“Okaaay… Wasn’t that the whole point of this arrangement?”
“He wants to meet you.”
“All right. When do you want to introduce us?”
Hayden let out a bitter laugh. “This isn’t about what I want, Sunday School.”
Right. Because Hayden had never wanted me near his family. If he’d wanted to introduce us, he would have done it during the year we’d been dating. “Fine, when doeshewant to meet me?”
My words were followed by a grimace from Hayden. “He and my mother want to take the whole family on a weekend away. It’s not enough that I get married, now he wants to spend an entire weekend with you.”
“Why would he want to spend the weekend with me?”
“To test me? To try to control my marriage and make sure he gets his way? Fuck if I know.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, not sure what to say to that.
“When are we leaving?” I finally asked when I couldn’t come up with anything else.
“They want us there from tomorrow until Sunday evening.”
“Okay.”
Hayden’s brows climbed up his forehead. “Okay? You have no problem going on a spontaneous weekend trip with my family, whom you don’t know, just because they asked?”
I shrugged. “I don’t have any shifts at the hospital until Monday night. And I already know you and Miles.”
He closed the distance between us until we were close enough that I could feel the heat coming off his body. “You don’t have to do this,” he murmured. “I can tell them no.”
“I’m really fine with it.”
“Are you?” His eyes bored into mine with an intensity so strong it was impossible to look away. “Because they’re all going to expect us to be in love. I’m going to kiss you, touch you, treat you like you’re mine. So this is your last chance to back out.”
“I think it’s a little late for that,” I said, holding up my left hand. “I already married you.”
He dropped his forehead to mine. “Do you regret it?”
“No. I agreed to this for a reason, and that hasn’t changed.”
“Right.” He pulled back abruptly. “I’m going to go pack.”
I watched him go, feeling like I’d somehow screwed that up. But I had no idea what I’d done to upset him.
THIRTEEN
Hayden
I hadn’t meantto put my hand on Danielle’s thigh. It was automatic, an instinct I apparently still had, and now that my hand was there, I couldn’t find the willpower to move it.
Danielle was wearing another one of her unseasonable dresses. This one was a seafoam-green color with a wrap skirt that created a slit, leaving half her left leg exposed. The leg that happened to be closest to me and that my hand was now resting on.
My fingers tightened slightly around her thigh. The gesture was possessive, which was exactly how I was feeling. How I’dbeenfeeling since the moment she had agreed to marry me. It didn’t matter that this was fake. As far as the world knew, she wasmine, and I wasn’t interested in sharing. Even if she hadn’t asked me to act like I liked her in public, I would have. I wasn’t going to leaveroom for doubt in the mind of any man that she was taken. I wasn’t my fucking father.
Danielle’s hand covered mine where it rested on her bare leg. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I said shortly.
“Really? Because you’re holding on to me like you think I’m going to float away.”
