Page 43 of Fake Wife
God. Back to business.
I want to avoid it for as long as possible. The sooner we get married the sooner she can leave me.
“We’ll reschedule. It can wait a few days. Go get ready.” I lean forward, unable to stop myself, and press my lips to her forehead, inhaling her sweet scent. Lavender and something fruity, warm and soft. Cherries.
God I want my hands on this girl.
She pulls back, breathless, her hands drifting off my body like it’s the last thing she wants to do. “Okay. Give me ten minutes.”
Chapter 15
Teagan
My second trip to Cannon Bluffs with Corbin is the exact opposite of my first one. Instead of being in the car with a rich, sexy stranger and apprehension making my skin buzz, this time there is only pure excitement.
I still can’t believe all the rustic furniture in his own condo and in Eleanor’s house was made by him.
It explains why his hands are strong, rough looking, with calluses on his palms and fingertips, a roughness I feel whenever he touches me. He doesn’t have the hands of a man who spends his life behind a desk, issuing orders.
He’s passionate about building things with his own two hands, and the fact that the furniture he makes is rustic, not elegant with fancy scrolls like a queen’s throne, keeps making me smile so much my cheeks hurt.
Caitlin’s comment about us not being that much different than I think we are makes more sense now.
Corbin Lane is letting me in, and he’s spent most of the drive talking to me about his history with Trey and Caitlin.
He’s just finished telling me of the night they met, Trey and Corbin encountering Caitlin in the stairwell of a dorm building. The guys were leaving a party, drunk and stumbling, but Corbin claims they sobered up as soon as they saw another guy with his hands and mouth all over Caitlin. He’d shoved up her skirt and had ripped her panties, which were tossed to the floor. He’d been trying to rape her.
She was bleeding from her cheek, clawing at the guy, trying to push him away. Later, she had told them he hit her, multiple times, in order to force her into the stairwell.
Since then, they’ve become her protectors against other assholes.
“This makes my heart hurt,” I whisper, rubbing fruitlessly at the ache in my chest. Poor Caitlin. I can practically feel her pain, even though this happened over a decade ago. “Is that why she’s told me she’s not interested in a relationship?”
“Probably. Don’t let her happy-go-lucky craziness fool you, either. She still needs help for it. Trey spends more time with her than I do and says she still suffers from nightmares.”
I turn to him. Tiny stress lines fan out at the edges of narrowed eyes. A muscle jumps in his jaw. She’s definitely not the only one not over that night.
“Is that why you bought her a place in your building?”
He flinches. “She needed help, but it wasn’t just that. The guy who attacked her was the grandson of a man her family knew—a CEO of a pharmaceutical company. When she went to them for help, they not only didn’t believe her, they told her if she pressed the issue, they’d take away her trust fund and kick her out.”
Jesus. Rich people were evil.
“So did she press charges?”
“No. She did tell her parents to shove her trust fund up their asses, though.”
That sounded like Caitlin.
“You’re a good man. Caitlin’s lucky to have men like you and Trey in her life.”
I reach for him as he shakes his head, an embarrassed look on his face. Why would he want to hide how good of a man he is? Why is it difficult for him to admit he’s a decent man?
“Corbin?” I ask, when he doesn’t say anything. My hand settles on his thigh. Hard muscles tighten beneath my gentle touch.
Seconds tick by with him still tense beneath my hand when his hand lands on mine. He covers my hand with his warm palm and squeezes firmly.
“Thank you.”
