Page 18 of A Different Husband

“Being your husband.”

I felt the heat in my cheeks and knew he could see what that did to me. The blush stole hot and fast across my face and up to the tips of my ears. I wondered if he truly meant that, or if he was just playing along and making the best of a weird situation.

“It’s kind of strange to get used to being married,” I admitted. “I feel like if I keep acknowledging the fact that you are my husband, it will sink in one day. Right now, it kind of feels like a dream.”

“Good to know.”

“What?” I questioned.

“Good to know I’m your dream husband. It makes being the real thing that much easier,” He teased. “You might want to check the temperature on the water before it fills any further. I wasn’t sure how hot you wanted it.”

“Just shy of scalding my skin off is a good temperature.”

“Damn woman,” he hissed as I stuck my hand in. Not that I needed to, since I saw steam rising out of the tub. “You adjust and hop in. I’ll go order room service. Any special requests?”

“French Toast.”

“That’s it?”

“Whatever else you order can be a surprise, but I really hope they have French Toast.”

“Okay, beautiful. I’ll be right back.”

I took his shirt off and climbed into the tub gingerly as the heat stung my skin a little bit. I turned the hot water down a bit and swirled it around the tub a bit, then sat all the way down and leaned back.

I was a little disappointed when Flynn didn’t return to join me in the tub. For some reason, when he said he would run a bath for me to soak, my mind instantly envisioned us in there together with me snuggling into his body as he sat behind me. It was possible I had read one too many romance books over the years. Maybe that wasn’t something men did.

“Hey,” He called out after I’d been soaking long enough for the water to become tepid.

“Hey,” I whispered back.

“Food is here. You looked so relaxed I didn’t want to disturb you earlier.”

“You came in here?”

His chuckle made me want to leap out of the tub and jump his bones. “Yeah, I debated on whether you would hate me for disturbing you or if I should just leave you alone. When you didn’t even notice I was back, I figured leaving you alone was the best option.”

Well, shit. I guess I ruined my own fantasy by dozing off.

“You could have joined me,” I told him as I ducked down further into the water to pull the plug.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” He came over with a warm towel in his hand and wrapped me up in it. “There’s a robe on the back of the door.”

Flynn left and as soon as I got the robe on, I followed him into the suite only to realize there was no one there. I looked around in confusion until I heard the sliding glass door open up.

“Sorry, I should have mentioned I brought everything out here. I thought you might enjoy a little sunshine with breakfast.”

Breakfast on the balcony with my new husband. Yes, please.

As we both tucked into our food, I wondered how much a person would have to pay to live like this forever. It was a shame I was only a teacher, because I’d all but forgotten what it was like to live in my parents’ home growing up, where there was a maidand cook who would prepare all our meals. Even though I lived in their pool house, I was responsible for cooking and cleaning for myself. As my mom once told me, “I don’t pay for them to take care of you too. If you want that luxury, you’ll have to marry well or change careers.”

That was her version of a pep talk to keep me on track one of the times I thought about calling it quits with Beckett. I had to shake that thought off because if there were two people in the world who could ruin my first day with my husband, my ex-fiancé and mom fit the bill.

“How much longer do we have this suite?” I asked. When I planned the wedding and my honeymoon originally, I had chosen a smaller, cheaper room and only for an overnight, since Beckett and I were supposed to fly out the next day to an all-inclusive Caribbean resort. It wasn’t the resort I hoped to stay at, but I hadn’t been able to get Beckett to kick in any more money toward the honeymoon, so I had to go with one of the more budget friendly options and we couldn’t even get the honeymoon suites let alone one of the over the water bungalows I really wanted to stay in.

“One more night and then we go home.”

“Home,” I parroted. “Crap, we never discussed what our living arrangements would look like.”

---