Chapter 7 #2
Fletcher shifted his body slightly, and I sensed all his focus turn on me.
His green eyes twinkled, the color brought out by the dark green plaid shirt he wore.
I knew in an instant that this man was a Grade-A flirt.
And why wouldn’t he be? He was gorgeous, like all the Mars men, although he didn’t make my heart thump the way Gideon did.
“One might say there are simultaneously too many and too few breasts on display in this town,” he replied with mock sadness.
“You could always ask Mrs. Gretzinger to give you a peek if you’re hard up for other options,” I suggested.
Fletcher barked out a laugh, and a few heads turned toward us. Luca snorted, shaking his head. Then he gave in and laughed.
“You know, Sadie,” Fletcher said, lips tugging up into a half smile once the laughter had faded. A dimple appeared in his cheek. “Things don’t work out with you and Gid…”
“Then she sure as hell isn’t ending up with you,” a gruff voice said at my back.
Shivers coursed down my spine at the sound of Gideon’s anger and possessiveness, fire kindling in the pit of my stomach.
The heat of his body touched my shoulder and back as the little hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
Suddenly, I was panting. Lord have mercy.
Fletcher’s smile turned blazing, his eyes twinkling as he held my gaze. He knew exactly what he was doing. Finally tearing his eyes away from me, he lifted his hands in surrender as he met my husband’s gaze. “You don’t know what you’ve got here, cousin,” he said, indicating me.
“I know exactly what I’ve got,” Gideon replied darkly.
“Oh, my favorite thing!” I cut in. “Being talked about like an object when I’m standing right here.”
Still looking at Gideon, Fletcher’s grin widened as he shook his head. “Maybe Grandma’s pet dork isn’t so bad at his job, after all,” he mused, referring, I presumed, to the software engineer who’d designed the matchmaking algorithm for Etta.
Luca’s brows jumped as he glanced at Fletcher. “You’d agree to get married? You?”
Fletcher glanced at me and baldly checked me out. Then he shrugged. “Might not be so bad.”
Luca clicked his tongue, clearly skeptical. I finally stole a glance at Gideon, and saw the bare, simmering fury in his eyes.
Fool that I was, Gideon’s reaction excited me.
No, it thrilled me. It made me feel special and precious and hot.
The other men faded away, and Gideon finally looked at me.
But his eyes were shuttered, and there was nothing there.
This arrangement would never work if I kept thinking he liked me that way.
Then his brothers came up, and talk turned to the graffiti and vandalism in town.
I made another boob joke and made them all laugh.
Low-hanging fruit, but I wanted to make a good impression.
The noise and vibration of their deep voices trembled through me.
I was surrounded by so much testosterone that I started to sweat.
Wendy was right; the Mars men really were something else.
Gideon touched my elbow with his fingertips and led me out of the pack.
“How many cousins do you have?” I asked when we’d escaped the crush.
“Seventeen.”
I started. “And are all of them single men?”
“Why?” he asked, directing me toward the edge of the room. “You thinking of trading up?”
“Oh, stop it.”
He shrugged, eyes sliding away from mine. I watched as he pressed a hand against his scarred neck, stretching his jaw like the old injuries were uncomfortable. Then he said, “Fletcher’s a fuckboy.”
“Okay. Thank you for that completely irrelevant piece of information.”
“I’m just letting you know. But whatever, maybe that doesn’t matter. You guys would look good together.”
Outrage burned in the center of my chest. The wedding ring on my finger felt heavy and tight. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He turned to face me fully, glaring. “As my ‘business associate,’ are you planning on sleeping around with all my cousins?”
I reared back. “Excuse me?”
“You were flirting with him. With all of them.”
“I was talking to them.”
“You made Fletcher laugh.”
“Is that a crime?”
Gideon clenched his jaw, then relaxed. His eyes shuttered. “Lunch’ll be served soon. I need to check on something for work,” he told me, and stalked back toward his brothers.
I watched him go as I sat down on the nearest couch. I was offended by his accusations, and yet there was a sick kind of heat kindling in my gut. Gideon cared.
And wasn’t that the most pathetic thing to be thinking right now? He didn’t care about me! He just cared about saving his business from his grandmother’s machinations. We had come to an agreement, and we were using these six weeks to see if it could work.
No sex. No love. No desire.
And that was fine. It was better than fine. It was great.
We could carve out a marriage that worked for both of us. Something safe and small, that would allow us both to live our own lives.
