Page 33 of The Marriage Mission

"Absolutely, I’ll have it right out for you," Jacqui assured him.

She picked up the bottle from another table and brought it back to him. She didn't get in the least bit offended when the diner splayed the sauce all over his dish. Her grandfather would've been appalled that his carefully crafted food had been altered. Food was the one area where Jacqui let go of the reins. If they wanted to add more salt, so be it. If they decided to put ketchup on their lo mein… Well, there she drew the line.

Leaving behind the satisfied customer, Jacqui turned and headed toward the kitchen. But she barely got a few steps in when she ran into a wall. A warm wall that smelled of cut wood and spring grass. She didn't have to look up to know who was there.

Her nose remembered curling into his scent. Her palms remembered resting over his heartbeat. Her head found that spot in his chest where it fit perfectly, like it was made for her.

"There are the newlyweds," said Anne.

Instead of walking backward to release her, Noah wrapped an arm around Jacqui's waist, like it was his business to do so. Like it was his right to do so. Jacqui couldn't sneak away from him or shake him off because everyone was watching. So she plastered a smile on her face.

"Are you going to introduce me to everyone, love?" Noah said the words against her ear but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Jacqui had to take a minute to let the shiver from the heat of his breath at the cone of her ear run down her neck, across her shoulder blades and down to the base of her spine before she found her voice. "I don't want to interrupt everyone's meals."

There was a chorus ofnonsenseandno's andpleases. Just like the nosy neighbors they were.

Noah looked down at her with such adoration in his eyes that it made her breath catch. She looked up into his eyes, seeing warmth and affection reflected back at her. But it wasn't genuine. It couldn't be.

Gathering herself under the watchful eyes of her patrons, Jacqui managed a smile. "Everyone, this is Noah, my husband."

Noah's fingers flexed when she said those two words:my husband. He pulled her a little closer. His breath hitched as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

There went his hot breath again. And there went that shiver again. But instead of going down, this time it went straight to her head.

Jacqui swallowed and began again. "He’s been working tirelessly on updating our old wiring and making sure we don’t burn down from an electrical fire," she joked lightly, eliciting chuckles from the surrounding tables.

"That's how we met," said Noah. "Sparks flew. I apologize if there were any power outages that night."

There was a chorus ofahhs. He was good. A little too good.

"It's great to meet all of you. But I need to get my wife home. We are newlyweds, after all."

"Oh honey." Jacqui's fake grin was tense. "There's still work to do."

"Yes, but that work needs to be done in private." He nuzzled at her neck, which effectively shut her up.

It did not shut everyone else up. Now there was a chorus of juvenileohhhs. In the distraction of it all, Noah managed to tug Jacqui out the front door.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Noah's hand lingered at the small of Jacqui's back as they moved toward the exit of Chow Town. Her delicate scent filled his senses each time he leaned in to nuzzle her neck. And he did it at every opportunity, which he knew she only allowed because her patronsoohedandahhedas the two newlyweds strolled by.

Each soft touch of his lips to her nape was a whispered promise. Each strum of his fingers at her lower back was a gesture of possession he needed Jacqui to understand and a claiming he needed the men of this town to heed. The diners they passed watched with soft smiles and quiet sighs, their eyes twinkling with the joy of witnessing what they believed was a tender moment between a loving couple.

The warmth of Jacqui's body so close to his, the subtle cinnamon fragrance of her hair, and the way she occasionally leaned back into him—all of it made Noah's heart thrum with a hopeful rhythm. Instead of pushing away from him, Jacqui met his caresses with a slight, almost imperceptible relaxation in her shoulders, suggesting a comfort with his closeness that went beyond their public charade.

Behind them, the sounds of the restaurant faded into a soft backdrop of clinking glasses and subdued conversations, punctuated by the occasional sigh from a patron enchanted by the scene they presented. Noah knew this moment was just for show, a display for the eyes of their small-town community, yet every second that Jacqui didn't pull away felt like a victory, a step closer to something real.

When they reached the exit, Noah prepared himself for the shift he knew was coming—the moment they stepped out of sight of the diners, when the warmth would drop away and the space between them would grow cold again. He braced himself, his gut twisting in anticipation of the loss. All while planning for his next move when they got home.

But as Jacqui pushed open the exit door, a soft sigh escaped her lips, so faint he might have imagined it. It wasn’t a sigh of relief or a release of pent-up performance. It was different—tinged with a note of something like regret or longing. Noah allowed himself to wonder, to hope.

Could it be that Jacqui felt the stirrings of something genuine? That beneath the reminders of their arrangement and the boundaries she so firmly set, there might be a desire for something real?

They stepped out into the cool evening air, the quiet of the outside world enveloping them after the buzz of the restaurant. That's when he felt it; the tension returned to Jacqui's posture. Her body stiffened as she prepared to distance herself once more. Yet that single, soft sigh hung between them like a question left unanswered.

Jacqui turned to face him, her expression unreadable in the dim light. "You can stop the show. We're out of everyone's sight."

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