Page 70 of The Marriage Game

Time to sneak into my husband’s hotel room.

Chapter 26

Max

A Few Months Shy of Eight Years Ago

Max

“Can you believe that in two days you could be a senator?” Jill asks as we walk down the hallway of the church to get our kids from their respective Sunday school classes.

“Could be?” I arch my brow. “With you as my campaign manager I think I can confidently say, I will be. You’ve done amazing work, Jill.”

Jill laughs, her cheeks blushing with pleasure. She really has been a standout campaign manager. Her efforts are to thank for the giant lead I have in the pre-election polls. Jill is a force of nature.

“Why, thank you,” she replies demurely. “Lucky for me I had an all-star candidate to promote. It was hardly a challenge to run your campaign.”

I chuckle. “So what you’re saying is that you’re disappointed I didn’t have a more scandalous past for you to overcome?”

She cocks her head, considering. “Well, yes,” she finally says.

There’s a boisterous laugh from behind us and we turn to see a middle-aged woman, looking at us, her brown eyes full of mirth.

“Whoops.” She pulls a face to accentuate the word. “My apologies, I don’t usually eavesdrop.” She wrinkles her nose, then a breathy laugh escapes from her mouth. “Oh who am I kidding, yes, I do. But it’s only because I’m a writer. Observing people helps get my creative juices flowing. Still,” she pauses, taking a few seconds to school her features into an expression that I think she intends to look penitent, but it’s undermined by her inability to remove the gleeful sparkle from her eyes, “I truly am sorry.”

Jill laughs. “Sorry you got caught, you mean,” she says.

The woman’s mouth forms an ‘o’ of surprise, but then she laughs too. “Precisely, my dear. I like you,” she adds. Her gaze bounces to me then back to Jill, scanning us from head to toe. “Tell me, would you two ever consider being cover models for a romance novel? My forthcoming debut romance novel, to be clear. The release date is hazy. Though now that I’ve found the two of you to grace my cover, it should motivate me to speed the process along.”

It’s my turn to laugh, only it dies quickly as I realize she was serious.

“I don’t think so,” I say quickly. “As I believe you overheard, I’m running for state senator. I can’t be on a book cover. Especially a romance.”

“Oh yes, of course.” She considers my words before pressing on towards her goal. “Of course, we wouldn’t necessarily haveto show your face. I’m sure I could hide it behind your wife’s face somehow. Maybe you two could kiss.” She grabs hold of my arm and angles me toward Jill. “Sort of like this, only you put your arm here.” She moves my hand to Jill’s waist, then scurries quickly around us to grab Jill’s left arm. “Then you, dear, put your arm up on his shoulder, like so. Hmm, no, that’s not right. I need more passion in your movements. Hold your wife like she’s a rare jewel you refuse to let slip through your fingers.”

I look down at Jill. Her eyes are wide and startled. “What is even happening right now?” she mouths to me.

The urge to burst out laughing rises inside my chest, but I stuff it down in favor of maintaining that all-star candidate image Jill mentioned. After all, there are people all around us. And, let’s be real: this is weird. “You do know we’re in a church right now,” I tell the rather bizarre woman.

She waves this away. “Obviously I wouldn’t take the picture here. The lighting, the walls…it’s all wrong for a romance cover,” she says, as if the background was what I was concerned about. “We’ll do something outside in nature for the real photo shoot.” She scans our outfits. “And I’ll have to make some wardrobe changes, of course. Not that you two don’t look fabulous, but I tend to describe my character’s clothing in great detail, and my female main character doesn’t really wear dresses much. She’s more of a leather jacket and tight jeans type of woman.”

Jill gasps, then starts coughing. My cheeks go warm. In spite of myself, I’m suddenly more on board with this whole cover shoot thing. I’ve never seen Jill in leather.

“Not to be redundant, but we’re in a church right now,” Jill hisses to the woman. “You can’t just talk about the characters in your romance novels so casually.”

Oh right. Church. Us. We’re in one of those.

Still, Jill and I are married. God Himself commanded married people to go forth and multiply. And thinking about my wife in a leather jacket really inspires me on that front.

“Oh don’t worry about that,” the woman tells Jill. “My romances are completely closed door. Kisses only.” She hums happily. “This is all coming together so nicely.” She whips out her phone. “I’ll have to get your numbers, and then we can set up a date for the shoot.”“Hold on,” Jill interjects. “We never agreed to do it.”

“Oh.” She frowns, her phone dropping to her side. “But you will, won’t you?” she implores.

Jill shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but no.”

The woman’s face falls. “Really? Are you sure?”

“Pretty positive,” Jill says firmly.

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