Page 88 of Resisting You
Rosa crossed her arms. "It’s the cleanest solution."
"To what? To one shitty article by a power hungry, egomaniac actress?"
"To a marriage that was never supposed to be real."
Even though her tone was gentle, the words slammed into me like a punch.
"You don’t mean that," I said quietly.
She looked at me then. Her eyes were glassy, rimmed with red, but her jaw was tight. Determined. "I do."
"No, you don’t," I said, stepping closer. "You’re hurt. You’re angry. And yeah, tonight sucked. But this? What we have? It's not fake. You know it isn't."
"Itwasn'tsupposed to be real," she snapped. "That was the deal. You get your clean image, I get a leg up for my practice. We help each other and walk away with our careers intact."
"Maybe it wasn’tsupposedto be real, but it was. Itis.” I tossed the annulment papers onto the counter and took a step toward her. “This is real for me. And I think it is for you, too.”
She hesitated.
"Rosa." I bent to meet her eyes when she wouldn’t look at me. “Rosa, look at me. We’re still married. We’re still in this together. Nothing has to change if we don’t let it.”
She exhaled shakily and lifted those whiskey brown eyes to meet mine. "Except everything’s changed, Noah. I’ve losteverything I worked for. That blind item torched my name. My practice. My reputation. The calls have already started coming in; the clients that were your friends are already starting to cancel their appointments with me. Future referrals? Gone. That was the entirereasonfor doing this."
"And what about us?" I asked. My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. I ignored the burning sensation in my sinuses and the tears filling my eyes. "We can get through this. I believe in us. I believe in the nights we spent talking until 2 a.m., the way you curl into me when you’re half-asleep, the way you smile when I call you Mrs. Tripp…” I gave a small, half-humored chuckle, then corrected myself. “Excuse me, Dr. Tripp.” I squeezed her hand and my heart did a little jump when I saw the smile twitch briefly at the corner of her mouth. “We can weather this storm. You and I. Together.”
But then, her smile faded, quickly disappearing as she looked away.
I took another step. "You can lie to the press. Hell, lie to Hazel, lie to Kristen, lie to whomever you want. But don’t lie tome."
"I’m not lying." She wouldn’t look me in the eye. She stared down at my chin, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
"Yes, you are. I see it all over your face."
She wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand. "Noah, please. Don’t make this harder than it already is."
"Itshouldbe hard. Divorcing someone you love should be hard. If I meant anything to you at all, then walking away should hurt like hell."
Silence stretched between us.
I glanced at Birdie, who had been curled up quietly on the bed. He lifted his head, sensing the tension, his eyes flicking between us. Rosa walked over to him, kneeling beside the mattress.
"Hey, sweet boy," she whispered, running her fingers through his fur. "You're gonna be okay. You stick with Noah, okay? He needs you."
"Rosa, don’t do this..."
She pressed her face to Birdie’s neck, shoulders shaking. "I’ll miss him. But he’s yours. He was always yours."
"He’sours," I said.
She stood, slowly. "Not anymore."
I reached for her arm. She froze as my fingers gently brushed her elbow.
"Just tell me the truth," I said. "Even if it’s going to wreck me. Did you feel anything real for me? Ever?"
She blinked, and a single tear slid down her cheek.
Then she looked me dead in the eye and said, "No. It was never real. Not for me. I just got caught up in the fantasy of being married to Noah Blue."
