Page 41 of Perfectly Wedded

Since then, we’ve added me to Vale’s insurance and received the prescription drug shipped overnight delivery in time for our trip. It’s been such a rush getting everything done that I can hardly believe we’re headed to Cancun as husband and wife.

Well,sort of.

By law, we’re married. But in our hearts, we’re anything but on the same page.

I crack open a book and lean my head against the comfy first-class seat. “Now that we’re on the plane, we can finally relax,” I say with a sigh. “We don’t even have to pretend we’re married.”

“Yeah,” Vale says, not sounding as excited as I’d expected.

“What?” I ask, glancing at him. “I thought you’d be ecstatic about that.”

“Yeah, no more pretending we’re the perfect happily wedded couple,” he says, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“I don’t get it. I thought this would be a relief to you.”

“Who said I don’t enjoy being with you?” he asks, putting on his headphones.

“Even when you’re sleeping on the floor?” I raise an eyebrow, giving him a knowing look. “I saw you limping around this morning—your back’s practically screaming at you. You can take the bed in the hotel room. My honeymoon gift to you. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

He shakes his head. “No wife of mine will do that.”

There’s a soft flutter inside my chest. How much longer until I grow tired of Vale calling me his wife?Probably never.

I pull off his headphones so I can have his full attention. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Call me your wife?”

He glances up from his phone. “You are, aren’t you?”

“You know what I mean. That’s for when we’re around people,” I say.

He waves his hands at the passengers in first class. “These aren’tpeople?”

“You know what I mean,” I say, turning back to my book. “You can call me Sloan. Just Sloan. Notmy wife.”

“What if I like calling you my wife?” He smirks and my heart tumbles, free-falling like a tiny pebble off the edge of the Grand Canyon.

There’s something about the way he says it and then grins that makes my pulse hammer. It’s dangerous how much I love it. Every time he looks at me like that, I have to fight the urge to climb into his lap, wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss him just like a proper wife would.

I quickly avert my eyes, changing the subject so he doesn’t see the heat splotches making their way up my neck. “What do you want to do when we arrive in Cancun?”

He flips to the notes app on his phone, then turns his screen around to show me. “I made a list of fun things we could try.”

The list is called, “Things to do in Cancun with my wife.” Already, I have a love/hate relationship with this list.

Snorkeling

Jet Skiing

Parasailing

Zip-lining

Scuba diving

Boating

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