The thought made me ache with sadness and yearning.
“Will you design my homecoming dress?” Lola asked, interrupting my thoughts as she dropped into the seat next to mine.
Today, the teenager wore a crop top and loose jeans, and her blond hair fell down in beachy waves.
She smelled like fruity perfume, and it reminded me of the body spray I used to use when I was a young teenager.
She kicked her legs out, staring at her white sneakers before glancing at me. “Or do you only do wedding dresses?”
“I usually only do wedding dresses,” I admitted.
Lola pouted. “Dang. It’s my first homecoming this fall. I’m a freshman this year.”
“Maybe I could make an exception,” I heard myself say.
Her eyes brightened, and I immediately regretted my rash words. Who knew if I’d even be here by the time Lola’s homecoming came around?
“I looked you up online. Your dresses are fancy.”
I huffed. “Thank you? I think?”
“I want to wear a pink dress. Macy Collins says pink is totally out this year, but it’s my favorite color and she has no idea what she’s talking about. She follows the worst fashion TikTokers, I swear.”
I nodded. “Well, pink is classic.”
“Right?” Lola agreed, huffing dramatically. She slumped back on the sofa and crossed her arms. Then she rolled her head on the back of the sofa to look at me. “Why did you get married to Gideon? Could you not find someone the normal way?”
Ah, the ruthlessness of teenage girls. I forced a smile. “No, actually. I couldn’t.”
“Oh. Like, no one would date you?”
“They’d date me, but they wouldn’t marry me.”
“That sucks.”
I nodded. “It did, yeah.”
“Kind of sad that you had to sign up to an arranged marriage.”
I was not going to touch that comment with a ten-foot pole. My ego would never recover. Instead, I asked, “You don’t think your grandma should’ve started the program?”
Lola shrugged, twisting her foot into the plush rug covering the ground. “I just think it’s weird. Like, why do we need a bunch of strangers coming to town, anyway?”
“I’m finding it hard not to take this personally,” I said, laughing.
“Not you,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You’re cool. But just—everyone else that’s going to show up. It’s just weird.”
I hummed, agreeing, and was thankfully rescued by the call to sit down at the table.
We ate, talked, and laughed, and despite Gideon’s animosity, I felt more at home with this big group of near-strangers than I ever had with my own family.
By the end of the meal, I was full to bursting with good, home-cooked food, and my cheeks ached from laughing.
Leaving this town—and this marriage—would mean giving up a lot more than just Gideon.
I could build a life here. A rich, layered life with friends and family.
All I had to do was give up my desire for sex. Forever.
But wasn’t that what I’d already resigned myself to do when I signed up to this scheme in the first place? Why did it feel like such a huge loss now?
Gideon was quiet in the car, but there was an edge to his silence. It simmered between us, raking against my skin. Finally, when we turned onto the cottage’s gravel driveway, he blurted, “I thought you didn’t want kids.”
I started. “What?”
“In your profile.” He parked the car.
“I—where is this coming from?”
“I saw you when you were holding Ollie. You didn’t look like someone who didn’t want kids.” He turned to face me, his gaze hard. “Is that something you’re going to want as part of this ‘arrangement’ you’re proposing between us?”
“I’m not going to ask you to fucking breed me, Gideon,” I snapped. “And by the way, I’m still mad about what you said earlier.”
He clenched his jaw and wrenched his gaze away from mine. I watched his throat bob as he swallowed, a muscle feathering in his cheek. “You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going to sleep with your cousins, or your brothers, or anyone else. Okay?”
“Guess six weeks isn’t that long to go without.”
I burned with outrage and anger. “You’re so sure I won’t want to stay married to you, huh? And by the way, my life isn’t ruled by sex. If you know my favorite coffee order, you should know that.”
He stared straight ahead, then closed his eyes. Finally, he jerked his chin down in a sharp nod and got out of the car.
Gideon slept on the couch. When I woke up the next morning, my car keys were waiting for me on the kitchen counter. I located my car—new tire and all—parked on the gravel drive in front of the cottage.
Gideon, however, was nowhere to be found.
GIDEON
Seeing Sadie with a child in her arms had hit my chest like a poison-tipped spear. I hadn’t known it was possible to want something so badly…and be so sure I would never have it.
If it wasn’t Fletcher who won her away from me, it would be someone else. The heartbreaking, infuriating, inevitable truth.