Page 59 of Single Dad's Fake Bride
"I should get back to class," she said finally, backing toward the door. "The coffee is probably getting cold."
"Sadie—"
"I'll see you later," she said, already turning the handle. "At home. I mean, at your house. For dinner. With Eloise."
She was gone before I could say anything else, leaving me alone in the office with two cups of cooling coffee and the lingering scent of her perfume.
I pressed my fingers to my lips, still stunned by the kiss and the realization that she'd made the first move. My chest felt lightfor the first time in weeks, despite everything else falling apart around us.
14
SADIE
Two days had passed since the kiss, and I had managed to avoid Harrison entirely. Not an easy task when your soon-to-be fake husband runs the school where you work, but I had become an expert at timing my movements around his schedule.
But avoidance only worked for so long.
My stomach growled as I dismissed my students for lunch, and I realized I had forgotten to pack anything again. The cafeteria would have to do, which meant walking straight past Harrison's office. I gathered my papers with shaking hands, telling myself I was being ridiculous. We were adults. We could handle being in the same building without combusting.
Besides, after that night at his house, the kiss was nothing, right? Except that night was spurred on by a bit of wine and a close, intimate setting. And the kiss in his office was my doing—I instigated it. The thought made heat creep into my cheeks, but lunch couldn't be avoided.
I locked my classroom door and headed across campus. The administrative wing felt different during lunch—quieter, somehow more intimate. Most of the staff had cleared out,leaving only the hum of fluorescent lights and the distant sound of students in the dining hall.
I intended to walk straight past his office. I really did. But the door stood slightly ajar, and I could see him through the gap, hunched over his desk with his head in his hands. The sight stopped me cold.
He looked exhausted. Defeated, even. His usually perfect hair was disheveled, as if he had been running his fingers through it, and his shoulders carried a tension I had never seen before. This was not the composed, controlled Harrison Vale I had met two weeks ago.
Before I could think better of it, I knocked softly on the doorframe.
He looked up, startled, and for a moment his face went completely blank. Then he straightened, trying to pull that familiar mask back into place.
"Sadie." His voice came out rougher than usual. "I didn't expect to see you."
"I was heading to lunch." I stepped into his office, closing the door behind me without really thinking about why. "Are you alright?"
He stared at me for a long moment, as if weighing whether to answer honestly. Finally, his shoulders sagged slightly. "The board called this morning."
I moved closer to his desk, noting the scattered papers, the empty coffee mug, the way his normally pristine workspace looked like a hurricane had torn through it. "What did they want?"
"Proof." He rubbed his temples. "They want a copy of our marriage license within five days. Official documentation that this is real."
My heart stuttered. "But we don't have?—"
"No, we don't." He looked up at me, and I saw something raw in his pale gray eyes. The license was something we had to tick off a never-ending list of things to get done. Meanwhile, I was busy with AA meetings and therapy and doctors’ appointments for Mom. In theory, the arrangement Harrison requested from me sounded perfect, but in practice, it was a lot of work.
I sank into the chair across from his desk, the reality of our situation hitting me fresh. I'd been so focused on the flutter of my heart every time I got around this man that I forgot about how important it was to him.
"Mr. Blackwood can prepare the application," Harrison continued, his voice gaining strength. "We can go to the courthouse tomorrow or the next day, get the license, have a quick ceremony. It won't take long."
"A ceremony?" The words felt foreign on my tongue. And tomorrow? That made my head spin. I realized he was on a time crunch, but even for the lightning-bolt arrangement we had, this seemed fast. I didn't speak it, but I sure as heck felt it knot up in my chest.
"Nothing elaborate. Just us and a justice of the peace. Maybe the lawyer as a witness." He was back in planning mode now, the vulnerability I had glimpsed carefully locked away. "We'll need to discuss living arrangements too. You'll have to move in with me."
My pulse quickened. "Move in with you?" Of course I would, but try to tell my gut that.
"It has to look real, Sadie. The board is already suspicious. If we're married but living separately…" He trailed off, but I understood. It would raise questions we couldn't afford to answer.
I stood up abruptly, needing to move, to think. His office suddenly felt too small. "But you have a guest room?"
