“Speaking of what they want, are you and Ryder an item?”
There’s no doubt that she’s interested in him. Of course, she was. Every woman was. Ryder had that je ne sais quoi that had women swooning. Even me, these days.
I wanted to tell her to keep her paws off my man, except he wasn’t my man. Not really. Once the bet was over, we’d go our separate ways. But right now, he was my fake husband. While our fake marriage was on, he needed to be faithful. I didn’t want a fake marriage with real infidelity.
“We’re friends, but we’re in the middle of a bet and celebrating the one-week anniversary of our arrangement.”
“Another fake marriage? Those seem popular around here.”
I could hear an undercurrent of amusement that annoyed me and yet, I’d be thinking anyone doing a fake marriage was nuts too.
“We’re trying to prove a point to his sister and brother-in-law,” I said, knowing that didn’t make our arrangement any less crazy.
“Which is?”
“How hard can being fake married be?” I didn’t know why I was telling her all this. Perhaps it was all the wine.
She laughed. “It wouldn’t be hard at all with Ryder. I’d sign up in an instant.”
I gritted my teeth and clasped my hands together in front of me to keep from slapping her. Ryder was mine. At least for another three weeks.
“I’ve got t
o get back to dinner,” I said.
“Yes of course. Just one thing. How long is this bet and will he be available when it’s done?”
I wanted to tell her no he wouldn’t be available. He was mine. But even if we continued a relationship when it was over, I knew it wouldn’t work in the long run. As well as we were getting along now, I knew eventually we’d clash. We were too different.
“Three more weeks.” I walked out, mentally kicking myself for telling her that.
When I got back to the table, Ryder looked at me with knitted brows. “Everything okay? I worried you’d fallen in.”
I smirked, but inside was having a tug of war about whether I should tell him about meeting Erica. Had she hit on him when they met before? Had he been interested? I wanted to know and at the same time, I didn’t.
“Seriously, you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.” I sat and picked up my fork. “This cannoli looks delicious.” As I took a bite, I decided I’d keep my encounter with Erica under wraps. This marriage might be fake, but the bet was real and so for the next three weeks, Ryder was mine. After that, she could have him if he wanted her. The idea of them being together, made my stomach roil. So instead I thought about how he belonged to me for the next three weeks.
15
Ryder
The evening was going better than anticipated. Trina was relaxed and pleasant. We bantered, but she didn’t have that edge of annoyance or disapproval that she sometimes had. The only little blip was when she came back from the bathroom. I could see her guard had gone up. I wondered what had happened. Did she see someone there? Or in a moment alone had she reconsidered this bet and decided she needed to keep her emotional distance?
Being someone who could go with the flow, I didn’t push her on it and instead, once we finished our dessert, I paid the check and led her back out to the truck. Instead of heading back to my place, I drove out to a secluded area overlooking the river. The sky was clear, and from this spot, a million stars glowed.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
“We’re parking and then we’re going to make out. How does that sound?” I grinned, hoping she didn’t see this as too corny.
One side of her mouth quirked up, even as her eyes narrowed. “We have two perfectly good beds at your place.”
I was happy to hear she still planned to have sex. After her trip to the bathroom, I wasn’t sure how she was feeling about this turn in our relationship. “The ladies’ magazines say that to keep a marriage fresh, it’s important to mix things up.”
“Are you saying we’re stale after a week?”
“Not at all.” I turned on the radio and rolled down the windows. “Come on.” I opened my door.