Page 101 of The Fiance Dilemma

Clearly, I shouldn’t agree. Say yes.Of course. I’d love that too.

I should ask him why.Is that because you want a relationship with me? Is it because you see me trying? Are you meeting me halfway? This man couldn’t be all bad. Not when his relationship with Adalyn had been somewhat salvaged after him admitting to his mistakes. Not when such a wonderful woman like Adalyn’s mother had loved him. Not when Mom had seen something in him. Mom wouldn’t just sleep with someone she met at a bar. Or with someone she just knew from town. Just because. Me and Mom had always been hopeless romantics. We believed in things like promises, vows, love.

I should ask Andrew if he was only doing this because there was a poll online. If it was the thousands of people voting, the ones who had decided who walked me down the aisle, and not him. Me. Us.

But the words that left me were, “Yes. Of course. I’d love that too.”

Because when under pressure, not only did I make rash decisions.

I sometimes caved, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The knock on the door of my bedroom came just as I secured the strap of my right shoe around my ankle.

Belly fluttering, I made my way to the door, racing across my bedroom.

A pair of brown eyes lit up.

“Fuck me,”Matthew breathed out. Then huffed out a laugh. “Seriously.” He swallowed. “Fuck me. Please.”

I pursed my lips. “That’s sweet.”

Although the way his eyes roamed hungrily, bringing heat to my skin everywhere they went—collarbones, hips, breasts, ankles, toes, breasts, face—was something a little more than just sweet.

“I wonder how many girls you’ve won over with that exact line.”

He clasped my left hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing my ring finger. A shiver curled down my spine. “None,” he said, matter-of-factly. “None who mattered.”

“Now that’s a little unfair,” I whispered.

Matthew pressed into me, walking me backward into my room.“It’s the truth,” he said, peppermint breath fresh on my lips. I wondered if he’d kiss me. Tonight. Soon. Now. The wedding was in less than a week. “Ask Adalyn. Ask anyone. Ask my mom when she gets here for Saturday.”

The reminder of that made most of the fluttering sensation flee.

We hadn’t talked about this. Not since that day in his kitchen. Lazy Elk’s. It was inexcusable that I hadn’t asked or pushed for more, but not only did I not know how, we’d also been so incredibly busy. And so… overwhelmed. In the best and scariest way possible. So absolutely backward we were. I couldn’t quite believe how any of this was happening.

Matthew watched my face for a moment, then dipped and kissed my jaw. Wickedly fast and impossibly soft. Not enough. “My sisters think you’re too pretty for me. They always have. They’re not wrong.”

“They always have?”

His smile was lopsided when he released my hand. He tugged at the lapel of his suit jacket, throwing it open. The fabric of his dress shirt was snug against his torso, displaying every plane and valley I hadn’t really touched. Kissed. Memorized. Lord, this was my fiancé. And—

A phone appeared in front of me. Matthew’s.

I frowned at the screen. There were messages. On a group chat.The Flannies.And there was a picture, too. Of us, Matthew and me. From the day at the farm, after yoga. I swallowed. I loved that picture. I loved all the selfies we’d taken that day. The only selfies we had.

“You don’t need to prove anything,” I told him. I wasn’t reading the texts. He really had nothing to prove. “I’m not getting my feelings hurt.”

“I’m not doing that,” he said. So soft and gentle. So understanding that it made me feel a little worse. Because I really was gettingmy feelings hurt. But it had nothing to do with him. And all of it with me. “Check the date. Check the day I sent that.”

With a sigh, I snatched the phone from his hands and scanned the screen.

The message was dated from that day. I remembered because I knew Green Oak’s activity brochure by heart, I knew what day I did what. He’d sent that picture later that night.

“Why?” I asked, my voice coming out weird. The question too misplaced.

Why… what exactly?he should have replied.

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