So far getting pregnant hadn’t been easy for me. I thought if I pumped myself full of fertility drugs, it would happen eventually. But after the last round of treatments, I wasn’t sure if my body or my heart could keep up the cycle. Part of me always blamed the doctors or the bad sperm selection I chose. There had to be a reason. Someone miscalculated when I should be ovulating. Someone thawed the sperm incorrectly. Someone gave me the wrong dosage of hormones.
I closed my eyes, feeling the embrace of the steam. I smiled. It was almost as if the clouds were trying to hold me. Flying like this wasn’t so bad. I wondered if I could sleep in here. I did have ninety minutes to myself before the massage.
My eyes flew open when I heard the dressing room door close. I quickly crossed my hands over my breasts. I couldn’t see who was on the other side of the glass door, but I hadn’t paged the attendant to return. Shit. She was going to see me naked. Of course my towel wasn’t anywhere close by.
I huddled in the corner of the marble, trying to conceal my skimpy panties and my breasts. What was she doing in here?
Just then the shower door opened. I blinked, staring up into my favorite pair of incredibly sexy eyes.
“Mrs. Hartwell, it doesn’t look like you were waiting for me.” Jeremy began to peel the shirt over his head. I gawked at his gorgeous abs.
?
?How did you even know I was here?” I asked, letting my hands fall away. “You aren’t supposed to have a key,” I lectured.
“I was listening. And Hilde was accommodating.” He shirked out of his pants and kicked them off his feet. He walked inside, closing the door behind him.
“I didn’t think you were paying any attention.” I rose slowly from the seat, brushing my nipples against his chest. They hardened at the contact of his skin.
This man did something to me. He made my pulse rapid. He made my breath hitch. He made my head spin.
He tipped my chin upward. “I’m always paying attention.”
His lips crushed mine as our mouths moved in hungry unison, sucking, teasing, biting. His hand palmed my stomach before dipping between my legs. I moaned as he parted my folds with his forceful fingers. I was putty in his hands. Molding and bending to his demands. And it felt so damn good.
“I don’t think we’re supposed to do this in here,” I whispered. “What if Hilde catches us?” I gasped when he pushed a finger inside me.
Jer tugged on my earlobe with his teeth. “You’re cute. Do you know that?” He waggled his eyebrows as he worked the remnants of the lacy thong down my thighs.
I threw my arms around his neck. My hips rocked forward. “How cute?” I taunted. My eyes locked on his. Sometimes that look was enough to make my insides quiver and vibrate.
Why did Jeremy Hartwell marry me? Why did he choose me for this insane scheme? Why had I gone along with it so easily?
“Fucking edible,” he growled, dropping to his knees.
I smiled.
2
Jeremy
Twelve hours into this sixteen-hour flight and I’d barely said two full sentences to Evie. Sasha had thrown me a curveball. Nothing was right about the contracts she had emailed. I didn’t know if it was intentional. She’d never tested me before, but now that my business partner’s cards were on the table, I had to wonder what her motives were. Instead of spending the flight with my wife, planning paddle boarding sessions and snorkeling dives for our honeymoon, I reviewed profit and loss statements. I emailed investors. I checked account standings.
I knew Evie had been sitting next to me worried and anxious. I watched her fidget out of the corner of my eye. She had flipped through every station on the flat screen, not settling on anything for more than a few seconds. She tried a crossword and gave up. She picked up a book and a magazine, before failing at both. I ordered champagne, hoping that would lull her to sleep for the rest of the flight, but she couldn’t stop staring at the ocean.
When Evie left with the flight attendant for a couple of hours something finally snapped in me. It clicked. I had let her go without much effort. It had been easier to let her struggle on her own than to step in. I’d witnessed a marriage like that my entire life. My parents were miserable people, and horrible spouses. I had sworn not to follow their path.
My wife needed me. She was nervous about the flight, and what the fuck was I doing? Reading financial statements.
She needed a hot shower and a massage to calm down, and I was sitting in our pod like a dick. I had promised not to be that man anymore. I was supposed to be the kind of man she could count on. I had told her that much. Maybe I wasn’t a real husband, but I was her partner in this.
Everything could come crashing down if Evie and I didn’t convince the world we had a rock-solid marriage. The kind of marriage that produced a bouncing baby boy. My boy. I had to keep up my end of the deal. I needed to protect her. Take care of her. Try to knock her up every chance I got.
The flight crew knew we were on our honeymoon. Convincing Hilde to unlock the private room and let me into the showers with Evie wasn’t hard. It was funny how people acted around newlyweds.
This morning when we checked in to our flight we received congratulations from the pilots. The gate attendant gave Evie flowers, and there were heart shaped chocolates in our seats. People were idiots when it came to romance. Fucking clowns. But every gesture made Evie smile. I saw the sparkle in her soft eyes when someone asked about the wedding. She didn’t think it was stupid. She liked being a bride. She had since the night at the Magnolia Inn. I needed to recognize that and give my bride something else she wanted.
This was where I needed to be now. With her. In this shower.