15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Emma
T he warmth of his skin seeps into me, his legs tangled with mine, his strong arms wrapped securely around my ribs. His steady breathing tickles my neck, and for a moment, I let myself sink into the comfort of it.
That’s all I can think of during the ten-hour flight back home. The low hum of the engines and the occasional murmur of flight attendants drift around me, but my mind is stuck on the warmth of his skin and the way our bodies fit together so naturally. When I woke up in the hotel and realized we were basically a human sandwich, I enjoyed it so much that I stayed like that for a while and only began moving when he stirred.
“Earth to Emma!” Mia snaps at me, a look of annoyance on her face. “What has gotten into you? I asked you for details of your honeymoon, and you completely spaced out!”
She’s sprawled on my new bed. Jonathan insisted I move in with him, and he gave me one of his spare rooms. And although I only moved one house over from my old one, it still feels weird.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” I ask before sipping my coffee. Mia knew to visit me with her signature coffee, and I’ll be cooperative as long as there’s still coffee in my cup.
But it seems Mia isn’t satisfied.
She rolls her eyes. “I asked you how the honeymoon went, and then you spaced out like a total zombie. Did Jonathan do something to you during the trip? If he hurt you, just tell me. I’m ready to punch him in the guts.”
I shake my head. “As much as the thought of Jonathan’s guts being punched makes me happy, I can’t accept that. He did nothing wrong, and the trip was fine.”
“Fine,” Mia repeats, and I nod. “I came all the way here, brought you coffee, and all you have to tell me is that it was fine? I can’t accept that.”
I shrug. “It had its ups and downs, but in the end, it was fine.”
“Emma,” Mia says in a warning tone. “Darling, if you don’t tell me what happened, I might have to punch you in the guts.”
I gulp at the thought. I know Mia can throw a mean punch. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Then you better start talking, girl.” Mia reclines against a pillow and waits for me to speak.
I let out a sigh. “It was truly a lot.”
And then I tell her everything, from the first night we spent together with me in bed and him on the couch, to our kiss the very next day after his protectiveness on the beach, to when the Ferris wheel stopped, and the moment just this morning, when I woke up tangled in his arms. Mia, to her credit, doesn’t interrupt. She just nods and lets me talk everything out.
“And that’s how the honeymoon went. And between you and me, I think I’m developing feelings for him,” I conclude. “It feels weird…isn’t it weird that I have feelings for Jonathan?”
Mia blows out a breath. “Weird? I’d say it’s about time!” she exclaims, her smile widening.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
She’s grinning so widely that I worry her mouth will get stuck in that expression. Mia says, “I mean, you guys always had this…tension that seemed to never go away. At first I thought you guys really hated each other, but I think you were just confused.”
“Confused,” I repeat, and she nods.
“You guys have been deeply in love for a while now, and I always thought it was stupid that neither of you were smart enough to even realize it.” Mia gives me this all-knowing look, and I just stare at her dubiously.
I scoff. “I don’t believe you one bit. It can’t have been like this for so long. I only just started feeling it.”
Mia shrugs, a glint in her eyes, like she’s amused by my denial but too polite to push further. A flicker of doubt stirs in my chest—what if she’s right? What if I’ve been blind to something that’s been there all along? What’s more confusing is that her words have a hint of truth to them that I can’t dismiss entirely.
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter,” I say. “What matters now is that I have feelings for him, and I have no idea what to do.”
Mia stares at me like I’m stupid. “At your age, you really don’t know how to confess your feelings for a man? Go talk to him and see if anything can come out of this. Don’t be such a sissy and hide your feelings like you’ve done for half of your life.”
“Does anyone even use the word ‘sissy’ anymore?” I ask.
“Not the point I’m trying to make,” Mia insists.
“And I haven’t been in love with him all my life. I already told you that, okay? You need to drop it.”
Mia rolls her eyes, but she surrenders, putting her hands up in the air. “You don’t want to hear the truth? Fine by me. But you should tell him how you feel. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think this is the right time.”
“You really think so?” I ask, wide-eyed. Suddenly, I feel like a teenager with her first crush. I suppose I’ll dress up to impress him. But this situation is more complicated, because he’s my husband. My fake husband, but we’re still married.
“Oh, and Reed totally owes me a hundred dollars,” Mia mutters to herself.
I gasp in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you guys bet on me!”
Mia wiggles her brows at me, smirking as she leans in slightly, clearly enjoying my reaction. I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes at her playful expression. “Nothing too harmful. Reed thought you guys would jump each other’s bones during the honeymoon, and I said it’ll happen after. I know you, so I knew you’d wait for the emotional connection and all that drama.”
I want to be mad at her, but I can’t even afford to. Coffee makes me feel too good to hate on the one who brought me said coffee.
“So neither of you voted that we’d still hate each other.”
