Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

He stared at me. “We never talked about…that holiday you were home.”

I poured myself some wine and handed him the bottle. “You ran off.”

He looked down. “I didn’t handle it well. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about it all.”

“Careful, Mo, you’re going to make me feel inadequate.”

He frowned. “Inadequate?”

“A woman doesn’t like to hear that a man regrets having been with her.”

“It wasn’t you, Brooke.”

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I let out a small derisive laugh. “Right.”

“It wasn’t. You were…are beautiful, desirable.” He looked down and chastised himself under his breath. “But that’s the problem. It was wrong for me to look at you like that, much less...” He let the end of his sentence dangle as if he couldn’t bring himself to say that he’d touched me.

A part of me liked what he was saying because it sounded like he found me attractive, but he was also ashamed, and I didn’t like that.

I shrugged. “Well, thank goodness you ran off, then.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re upset.”

I shook my head. “I’m annoyed. I’m tired of being treated like a child. I wasn’t one then, and I’m not one now.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, Mo. Was I young and naïve and impulsive four years ago? Do I get that you aren’t that into me? Yes. I won’t make that mistake again. I’m here to help my father.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you then and now. It wasn’t my intention.”

“You don’t have to be so uptight. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d hadn’t been laid since then. Then again, you didn’t get laid then, either. Do you have blue balls, Mo?” I was a bit mean, but I was hurt and annoyed at his attitude. Sure, he was trying to be gentle, but the more he tried to tell me how wrong it was and how sorry he was, the worse I felt.

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to worry about my balls, Brooke.”

I looked down at my pasta, feeling like the dumb girl he thought I was. Dammit, I was proving his point that I wasn’t mature enough for him.

“Well, while we’re married, I hope you’ll be able to keep it in your pants. This might be a fake marriage, but I won’t be cheated on.”

He sat back, staring at me like he didn’t know me. That made two of us because I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I suppose all my pent-up anger and hurt from four years ago was coming out.

“That goes both ways,” he said.

I laughed. If only he knew the truth. He was the closest I ever got to having sex. We ate in silence for a few minutes, and it occurred to me that I wasn’t behaving very well, considering all that he’d done for my family.

“I’m sorry. I’m acting ungrateful, and I’m actually very grateful. Thank you, Mo.”

He reached over and took my hand. “As I said, this is all a bit awkward. But I’m happy to do it. Your father helped me out quite a bit through the years.”

I doubted my father’s help involved money or the type of sacrifice Mo was making, like getting fake married, but I admired Mo’s dedication to my father.

“What do you think Stark will do?” I asked, working to move the subject away from our fake marriage.

“He can go fuck himself—” Mo stopped and looked at me with wide eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t use that language.”

I laughed. “Oh, thank God, you’re a real human that curses.”