Page 60 of Misadventures With My Fake Fiancé

“I'm hungry. Anyone else?” Jubal asked. We followed him into the kitchen where he began scrounging through the fridge. “I ordered it online. It was supposed to be the replica of Mrs. Davis' necklace, and it sure as hell wasn't from a museum, and it certainly wasn't supposed to be stolen. I have a hankering for fried chicken. I'm going to go pick some up at the drive-thru. Anyone want to join me?”

“Aren't you curious about it?” I asked. I sure was.

“Honey, I'm retired now. I'm going to Maryland next week to be Jubal Early. You have the right necklace now so I'll let those two young bucks solve this mystery.” Jubal clapped his hands. “So, fried chicken, anyone?”

“I heard back from New York,”Mike told me two hours later.

I'd been reading in one of the recliners in the man cave. Jubal hadn't returned yet. Goldie decided to take a nap and had yet to resurface. No sign of the twins.

I looked up from my book at his words. “Oh?”

“I'm leaving tonight.”

“Oh,” I said, this time in a completely different tone. This was it. It was official. I'd done my job, kept Susan away. Now he was leaving and I was to go back to my old life. I missed him already. Crap.

“My parents, Banks, Trish and Alex won't be back from Denali until the day after tomorrow. They're enjoying it toomuch to leave. I figured you didn't want to stay with Goldie and Uncle Bob, and there's no way in hell you're staying by yourself with the twins, so I changed your ticket. You're on the red eye out tonight, too.”

My heart sped up. “With you to New York?”

He shook his head, let out a long breath. “No, Seattle, then an early morning flight from there to Bozeman.”

That feeling—pain, sadness, anger, bitterness all rolled into one—took over. “Right. Um...I'll just go pack then.” I stood and made it to the doorway where he stood. He was so big he loomed over me, blocking my escape. I tried to move him out of the way, but he wouldn't budge.

“Vi, please don't be like this.”

I looked up at him, saw something in his eyes, something that said everything wasn't right with him either.

I pasted on a fake smile. “Like what?”

“Like I just ran over your dog.”

I had to work on my fake smile. I sighed. “Fine. I'm...disappointed. But that doesn't matter. I just want you to be happy. If that isn't with me, then I'm okay with that.” I really wasn't, but that was the way it had to be. I did love him. Enough, maybe so much that if he didn't want to be with me, I would let him go. I didn't want a man who was with me, but his heart was in New York City. He'd resent me and that would never go away.

His gaze roamed over my face, searching. “Happy? You want me to be happy?”

Before I could reply, his mouth was on mine. Hard, powerful, aggressive. His tongue swept between my parted lips, tangling with mine. He stepped forward, pressing me into the doorway, his hard length pinning me, some lower places definitely harder than others. My nipples ached, my entire body softened for him.

“You make me happy, Vi. Be with me.”

I pushed harder against his chest and with a sigh, he stepped back. “Where? In New York? Regardless of what I might want to do with my life, I've got commitments. I'm teaching school in August whether I want to or not. I have a mortgage, a life. In Montana.”

“Shit,” he murmured, running his hand through his hair, parts of it sticking up.

“We just reconnected.”

“We reconnected, all right,” he added, his voice sly.

“It's not enough. I want more. Morereconnecting.Maybe a date? Dinner and a movie? I want to be like a normal couple getting to know each other. You have to admit this trip is not normal.”

“Vi—”

I held up my hand to hold him off.

He grabbed it, looked at the palm where I'd been stung, put it to his mouth and tenderly kissed the spot.

“Go. Do what you need to do. But think about this. Are you taking the job in New York because your friend from camp died and you're trying to help others, or are you taking it because you're mad at yourself for something you had no control over? It's never going to stop. New York, Australia. You can run, but it's never going to stop until you let go.”

I did just that. I let go. I left him standing there and went into the bedroom, packed my bags and had Goldie drive me to the airport.

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