Marry Me Now: An Arranged Marriage Collection

Or is this all just an act? All just a play for the weekend, to win his friend’s bet. After all, how many times has he reminded me so far that he’s competitive? It’s how we wound up in this situation in the first place. Because he couldn’t stand the idea of losing one silly bet with a friend.

Still, this seems like more lengths than he has to go to just to win. Breakfast in bed, complimenting me, reminding me of how well we know each other, how this is more than just a weekend fling. He knows me, and I know him too.

Could this be real?

He catches me watching him and smiles at me, lifting his cup of coffee in salute. I lift mine too, and we share a smile, before we both take slow drinks, our eyes never leaving one another’s. I want to know. I want to ask him if this is real. But I don’t, because I’m scared.

What if he says no? What if he thinks I’m crazy for reading more into this than there really is? He told me upfront that this was just a one weekend deal, one silly bet, and then it would be over.

I can’t fall for him. Not anymore than I already have. It’s bad enough I let myself get embroiled this deep. We only have one day and one night left here. I’ll enjoy it, and then come tomorrow, I’ll take this ring off my finger and stop being his wife.

This is the only time we’ll ever get together.

As much as it hurts to think about, I know I’m making the smart choice. Better this than risking getting my heart broken.

10

After breakfast in bed, we head down to the spa to meet Meghan and Paul. They’re smiling, chatty. If they heard us screaming in our room all night long, they don’t let on. They greet us with hugs and then Meghan hooks her arm through mine and points to the spa features.

“Looks like the massage rooms are separated by gender,” she explains, “And there’s a free facial package we should probably take advantage of too. We can meet the boys afterward in the steam room and sauna, those are connected for both men and women. You fine with me kidnapping your wife for a bit, Luke?” she calls over her shoulder, probably because he’s been trailing us from the moment we walked away, his gaze fixed on me.

I flash him a grin as he chuckles. “Just keep in mind, I’m a jealous husband,” he tells Meghan with a wink.

“I promise to bring her back in one piece,” Meghan calls. Then we duck into the massage room.

Unbeknownst to me, apparently Luke booked ahead for all four of us. At any rate, the spa attendants seem to recognize us at once and they lead us into a joint room, where they have us lie face down on tables and oil up our backs. It is quite possibly the best massage I’ve ever had—and a desperately needed one after last night’s marathon workout sex. Every muscle in my body feels sore, in ways I never knew were possible. So it feels fantastic to have them knead out the knots now, even if it keeps making me groan in pain.

“Worked out recently?” Meghan asks, with a knowing smirk.

“Something like that,” I admit, my cheeks flushed bright red as I think about how much noise we made last night. Not to mention what we did in the hot tub. I wonder if Meghan and Paul noticed us, from where they were on the dance floor.

“I’m sure.” She laughs. “So tell me, is Luke as great in bed as he looks like he’d be?”

My cheeks flush even worse than before. “Er, well… I mean…”

“Because damn, that man is attractive as hell,” she adds with an almost wistful sigh.

Something unpleasant curls in my stomach for a moment. He’s not mine, I tell myself. I can’t act jealous if I’m not even really his wife. Still. “That is why I married him, after all,” I say a little testily. Then I catch myself. “One of the reasons, I mean. Also for his brain. And his personality. And, well…”

Meghan laughs, sounding lighthearted. “Relax, Celia, I’m only teasing. Besides, I think you’re smoking hot too, y’know.” She reaches over to nudge my shoulder with one hand, and my face, if anything, blushes worse than ever.

“Thanks. You’re hot too,” I add, because it seems like the polite thing to say, and because, well, she is. She and Paul both are. “You guys make a gorgeous couple.”

“Thanks.” Meghan sighs happily. “Is it crazy that I’m actually looking forward to being married?”

I glance over and catch her studying her engagement ring with a contended smile. I find myself watching her more closely, feeling a fresh bloom of jealousy now for an entirely different reason. “Of course not. I think that makes perfect sense. You found the right guy to settle down with, and now you’re going to be with him for the rest of your lives. Why wouldn’t that be something to look forward to?”

“You just hear so many people talking about settling down as… well, settling. As putting on the old ball and chain and never having any more fun. I don’t think it’s going to be like that for us. Paul and I are still going to have fun, and neither of us are settling for each other.”

“Of course not,” I agree. “It’s not settling if you’re both head over heels in love.” I catch myself looking at my own ring too, turning it this way and that to enjoy the way the diamond catches the lights in here, reflecting them back in dozens of multicolored sparkles that dance along the walls. When the masseuse nudges me to turn over for the facial, I roll onto my back and rest both hands on my stomach, my right one over my left, toying with the ring absently as I think about how nice that must be. To feel certain about your partner. To know you are marrying for the right reasons, and the right person.

To know exactly how you both feel, and to be certain you are on the same page about it.

Yes, I am jealous of Meghan, but not because she thinks Luke is hot. It’s because she’s got a normal engagement, leading up to a real marriage, and me? I just have this weekend. I just have a couple days of playing pretend, and then it’ll be back to the real world.

“Hey.” Meghan’s hand brushes my shoulder again. “You okay?”

I glance over at her, and then do I realize that a tear escaped my eye and tracked its way down my cheek. I wipe it away, feeling more embarrassed than ever, my face white hot now. “Yeah, fine,” I mumble, my voice thick and unconvincing. “Just, um… something in my eye. Lotion or oil or something.”

Her hand drops away, and she lies back on her spa bed, closing her eyes. If she doesn’t believe me, at least she’s nice enough not to call me out on it.

I shut my eyes too, and try to relax back into the spa treatment, instead of letting my brain run in circles worrying what’s going to happen when this weekend ends.

11

We head out to meet the guys in the sauna area, our bodies loose and relaxed from the massages, and my face feeling soft and smooth from the moisturizers they piled onto it after the facial. I breathe in a sigh of contentment as I step out of the massage room and into the main area of the spa. The air is a little cooler out here, probably to provide a contrast between the different saunas and steam rooms.

Meghan taps my shoulder. “I’ve got to run to the restroom. Why don’t you figure out which sauna the guys are in and I’ll catch up to you?”

I flash her a thumbs up and turn to study the different chambers. There’s a few of them: a big stone chamber that looks like an oven, with a wood fire burning inside it. Another with what look like jade crystals embedded into the walls all around it, also with wood smoke. Then there are a couple of steam baths, small eight or ten-person sized bubbles filled with so much steam you can barely see inside the windows.

I check the two saunas first and find them empty. Then I open the door to the first steam room. The scent of eucalyptus and mint spills out, along with the sound of voices.

“—two weeks until the wedding,” Paul is saying. “We just wanted to have our last fun as… well, you know. As a non-married couple.”

“Define fun, exactly.” Luke’s voice sounds funny, constricted a little. Almost… angry? But that can’t be right.

“You know. A little sharing, a little mutual pleasure. I mean, we heard you guys last ni

ght, and it definitely sounded like a fantastic time.”

My cheeks flush, not from the steam either. Is Paul suggesting what I think he is? I think back to Meghan’s comments in the massage room. Besides, I think you’re smoking hot too. Was this what she meant? That she wanted to… what, share me with her husband? And Luke?

I hesitate, holding my breath. What is Luke going to say? On the one hand, Paul and Meghan are very attractive. But on the other, I’m not sure I’m into the idea of sharing Luke. Not when I finally get to have him all to myself, after all this waiting. I can’t stand the idea of seeing him with Meghan. It turns my stomach, even if I know she only meant it in fun.