Page 44 of Accidental Fiancé

Something fractured in my chest, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak.

Chapter 16

Julian

“Yeah. Okay. Great.”

Her words were clipped. Which was how my manhood felt—clipped. I didn’t understand why. This was the perfect solution. Had I said something wrong? “Why are you agreeing but you sound pissed?”

She started cleaning though everything was already clean. “I’m fine, Jules. Staying strictly professional is fine if that’s what you want to do. This sounds like a wonderful plan.”

Why do women say fine when they mean anything but? I was having flashbacks of my marriage, and if she didn’t hold still and listen to me, this conversation would go just as well as that did. “Maggie, put the sponge down. Let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You’ve already decided.” She stood before me, sponge poised in her hand. “Lift your forearms for me.”

I did as she asked. She wiped beneath them then quickly spun away. “There’s no need to be snippy.”

“I’m cleaning. Since when is cleaning being snippy? I thought you’d appreciate that youremployeeis doing their job.”

Fuck. I stood and cleared the distance between us to stand in front of her. But she stepped back, dead coldness in her eyes. That chill made me want to shrivel up and die.

Okay. I clearly had to give her some space. She would soon realize this was the best thing for both of us but she had to figure it out on her own terms. I had never been good at explaining my rationale, but if I left now, she wouldn’t understand why I believed this was the only right way to do this.

“I should have had this arrangement in place before you moved in. That was my bad, and I’m amending it with back pay. But first of all, you’re not an employee.” I snatched the sponge from her hand and threw it into the sink. “You’re a consultant. That’s a completely different tax form.”

Her icy glare didn’t budge.

Okay, bad attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Secondly, the only part of this that is a job is when you pretend to be my fiancée at my mother’s home. The cooking you’ve done here, the cleaning, that’s entirely up to you whether or not you want to continue. I don’t expect it, but I do appreciate it. More than I can say. Maybe I can figure out some kind of bonus for that.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

My head dropped back in frustration. “Maggie, I’m trying to keep things above board here, and you’re making me feel like I did something wrong when I’m literally trying to do therightthing. So how about you tell me what the right thing is, according to you.”

“This is great. I need money and this is a legitimate way for me to earn it. Can’t think of a better arrangement. Done and dusted, right?”

“Then why do you sound and seem so pissed?”

“Because you threw my sponge into the sink, and I was using it.”

I gritted my teeth. “You sounded pissed before I took the sponge.”

“Must be your imagination.”

I stretched my fingers to stop from cursing. “Fine. If that’s how it is?—"

“That’s how it is.” The wrong kind of fire lit her from within, and I hated that I was the one who sparked it.

“Glad we had this talk. I’m going to the gym.”

“Oh, that was all? I thought you wanted to talk about something important,” she spat as she turned to the sink.

I felt two inches tall. I’d hurt her feelings and that was not my intention. “Maggie,” I said as I reached for her shoulder. Her whole body tensed at my touch and not in a good way.

“Just go, Julian. Please.”

I left. It felt like I was being kicked out of my own home but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to ask her to leave when Iwas the one who had caused her to be so upset.

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