Ella Maise

“You look beautiful,”

Tilting my head back up, I met his gaze and slowly, uncertainly placed my hand in his open palm for the first time since the ceremony. His hand was warm as he gently closed his fingers around mine. And my heart…my heart was having some issues.

The number of times Jack Hawthorne smiled: zilch.

I didn’t need to go to her coffee shop every day just because she was my wife or because I enjoyed looking at her. I made a good enough coffee myself.

and because of that—because of her—I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to keep up my part of the charade

Her lips then—next time it would be her lips I would taste.

I’d need all the time I could get to try to make her feel something for me, and maybe along the way I would come up with a good way to admit that I’d deceived her from the very beginning, to admit that the reason I offered to marry her wasn’t to have someone to attend the parties with. I hated any and all events, rarely went to them. It wasn’t to appear to be a family man to appease clients, and it definitely wasn’t because I was interested in the property. I could’ve bought ten of them if I was so inclined.

The sweet smile on her lips that I had craved to be on the receiving end of for so long…

I was ruined.

Finally, finally his mouth curved into a smile.

“I’m going to kiss you now, Rose.”

My heart started beating in my throat when his arm rounded my waist and he pulled me just a little closer. Made sense too, I supposed, because I couldn’t just keep my face close but my body away.