Page 38 of Play Along

Again, she doesn’t respond, so I call her instead.

“What?”

“Are you home?”

“Why?”

“Just answer the damn question, Kennedy. Are you home?”

“Yes, I’m home.”

“And you’re not going anywhere tonight?”

“No.”

“Okay, good.”

“Why are you asking?”

“Just needed to know.”

She exhales like she’s already so tired of me and she’s only been married to me for less than forty-eight hours.

“You’re exhausting, Rhodes.”

I have to bite my lip to hold back my smile. “There are other ways I know how to be exhausting. You just let me know when you need a good night of sleep and we can consummate this marriage, Ken.”

She lets out this burst of a laugh and it’s so free and easy I let my lip go and fully smile while listening to her on the other side of the receiver.

“Have you made up your mind?” I ask.

Technically, I get nothing from this arrangement. We’re doing this all for her, but I still find myself desperate for her to say yes.

At the minimum I get to spend time with her if she agrees, and that’s all I really want anyway.

There’s a heavy pause on her end of the line. “This is the last thing I wanted.”

Damn. Straight to the point.

“I mean,” she corrects. “I meant to say that I wanted to have a choice. My last engagement, that wasn’t exactly my choice.”

Huh?

“I’ve never had the chance to date for fun, and I was looking forward to that, but now I’m...”

“Married,” I finish for her.

“Yeah. I’m married.”

“I’m sorry.”

I’m still annoyed that she blamed this on me, and now I’m over here apologizing for it.

“It’s my fault,” she admits. “I got us into this mess, and you’re trying to get us out. I just... Isaiah, you and I will never be more than this arrangement.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Because I’m sure as hell not.

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