Chapter 18 #2
I can’t even begin to explain how badly I don’t want to meet his date, but since I agreed to having her here, I drop my bag on the stairs and step down on the landing. I’ll say a quick hello, grab the chocolate, and I’m out of there.
I step into the living room with only those goals in mind, but when a dark-haired little boy with a crooked smile looks over at me, I’m completely thrown.
I look to Travis for an explanation. Did he kidnap a child? Wait. Does he have a child I don’t know about?
“This is my buddy, Aidan,” Travis says. “We’re having a guys’ night.”
My lips curve and my body warms with some unnamed emotion that feels a lot like relief.
“Hey, Aidan. I’m Hannah.”
“I know,” he says, pausing the game and offering me a small smile. “Travis talks about you a lot.”
I let out a laugh.
“Bro!” Travis says with fake incredulity.
“Well, you do.” Aidan turns his attention back to the game and resumes playing.
With a shake of his head, Travis heads toward the kitchen and I follow.
Two trays of pizza rolls set on top of the stove and on the counter, there are various flavors of Gatorade, and at least four different kinds of chips.
Travis bypasses all of it and opens a cabinet above the fridge.
He reaches up and pulls a new bag of white chocolate chips down before tossing them to me.
“You’ve been holding out on me?” I glance toward the high cabinet. I wonder what else is up there. I’d need a ladder to find out.
“Maybe.” He smirks at me. “How was your day?”
“Good?” The word comes out like a question. My mind is reeling still.
He lifts his brows.
“Sorry. You caught me off guard. When you asked if you could have someone over, I thought you meant…”
His expression is blank while he waits for me to finish my sentence. Except I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.
“You know…a woman.”
He barks out a laugh and then stops abruptly, studying me. “Seriously?”
I shrug. “Yeah. Kind of. Your text was vague, and I couldn’t figure out why you were asking permission to bring someone to your own house.”
“We said we wouldn’t see other people.” His jaw tightens. “Wait, are you seeing other guys?”
“No, of course not.” When would I possibly find the time in the chaos that is my life? “And I know what we said but I wasn’t sure if seeing other people was the same as…”
“Fucking other people?” Amusement dances across his features.
“Shhh!” I glance toward the living room.
“He can’t hear me,” Travis says without looking. He crosses both arms over his chest and leans back against the counter. His gaze narrows on me and he studies me in a way that feels a little too perceptive. “You were jealous.”
“What? No.” The end of my ponytail swishes around my shoulders with the adamant shake of my head.
His lips twist and slowly pull wider until he’s beaming at me. “You were. You thought I was getting naked and wild with some other woman, and you were jealous.”
I’m still shaking my head. “Why would I be jealous if my fake husband wanted to hook up with some random girl?”
Even as I ask the question, my stomach churns with unease.
“And if I had the tiniest reaction to the thought of you with someone else, it’s only because of our situation.” My voice is too high and I’m talking too fast.
Meanwhile, Travis is the picture of calm as he pushes off and walks toward me.
“First of all, I’m not your fake husband.”
“You know what I mean. You and I aren’t—”
He reaches out and places a hand loosely over my mouth. “Stop talking.”
I obey but lift my brows at his bossiness.
“I want to say something, but I need you to be quiet for long enough for me to get it all out because I’m not great at expressing things.”
This time I move my head up and down in a nod. He doesn’t move his hand.
“I like you. More than that, I respect you. This situation might be unconventional, but I would never put you in that kind of position. I may not be a lot of things, wife, but I am loyal. I’m in this. I won’t let you down.”
He stops talking and drops his hand from my mouth.
“Wow. So much for not being great at expressing things.”
His lips pull higher on one side. “Are we good?”
“Yes. We’re good. I’m sorry for assuming the worst.” I feel like a jerk.
He’s been more than accommodating during all of this.
He could have signed the annulment papers and been done, but he didn’t.
Everything he’s done has been for me. My throat is too thick to say anything else, so I step forward and wrap my arms around his waist. My head fits nicely in the center of his chest and a brief memory flashes of us standing like this on the streets of Vegas.
“Thank you.” I breathe him in and feel a month’s worth of stress leave my body. It feels good to have a partner in something.
“I don’t know why you’re thanking me, but whatever it is, you’re welcome.” His hands circle loosely around my back, and his chin rests on the top of my head.
It takes more effort than I’d like to admit to extricate myself from him and step back. In an instant, he’s back to the cocky, playful guy I’m much more comfortable with. “Besides, hooking up with other women gets in the way of my plan to make you fall in love with me.”
I open my mouth to fire back some snappy retort, but what in the hell do I say to that?