips together. Where on earth had that thought come from? I was being sucked into this fantasy. It happened to me a lot. Whenever I read, I always pretended I was the main character. I had traveled the world through books. Fought monsters. Fallen in love. I had done more make-believe than actual living. And this felt like someweird combination of the two. I tried to shake the thought away.This. Isn’t. Real.
I’d wake up soon enough and Melissa and I could laugh about this dream together. I could already hear her analyzing my dream in her head. She’d probably say something like, “Clearly you need to move on from Austin and you’re dying to go to this party with me tonight!” Or something equally unhelpful. Just the thought made me smile.
I glanced at James again. Even though I desperately wanted to wake up, it didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy this dream. I had told the doctor I’d play along. And that’s what I was going to do.
The car slowed down to a stop in front of a towering building.
“Here we are,” Ian said from the front seat.
“What’s here?” I asked. Was he taking me to work or something? Was it take your imaginary wife to work day? This certainly didn’t look like a college.I knew he wasn’t a professor!
James unbuckled his seatbelt. “We’re home.”
“Home?” I looked out the car window at the building. “It looks so…un-homey.”
James laughed. “When we first moved to New York, you said every apartment looked cold. But trust me, you love it here.” He reached over and unbuckled my seatbelt.
How could I possibly love living in this building? I loved grass and trees and fresh air. You probably couldn’t even open awindow in that building. What kind of life was that? I looked over at him, and he was staring at me so intently. And I found myself wanting to trust him. What was the harm in that for now?
“Okay, husband, show me the way.”
He smiled. “As you wish, wife.”
I laughed. “Oh, I love that movie.”
“What movie?”
“The Princess Bride. Westley always says, ‘As you wish,’ to Buttercup but really he means ‘I love you, I love you, I love you!’ And it took her so long to realize it.”
He just stared at me. “I’ve never seen it.”
“What do you mean you’ve never seen it? It’s my favorite movie. You’re my husband, of course you’ve seen it.”
“You never told me.”
I never told him? What kind of sham of a marriage was this? Did we rarely ever talk? Was it a marriage of convenience somehow? It didn’t matter. It wasn’t real anyway. “Well, come on then. Let’s go watch it right now.” I opened up the door and stepped out onto the city street.
A wave of hot air hit me. And the stench of trash. I scrunched up my nose.Welcome home to me.
Ian was standing there like he had been about to open the door for me. He said he was a security guard, not a driver. Did he usually open the door? He looked upset. Had I done something to offend him?
He gave me an odd look, his hand still awkwardly outstretched.
“Thank you so much for the ride.” I thrust my hand into his and shook it.
“Penny, get back into the car,” he said, his voice much more serious than it had been when we first met.
“Um…isn’t this my home? I’d like to go see it.”This should be fun.
