Page 50 of Marrying a Spy

She sat up and glanced around. Where was he? She thought back and realized that Noah had never come back to bed. Why?

Noise from the kitchen drew her attention to her door. She slipped on her slippers and grabbed her robe. She ran her fingers through her tousled hair as she opened her door and peered down the hall.

Low voices carried from the front of the house. Sophia wrapped her arms around her chest as she made her way toward them.

Noah was sitting at the table, and James was standing near the stove, holding a pan and cooking something with a spatula. She stood there, watching them discuss a soccer game from a few nights before.

It looked so…normal. Like they were a family. She couldn’t help but stare as frustration and uncertainty filled her body. This was what she’d wanted so badly for so long. And yet, she couldn’t accept it.

Probably because one of them was a spy and the other was a criminal.

She felt their gazes on her. James nodded at her and returned to the pan. Noah, on the other hand, stood and made his way over to her. He reached out to her, but then stopped, his hand inches from her arm.

A wave of pain washed over his features before he smiled. “How did you sleep last night?” he asked.

James had been here for less than eight hours, and things had already changed between them. Sophia grabbed his extended hand and pulled him into the bathroom. Once inside, she shut the door and turned to him.

Noah looked startled.

“What are you doing?” Sophia asked. She cursed how shaky her voice sounded. Why couldn’t she be stronger?

Noah pushed his hand through his hair as he sighed. “What are you talking about?”

That question felt like a sucker punch to the gut. Things had changed. Noah was different. Distant. This wasn’t the man who’d knelt down and proposed to her the night before. He was retreating. Just like he’d done before.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she begged them to disappear. She’d spent her whole life trying to be strong, how could she crumble now?

“Why is my father here?” She dipped down to meet his downturned gaze.

Noah closed his eyes for a second, and a flicker of hope burned in her chest. Maybe he would change his mind and be honest with her. Maybe he would realize that, with her help, they could solve whatever trouble they were in.

But when he opened his eyes again, he looked more determined than ever. His jaw set as he met her gaze. “He just wants to be here for the wedding,” Noah said.

Sophia stared at him. So this was it. The lies had started. “The wedding? And which one is that, Noah. The real one or the fake one?”

Noah’s eyebrows rose. “I—um—”

Sophia held up her hand. “It’s okay. I’ve come to expect this from you. And from him,” she said as she waved toward the kitchen. “I’m letting you off the hook. We’ll get married, you’ll get what you want, and then we’ll be done. You’ll live your solitary life, and I’ll move on.” The next words felt bitter on her tongue. “Without you.”

Noah looked as if he’d been hit by a car. His expression dropped, and he parted his lips as if he wanted to say something. But he pinched his lips together and nodded. “Okay.”

She forced back her emotions as she opened the bathroom door and waved for him to leave. “I’d like to take a shower now,” she said.

Noah took a few steps before stopping. He was inches from her. She hated how her body responded to his proximity. All she wanted to do was reach out and wrap her arms around him. And for him to do the same and take away this pain that was suffocating her heart.

But Noah just glanced at her before stepping outside. Alone, she shut the door as a sob escaped her lips.

Cursing herself for being so weak, she turned on the water and undressed.

The hot water rushed across her skin as she allowed the tears to flow. How stupid could she be to think he had changed? Noah hadn’t changed. At all. And here she was, brokenhearted all over again.

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