Pretend We're Over (Pretend 2)

33

Sebastian

That night changed things.

I no longer struggle to remember to call Millie my wife. I think about her constantly—at work, at home, in the shower—everywhere.

And my most important task has been protecting her.

I got the restraining order against her ex filed the next day. Because of who I know and how much money I have, that was easy.

I hired a private investigator to keep an eye on him and make sure he wouldn’t be coming for Millie.

And I hired a security guard to protect her whenever she leaves the condo. Not that she’s super happy with that or finds it necessary, but my private investigator found a prior domestic abuse call on Trevor’s record. A fact that I’ll keep to myself. I don’t want to worry her more than necessary. She said he never hurt her, but that doesn’t mean he won’t to get her back.

I lean down and kiss Millie on the cheek. She rolls over and groans. “I should get up.”

I laugh. “It’s seven in the morning. You went to sleep like two hours ago. You should sleep, I’ll see you when I get off work.”

She grabs my shirt and pulls me back to her. “Or you could stay.” She kisses me with everything she has, which is surprisingly a lot for being completely asleep.

I laugh and pull myself away from her. “I have to go to work. And you need your sleep so I can enjoy you when I get back.”

“You can enjoy me now.”

So tempting.

“I can’t. I have to go to work. Are you working tonight?” I ask. Millie got a job at an emergency response call center this week, which has severely reduced our time together. It only makes every moment that much more fleeting. And her security guard that much more important.

She sighs. “Yes.”

“See you for dinner before you go?”

“Am I dinner?” She bats her eyelashes at me.

“Definitely.” I pull her bottom lip into my mouth and kiss her harder than I intended to. Now she’s starting to wake up fully.

“Go back to sleep, my beautiful wife.”

She smiles with her eyes closed, pulling her sheets up higher around her neck. It takes everything I have to walk away from her and go to work—five more months. I have five more months to enjoy every second with her.

I need to find a way to convince her to quit her job, and I need to cut back at work so we can spend all of that time together. Because I don’t have the strength to keep walking away from her like this.

34

Millie

“Sebastian?” I ask as I creek the door open to his condo.

No answer.

I exhale a breath as I push the door all the way open. We have three months left until we decided to stop pretending we are married and file for divorce. But if Sebastian sees what I’m carrying in this box, he might decide to call it quits early.

A small whimper comes from the box as I flip the lid up. A ball of brown fluff jumps up and licks me in the face.

“You’re lucky Sebastian isn’t here, or we might already be kicked to the curb.” I bob the first of the five puppies on the nose as I carry them into the kitchen.

“Where should I put the dog supplies?” Andrew, my security guard asks.