Page 40 of Misadventures With My Fake Fiancé

I was all for a little practicing. And later, when we were alone, I wouldn't mind if his horse came out of the barn.

“If you keep looking at me that way, I'll....” Mike said, his voice rough.

“You'll what?” I asked, my voice a little breathless.

He leaned in and whispered what he'd do, his breath a soft caress against the shell of my ear.

My gaze darted left and right, even knowing no one could hear Mike's erotic words. “Okay,” I said.

“Really?” Mike's eyebrow went up and I heard him groan. “You'd do that? And the other thing, too?” I nodded. “Holy shit, Vi. Later. Definitely, later.”

He took my hand and we headed back to the group. “By the way, it's nice of you to put that necklace on for Uncle Bob.”

I looked down at the rapper cross. I'd tucked it in my bag with my camera and slipped it on once we pulled into Seward. “It was really sweet of Jubal to get this...thing for me, even though it's ridiculous. I don't want to hurt his feelings.”

He stopped me by tugging on my hand, turned me to face him. Brushing my hair back from my face with his free hand, he simply said, “Thank you.”

I shrugged off his words. “I wear holiday sweaters with reindeer on the front. Intentionally. A big pewter cross is nothing.”

We started walking again, switched topics. “The only good news about this ridiculous baby situation?—”

“There's good news?” I interrupted.

“—is that Susan may finally leave me alone.”

“That's what my uterus is here for. Glad I could help.”

“When you threw up over the railing, having some of it hit the edge of the deck and splatter back onto Susan's legs was the highlight of the train trip.”

We looked at each other and started laughing. Mike's eyes crinkled at the corners, his whole body relaxed and he was at ease for the first time since I arrived. It may not have been the joke. The kiss probably helped a lot. It certainly helped me.

The baby news,needless to say, was received with mixed reviews. Obviously, Mike's mom and dad were thrilled. Jubal, too. He commented on the great necklace, then gave me a big bear hug, lifting me so my feet dangled a good foot off the ground, but when he realized he might be squeezing the baby too hard, he'd put me down and patted my head. Smiled like a Cheshire cat. Knowing my fishing lures and giving the family a new baby made me his new BFF.

The twins and Susan were not as excited. They were upset for completely opposite reasons. Marc and Jean-Luc wanted me,Susan wanted Mike. All three didn't care for the baggage of a baby. Their battle was lost.

Susan stayed with the group as long as the train was moving. After squealing like a stuck pig when I gave her legs and fancy shoes a vomit shower, she'd called a friend who lived in Seward once she had cell reception and was whisked away as soon as we pulled into the station.

With everyone settled in the park having a picnic lunch, no one seemed to miss her. Even Mrs. O. I had a feeling she wouldn't be inviting Susan along anymore.

As for Jean-Luc and Marc, the looks they sent me were certainly not heated, passionate stares of the past. In fact, they were clearly disappointed and downright surly. Fortunately, I wasn't interested in them anyway. My nipples didn't get hard thinking about them the way I thought about Mike. The baby news was a great way, like a Band-Aid being ripped off, to make them realize I wasn't expatriating for them.

The train wouldn't make the return trip to Anchorage until after dinner, so those taking the train back had hours. For us returning in the cars, we were all content to stretch our legs before the ride home. The afternoon was spent split into groups. Jubal, the twins and Goldie went on a three-hour whale and fishing tour out of Seward's harbor. No one would know by looking at her, but Goldie loved to fish, and was pretty darn good at it. If they were given the opportunity to pull out their rods, I had no doubt Goldie would be pulling in her daily quota of salmon.

No one questioned when I chose land over water. Although they missed the big event, I was sure Jubal and the twins didn't want to see a performance of my barfing, especially after Goldie shared the details of the story, using pantomime and charade-like hand gestures for the twins to understand.

Mr. and Mrs. O opted to take a car and drive the ten miles to see Exit Glacier instead of staying in town. They arranged with Goldie to pick her up at five at the pier.

“I'm sticking with you,” Mike told me when we were all deciding what to do. “I want to prevent any further escalation in our fake relationship. I'm afraid if I leave your side you'll be expecting triplets by dinner.”

“Is this still a fake relationship?” I asked tentatively. All these years I'd been hurt and angry at Mike for something he didn't do. At least something he didn't do all by himself. We'd both been there, shared something probably a little more than just our bodies that night. He hadn't called, but neither had I. He hadn't known, probably still didn't know, what that night had meant to me. This trip, this fluke vacation, was the perfect opportunity for us to learn each other all over again. This time as grown-ups.

Mike lifted a brow in question, stroked a finger gently down my cheek. “Our relationship? We can figure that out for ourselves. And keep it to ourselves. I don't share.”

I'd heard that before, and I liked it.

14

“Why did you go into medicine?” It took me about forty-five minutes of driving to get up the nerve to ask Mike. There was more to the story than being five and wanting to be a doctor when he grew up, I was hesitant to ask. It was something big, and I wasn't sure if he would tell me, or if I really wanted to know the answer.

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