Pretend We're Over (Pretend 2)

She smiles at me softly but doesn’t answer. Which is okay because I don’t want to talk too much either. She would just force me to talk too.

“I think we should stay married,” Millie hits me with words I never expected to hear. From her. From anyone.

I blink over and over, making sure this isn’t a dream. And then I remove my hand from her grasp because maybe she thinks there is something between us that isn’t there.

She glances down at our now separated hands.

“Millie, I like you, but I don’t want to be married to you. I’m sorry if you think there is something going on between us but—“

“No, I don’t think there is anything between us. I think you are an arrogant jerk. Trust me, I don’t think we fit well together.”

I narrow my eyes. “Okay, then I don’t follow your logic. If you are afraid of what everyone is going to say when we go home, I think we can just play it low for a few months and then announce that we quietly separated. Our only shared friends are Oaklee and Boden, who we can tell the truth to if you want. And then we can just bury ourselves in our work and tell Oaklee in a few months to say we rushed into marriage too fast and just decided to remain friends. It can’t be more embarrassing than Oaklee running out at her own wedding.”

“I’m not worried about being embarrassed. Trust me, having people find out the truth is one of the least embarrassing moments of my life.”

“Okay…” I rub the back of my head, not understanding.

Her eyes go to my shirt that has risen up, and her eyes sink into my abs, getting lost in my body for a moment. I welcome her heated stare, except I’m worried that my body is why she wants to stay married.

“Do you think staying married is the only way I’ll bend my rule and fuck you again, because I already told you, I’d gladly wave my rule and fuck you again. I think we both deserve a do-over,” I ask after I put my arms down.

She shakes her head. “You’re so full of yourself. I’m not fucking you again.”

“Are you trying to get me to fall in love with you?” trying to figure out her reason.

“No.”

“Only believe in sex after marriage?”

“No.”

“Need to be married to get a promotion?”

“No.”

“Need to be married to inherit?”

She sighs. “This isn’t about money.”

Good, because baby, you aren’t getting any of mine.

I pull out a piece of gum and start smacking it, knowing it will help my antsy body.

I rub my chin, trying to figure her out. Millie Raine isn’t like any woman I’ve ever met, though, so I don’t know how to figure her out.

“Why?”

She looks out the window again, all joking gone. There’s a reason. She just doesn’t want to tell me.

Well, too bad, if she wants me to stay married to her, she better damn well tell me why.

“Don’t you want your first marriage to be with someone you love?” I ask.

She snaps her head with a soft chuckle, but it’s hiding pain. Her green eyes dilate; her eyelashes blink faster, trying to keep the pain inside.

“Don’t you?” She throws my question back at me.

“Since this will be the only time I’m married, that’s not an option for me.”