Page 61 of What If I See You

I like my wife.

“You don’t want me to leave?” she asks, her head tilting to the side.

No. I don’t.

“I mean I’m not going to force you to stay, I just thought…you know…because we’re married now and everyone knows we’re together…I don’t know, maybe it would be better if you stayed at my place. You know, for a while longer. For show and all.”

Why do I sound so ridiculous?

And why is my chest getting tight?

“Right.” She nods. “I suppose you have a point. People might talk if they see us living separately.”

“Oh yeah.” I nod adamantly. At this point I’ll say anything to get her to agree with me. “They’ll talk for sure. And we don’t want that. It’s not good when people talk. They say stupid things like…” I tap the steering wheel with my fingers. “Layken Ollenberg refuses to sleep with sexy hockey star husband or Hockey boy Griffin Ollenberg snores so loudly his wife has to sleep across town. And you know those rumors grow like wildfire.”

Layken laughs and some of the heaviness in my chest settles. “You are such a goof. They wouldn’t say that.”

“No?”

“No!” She shakes her head. “They’d say something like Anaheim Star marries porn writer.”

A chuckle rumbles through my chest. “Oh, well we can’t have that.”

“Definitely not, so I guess if you’re okay with a roommate…”

More than okay with it.

“Yeah. I’d love to have you.”

Oof! Did that sound bad?

I’d love to have her?

Of course I’d love to have her.

Have her in my bed.

In my shower.

Over my dining room table.

Against the wall.

Bent over the couch.

Fuck.

“I mean I’d love for you to…you know, stay. If you want.”

“Alright. I guess I’ll stay. But would you mind if we stop at home so I can pick up a few things before the away stretch?”

“Of course. Is tomorrow morning okay or do you want to stop tonight?”

She shakes her head. “Nah, the morning’s fine.”

“Done.”

“Thank you, Griffin.”

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