Page 43 of His Fake Wife

Her lips twitched at the corners and amusement lit her eyes for a moment. “I deserve several.”

That teasing glint disappeared so fast, I thought I’d imagined it. So I continued my campaign of begging for forgiveness. I decided that I’d get on my knees and grovel if necessary. I really was a different man than I’d been mere months ago. Astounding.

“Look, Beth. I’ve gotten into so much mess over the years, I don’t bat an eyelash when people talk. I’ve never really had to think about how my foolish actions would have affected someone else before because the rest of my family is accustomed to the publicity too. I didn’t think about how something like this would affect you. I truly am sorry.”

I stepped closer and rested my hands on her shoulders, desperate for her to believe me.

“Nothing happened with anyone after that woman. I crashed on my friend’s couch because I was too wasted to make it home. I should have called you to let you know what was going on.” For once I was embarrassed that I’d gotten so drunk, as if I was still a frat boy.

“I should never have gone out in the first place. I should have followed you inside yesterday and apologize for being an ass. I just felt overwhelmed by everything. That’s probably no excuse?”

“Adam just stop.”

My mouth clamped shut and I gazed down at her with worry. She wasn’t accepting my apology and I had no idea what else I was going to do.

“I understand. I knew you were upset after dinner with your family. You lashed out. I do the same thing from time to time so I can’t hold that against you.”

“So...we’re good?” Could it really be that easy?

“I accept your apology. I appreciate you trying to prove your innocence and all but it wasn’t necessary. We don’t have much longer left in this…” she sighed, “relationship. If you even want to call it that.”

My heart plummeted to my stomach. She was hell-bent on sticking to the wretched one year deal. Speechless, I watched her grab her carton of ice cream and walk away. I’d fucked up immensely and I had to fix it. I’d be damned if I let her slip away that easily. For once in my life, I was willing to fight for a woman’s affection. It was time to come up with a big romantic gesture...it was too bad I sucked at romance. Looking skyward, I sighed my frustration.

Chapter 18

Beth

“I think this is our first real date,” I mused, peering at Adam over my menu.

“I think you’re right,” he said looking up.

“Funny, since we’ve been hitched for about five months.”

“We tend to do things backward,” he grinned.

As usual, my heart did a little flip at the sight of that smile. If I weren’t sitting down, I was sure my panties would have dropped too. I studied him through my lashes when he went back to reading his menu.

I really wished Adam would stop being so nice and attentive. He’d been that way since apologizing about that media hiccup two weeks ago. I’d gotten over my humiliation. I was forced to get over it by more pressing concerns?you know, like the one about his baby growing inside of me and him still having no idea. Surely, the guilt would kill me before I really began to show.

At three months, it looked like I’d put on a few pounds but by next month, I was sure everyone would figure it out. I had to find the perfect time to tell Adam before then. Smothering another sigh, I put my menu down.

“I’m ready to order when you are.”

I threw myself into our date, admiring the atmosphere of the restaurant. We were in a secluded part under dim lighting. The entire scene was romantic. If I wasn’t stewing in guilt, I would have enjoyed myself more.

The food was great, we chatted, we laughed, we indulged in good-natured teasing. That was what I liked about us. We knew each well enough and long enough to have material to tease each other for days. I was at ease when I wasn’t thinking about my secret. As it turned out, we were a good match. If only we hadn’t gotten together for non-romantic reasons. It was killing me that in a matter of months there would be nothing holding us together. Well, there would be a child but I had no idea if he’d want anything to do with that.

“You’re doing it again.” Adam’s eyes were fixed on me and he drummed his fingers on the table.

“What's that?”

“You zoned out. You do it a lot. Care to tell me what you’re thinking?”

How I wish I could just spit it out.

“Nothing important. I’m just a little tired.”

“I should get you home then.”

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