Page 19 of Temporary Wife Temptation

After setting his burden on her kitchen table, Garrett leaned a shoulder against the wall and focused his attention on her. His gaze drifted down her throat to the deep V of her robe, and her body warmed and softened in response. He might as well have been drawing a line of fire down her skin.

Could they really keep their hands off each other living under the same roof?

Things would get so much more complicated if she succumbed to the temptation. What if she got needy and clung to a man she could never keep? God, no. She was a grown woman and her brain dictated her actions, not the hot, aching center of her body.

“Have a seat.” Damn it. She sounded breathless. “I’ll be right back.”

Her blush deepened and she licked her lips. Crap. There was something erotic about him seeing her fresh out of the shower with her wet curls sticking to her cheeks. Natalie scurried into her bedroom and leaned against her closed door. After stuffing her screaming hormones in a deep, dark corner of her mind, she threw on some tights and a soft tunic and went out to meet her fiancé.

Garrett had pulled out two small plates from her meager collection and set out their breakfast on the table.

“Plain or chocolate?” he asked when she sat down across from him.

“I’m not a crazy woman.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Why would I pass up on chocolate?”

He chuckled and passed her the chocolate croissant, then took the plain one for himself.

Her croissant was still warm and melted chocolate oozed out when she took a bite. Her eyes fluttered closed.

“Mmm...”

She used her fingertip to dab the excess chocolate from the corners of her mouth and licked it off. No napkin was getting a single smudge of her chocolate. She was halfway through her breakfast before she noticed how quiet Garrett was.

When Natalie glanced at him, he was glaring at her with his croissant untouched. She squinted at him. “Are you regretting not taking the chocolate one?”

“No. I don’t like sweets,” he said in an oddly husky voice.

They enjoyed the rest of their breakfast and coffee in companionable silence. He offered to clear the table, but she waved him aside and put their plates in the sink, which was only two steps behind her.

“Okay. What brings you by so bright and early?” Natalie beckoned him to walk with her to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He followed suit, taking up her ancient sofa with his muscular thighs and broad back. The heat radiating off him made her breath hitch.

“We can’t announce our engagement without an engagement ring.” Garrett lifted Natalie’s hand from her side and retrieved a ring from his pocket. “It was my mother’s.”

“Your mother’s?” she gasped. It was absolutely stunning. The ring consisted of an antique emerald surrounded by small diamonds set in a rich gold band. “Are you sure you’re okay with me wearing it? Shouldn’t you save it for when you propose to someone you actually want to marry?”

“Unless you’ve forgotten, I asked you to marry me,” he said. “I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t want you to agree.”

“You know what I mean. I think you should save your mother’s ring for someone you love. Someone you want forever.”

“Then the ring will never see the light of day.” He let out a short, humorless laugh. “I don’t intend to marry for love and forever. Not everyone buys into that fairy tale. Certainly not me.”

A chill ran down her spine at the finality of his words. “Well, this is lovely. Thank you. I’ll return it to you when this is all over.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said tersely. “We’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. A solid wall had fallen across his expression at the mention of love and forever. Someone really must have done a number on him. “You know I’m moving in with you today. You could’ve waited until tonight.”

“Call me old-fashioned. I wanted to put a ring on your finger before you ruined me.”

Garrett left Natalie’s place after loading his car with the few boxes she’d managed to pack. Even though she was leaving behind her furniture to sublet the apartment, they would need to make several trips to move her belongings over. She’d shooed him out of her apartment so she could pack her stuff her way.

It actually freed up some much-needed time for him to visit his family. He wanted to tell his father about his engagement in person, even if he’d already heard his grandmother’s version of the story. Garrett and his father’s relationship had improved over the past few years, but he wasn’t sure where his old man would stand on the issue of his only son’s marriage.

As he anticipated, the Song family’s housekeeper, Liliana, informed him that his grandmother was “indisposed”—she smiled sympathetically at him—so he was free to search out his father. He found him in the study, nursing a glass of Scotch. When Garrett raised his eyebrows as he took a seat across from him, his father lifted the glass in mock salute and took a healthy sip.

“It’s past noon. That means it’s not too early for Scotch.”

“Does Dr. Ananth know about your minute-past-noon Scotch rule?”

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