Mia shakes her head. “Reed has always seen it too—the sexual tension between you all these years.”
“It’s not sexual tension!” I flush.
Mia rolls her eyes. “Well, whatever you want to call it. But anyway, he actually lost a bet that you’d hook up before you left for the big city. We’ve been trying to give the two of you some alone time, and it’s almost magical how this fake marriage came to be.”
I can’t believe it. Everyone saw this before I did, and now it’s crashing over me like a wave I never saw coming. How is it that the people close to me saw my attraction to Jonathan, but I never realized it? Is it possible that I confused a different emotion with hatred, or did I always just lie to myself that I wasn’t in love with him all my life?
“I’ll tell him today,” I say with finality. “We’ll see how things go, and I’ll tell you what happens later.”
Mia giddily jumps to her feet and claps. “Perfect!” She glances down at her watch. “Well, I have to check in at work for the day, just so my employees don’t forget who the boss is.”
We both laugh at that as I say, “It’s almost impossible for them to forget who the boss is—your shirt says it, after all.”
Mia poses before my vanity mirror, showing off her shirt, which really does have BOSS written on it in big, bold letters. Then she waves me goodbye and leaves me alone with my thoughts. The more I think of her words, the more I realize how much they sound like the truth. It’s jarring to realize that I like someone, considering I’ve hated him my entire life.
I wonder if he feels the same way too, or if the kiss and flirting is all for fun.
I decide to write to distract myself from my thoughts, and it helps a lot. My first draft is coming together, and now every time Agnes calls, I greet her with good news. And she seems to love that I’m married to someone well-known in our hometown, as she thinks it’ll give me just the right publicity.
“Agnes, very few people outside Grover Hill know who he is,” I told her. “They won’t care about me being married to him.”
“They will when they see how hot he is,” Agnes said, and I couldn’t object to that. Jonathan is the definition of hot. His face would show up if someone searched the word “handsome” or “the most perfect man.”
I wonder what he’s doing now. I glance at the wall clock. He said he’d be home soon. I don’t know why I feel anxious—maybe because I’m about to tell him how I feel. It feels almost exhilarating, like I’ll finally be able to breathe once I let the truth out.
“Okay, focus Emma. Deep breaths,” I tell my reflection in the mirror. “No nerves, you just tell him tonight after dinner how you feel. And if he doesn’t feel the same way, then I’ll simply disappear from the surface of the earth and only resurface to publish another book. Doesn’t sound too hard.”
Just then, I hear the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. I rush over to the window of my bedroom, where I have a perfect view of the front yard. Jonathan steps out of the car looking dapper, even though his hair looks slightly unruly from spending the entire day at work after the long flight, and his tie seems to be undone and hanging around his shoulder.
I imagine my arms dangling around his shoulders and pulling me to him as I kiss him. We haven’t kissed since that day, and we never even spoke about it afterward. Maybe I should start the conversation with a kiss, and see what he thinks of that.
I feel my nervous energy bouncing around me as I watch him from the window. He seems to be making his way to the front door, but then he stops and looks behind him.
I don’t see who he’s looking at immediately, but then I see her: a woman in a gorgeous red dress. She has her hair styled to perfection, and she walks up to Jonathan like she belongs at his side, with all the confidence in the world. I can’t hear what they’re talking about, but I can tell that I don’t like it.
The woman tilts her head slightly backward and laughs at something Jonathan says, and the gap between them seems to reduce with each second. The woman places her hand on his shoulder and he doesn’t move away. He doesn’t even seem to mind that she’s touching him.
I grip the blinds in my hand so hard my knuckles turn white. Anger rises inside me at the sight of the woman, with her perfect figure and the poised way she’s standing, like a ballerina or a queen.
Then she rises onto her toes, her fingers grazing his arm for balance as she presses a kiss to his cheek. The way she lingers—too long, too familiar—makes my stomach twist. Heat rushes to my face, my fingers tightening around the blinds. I nearly lose it.
It doesn’t even look like a friendly kiss, because she lingers before pulling away. All I see is red, a color ten shades brighter than her dress.
I don’t wait for the woman to leave. I just grab my laptop and storm outside.
“Emma! Wait, where are you going?” I hear Jonathan calling for me, but I ignore him. I don’t even glance their way, fearing that my heart will break at the sight of the two of them standing so close to each other.
I march around the fence separating our houses, my heart pounding. Reed’s front door is unlocked—thankfully—so I push it open and step inside, slamming it shut behind me.
The second he sees me, Reed’s brow furrows, concern flashing in his eyes. His relaxed stance shifts as he straightens and sets down his drink. “Emma, what happened?”
“Come here.” Reed opens his arms wide and I run into them. He hugs me tightly, letting me sag into his chest. Reed doesn’t ask questions, he just lets me feel the comfort that I desperately need.