Page 32 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

“Mom was mad, huh?” Emily crossed her arms over her chest protectively. “I didn’t know she would freak out when I told her you were getting married. She asked where we were, and I told her, then—”

“Emily, it’s okay. Our engagement is not a secret. It’s a happy event that Maia and I are excited to share with the world, right honey?”

Maia’s nervous gaze went from me to Emily as she plastered on the fakest smile ever and quipped, “Yep.”

Fucking Portia. I would not let her ruin all that we’d achieved as a small family. “Come on. We’ve got dessert to look forward to. Last one in pays the bill.”

Emily dashed around the bend to the entrance. I stopped and held Maia back. “You heard that?”

“I heard that. She wants you back.” Maia frowned.

“Not ever happening.”

“But…”

I shook my head. “I feel more love toward you in two weeks than I have for my ex-wife in a decade.”

“Love?” she swallowed, her eyes big and full of hope yet tinged with a hint of skepticism.

“Love.” I cupped her cheek.

“Oh boy,” she whispered.

“Oh boy is right. Come on, it’s someone’s birthday, and I for one want to celebrate it.”

She followed me, not saying a single word, the doubt still present in her gaze and that fake smile plastered across her lips.

Episode 68

Symbol of Love

MAIA

“You’re delusional if you think we live in a world where I would ever consider taking you back. Not in a million fucking years. Jesus!”

I winced as Rhode’s angry words rolled through my mind like a tidal wave. Closing my eyes didn’t help. Not when I was able to clearly remember Emily’s sweet face going pale at hearing her father’s outburst directed at her mother. That phone call earlier this evening had been brutal, and all of us felt the effects. Sure, we went back in and had birthday cake, gave hugs and said our goodbyes, then Rhodes and I took a taxi to our new hotel for the weekend. But that didn’t erase the ugliness Portia slung at Rhodes or Emily.

Letting out a long breath, I braced my hands on the bathroom vanity and breathed deeply for a few seconds, trying to let it all go so I could focus on the here and now.

“I feel more love toward you in two weeks than I have for my ex-wife in a decade.”

Rhodes words after the call took center stage in my mind, running around and around until I’d replayed them to death. I couldn’t forget it, nor could I push it into the back of my mind where everything else I doubted festered.

Did he just say he loved me in comparison to his ex? I mean, I definitely had strong feelings for him, but I’d never been inlove before. I wouldn’t even know how to describe it, let alone understand if I was in fact in love with him. I knew I felt familial love for Sam, Emily, Alana, and even Christophe, and Rhodes was certainly at the top of that list. But I was intelligent enough and old enough to understand that being in love was something else entirely.

It was a lot to take in.

My life had changed more in two weeks than it had in the last five years. Before, it was just me doing my best to survive and Sam giving me what he could to help. Now I had several people that not only claimed to care about me, they showed it. I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a family to count on after so many years without mine. The closest thing I had to that was a rowdy motorcycle club whose clubhouse I cleaned for money more often than I visited as a guest.

A light knock on the bathroom door broke through my thoughts.

“You okay in there?” Rhodes asked.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.” I said as I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

The short cream-colored satin nightie I found in the bag Alana had apparently packed on my behalf molded to my shape perfectly. It had spaghetti straps and delicate lace covering the bodice. The hem fell in scalloped lace to mid-thigh showing off my legs and leaving just enough to the imagination to entice the man waiting for me.

I was about to have sex with my fiancé.

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