Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

“Fine. We’ll fly to Omaha.”

She studied me for a moment like I’d grown a third eye. I suppose she expected me to respond to the fact that she was a mother.

“It’s not that far,” she finally said.

“Would you rather spend the two hours in the car with me or twenty minutes in a plane?” I said appealing to her dislike of me.

“We can fly.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what I thought.” I called my pilot to let him know the change of plans so he could file a new flight plan.

Ten minutes later, we pulled into the small county airstrip where my plane was waiting.

“Go ahead and get in,” I told Erica. “I’m going to make a quick phone call.”

She nodded and headed up the steps to the plane as I dialed my contact’s number.

“Hey, Joe, listen I need you to do a deeper check on Erica…actually look up Leslie Erica Edmonds or just Leslie Edmonds.”

“Are you wanting anything specific?”

“Just the last five years.” I didn’t think she was lying now, but after all these months that she’d been delving into my life and now that we were married, I felt I needed to know more about what she’d been up to in the last five years since she hadn’t once mentioned the child since our reunion. I was an idiot to not do this before marrying her. It proved she still held some sort of enchantment on me.

“Any time frame you need it?” Joe asked.

“As soon as possible. I’m heading to Omaha now if you need to see me. Otherwise you can email me what you find.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

Once I hung up, I entered the plane. Erica was sitting in a seat looking out the window. I wondered if she was checking the view or lost in thought.

I sat across from her and pretended to check email on my phone, but mostly I was trying to wrap my brain around what I’d done today. I’d gotten married. I’d married Erica to try and win the respect of a rural town in Nebraska. Maybe I needed to get my brain checked, because that was a ridiculous thing to do.

Even so, Erica had lived up to her side of the deal. The lady at the boutique totally bought the wedding and that Erica and I were in love. I wasn’t sure Sinclair bought it, or maybe she just worried I’d somehow hoodwinked Erica. If only she knew that Erica was the one who played games.

As I thought about Erica’s deception, I couldn’t help but be curious about her being a mother. She must be a single mother, otherwise she couldn’t have married me. So where was the father? Had he dumped her before me or after?

“Who’s with your son?” I asked unable to keep from learning more about him.

“My mother watches him while I work. She’s with him now. Until tomorrow.”

I nodded. “I appreciated what you did at the boutique. Knowing how you feel about me, it had to be hard.”

She turned her piercing green eyes on me. “And knowing what you think of me, I find it hard that you’d want to even pretend.”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not finding it hard, but then, as you know, I’m able to compartmentalize my feelings.”

She nodded and turned away. Funny how that last statement felt like a lie. Oh, I’d spent a lifetime hiding my true feelings, but there was a moment in the boutique when I’d looked at her in the lovely dress that accentuated her body perfectly, and a well of emotion surged. For a moment, as I took in her beauty, I saw the woman I’d loved five years ago.

“I always regretted losing you.”

I couldn’t believe I’d said that out loud. Thankfully, I was sure she thought it was part of the ruse. I don’t know what I’d do if she knew that at that moment, the statement was true.

The flight was over nearly as quickly as it started. I had a car waiting and it drove us to my penthouse.

“You still have this place,” she said as we walked into the building.

I had to take a breath because I felt a profound sense of déjà vu as we rode the elevator up to the penthouse. How many times had I done this with her five years ago? Usually, I was engaged in foreplay during the ride because I couldn’t wait until we got into the penthouse to touch her.