Page 84 of Never the Bride
His mouth spreads into an unhurried grin. “I’m going to show you what it’s like to have someone take care of you for once. And you can decide for yourself if you like it.”
A scoff tumbles over my lips, causing Hess to snicker.
His gaze holds mine, steady and confident. I watch, ready to react to whatever move he makes. Instead, he twists the door handle and walks inside the house, leaving it open for me to follow.
Feelings whirl and spin inside me as if Hess left my stomach in the eye of a tornado.
I really need to get it together.
“That’s the second time today you broke my personal-space rule,” I call after him. “If I can smell your soap, you’re too close.”
“It’s body wash.”
“Same thing,” I groan.
Same freaking thing.
Before I’m even done washingmy face for bed that night, my mom is calling on the phone. The gossip mill works fast in my family. I brace myself and answer.
“Hello, Mamá.”
She spouts off three quick sentences in Spanish, and I know I’m in trouble. Rosa Jiménez means business when she uses her Spanish.
I hold the phone away from my head, protecting my eardrums from her shouts.
It’s going to be a long phone call.
Camila
Since Abby assignedme to tell the people in my life that I’m married, tonight's friend dinner just got hijacked by my confession. That’s why I have four shocked faces staring back at me as I tell the story of how I found myself with a live-in husband. I guess, technically, I’m the live-in wife.
“I cannot believe you didn’t tell us.” Carly’s disbelief is warranted. Normally, I tell these girls everything.
“I couldn’t. The entire arrangement had to be kept confidential.”
“Yeah, but fromus?” Emma pouts. “We’re your friends.”
“I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“I wondered how you were paying for law school,” Blair admits.
“Is your husband good-looking?” Juliet’s question sounds superficial, but to a group of girlfriends, it’s a crucial piece of information they need to understand exactly what I’m dealing with.
I decide to downplay Hess’s looks. “He’s notunattractive.”
“That means he’s hot.” Blair points at my phone. “Pull up his social media. We need to see a picture.”
“He doesn’t have social media.”Per the terms of our marriage contract, five and a half years ago.
“Oh, come on!” Blair is impatient. “There has to be a picture of him somewhere.”
“There’s one on the slide presentation he sent me.” I fumble with my phone, searching for it. It’s easy to find, since I’ve looked back at it a time or two—or twelve—the last few months.
“He sent you a slide presentation?” Carly seems impressed.
“Yeah, with bullet points about himself so we could get to know each other better.” I skip over the picture of him as a child and go straight to the family picture, zooming in. I hold up the phone. “There.”
Emma places her hand over her heart. “Oh, my sweet goodness. He’s a cowboy.”
