Page 32 of His Fake Wife

He sat behind his desk looking absolutely delicious with his hair tousled and stubble lining his jaw. The man managed to look good around the clock, and it wasn’t fair. In comparison, my hair was piled haphazardly on my head. I tugged self-consciously at the plain t-shirt I’d thrown on with the equally plain sweat pants. I bet he was accustomed to more glamour coming from his women...not that I was his woman. I was starting to feel like I wanted to be, though.

“Come in.” Lifting a brow when I didn’t immediately enter, he smiled. “I won’t bite. I take that back. If I do, you’ll like it; I promise.”

“I could do without your teasing right now,” I groaned. As soon as I stepped into the room, my courage began fading.

“I wasn’t teasing,” he returned, eying me curiously. “You’re obviously not here for another book. What’s on your mind?”

Gritting my teeth, I was tempted to blow up on him. How dare he sit there so serenely, asking me what was on my mind? He was the cause of my distress! I pulled in a breath and shoved my temper down. I might as well get right to it.

“I think you know because you’ve been looking at me the same way I’ve been looking at you since…”

His brows shot up. “We had sex?”

I could feel my face warming up and willed myself not to blush.

“Yes. You can’t fool me, Adam. Things have gotten weird between us. Well, more weird than usual.”

His calm, friendly smile dissolved and he dropped his head with a groan. “Alright, you got me. I figured you’d confront me eventually. I thought you’d wait until your sister left.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “You and I always fail to act like adults with each other.”

There was a beat of silence before he laughed too. “When are we going to start acting like normal people around each other?”

“Well, our situation isn’t exactly normal.”

“True,” he sighed, pushing his laptop aside.

With the tension between us surprisingly at a minimum, I felt a bit more comfortable. I walked to his desk and perched on the edge. It seemed a good idea before I realized we were too close. My traitorous body took on a mind of its own when in proximity to him.

He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. If he was as uneasy as I was, he didn’t let on. I stared back at him until I realized that I should say something.

“I hate how we’ve gone back to avoiding each other. I can’t help thinking that…” I swallowed. “Were you not pleased with me when we made love?”

The words tumbled out so fast, I didn’t have time to feel any humiliation before he reacted.

Eyes bulging, Adam’s jaw slackened. “That’s what’s been on your mind for two weeks?”

“That among a list of other things.”

“I see.”

“You were gone in the morning…” I’d promised I wouldn’t get clingy but I had been disappointed waking up in his bed alone. “Also, you haven’t laid a finger on me since then. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you make sure not even our fingers touch when I hand you something.”

“If you’re talking about the few instances at dinner, I was...nervous.” He shrugged. “I’m not used to family celebratory dinners.”

“It wasn’t just this evening. You've been acting jumpy for days.”

He let out a breath and began massaging the bridge of his nose. “We have the most awkward conversations.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, studying my fingernails.

“You’re right. I have been a bit jumpy but for good reasons.”

I couldn’t bear to hear him admit that his attraction to me vanished. I had a sudden urge to flee the uncomfortable scene before my fragile emotional state was completely destroyed.

“You know what, we don’t have to talk about this. You probably want to get back to work. I’ll get out of your hair.”

I was off the desk and scurrying to the door, but I was stopped before I could make my escape.

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