He gets a disgusted look on his face and shrugs his shoulders. “I know it's not ideal, but if it means that we can save any of these women, then it's worth it.”
I nod in agreement with him and then go back to reading. “It says we're just here to learn the process and go home.”
Bear grunts, and for the first time, I agree with him. I can't imagine just leaving knowing everything that we're probably going to see tonight. “I know. Me too.”
“Huh?” he asks, surprised.
I just smirk at him. “I’ve learned to read your grunts, Bear. That one you just gave me was, ‘Yeah, that’s what we’re supposed to do—just watch—but I’m not happy about it.’”
He nods his head, and his look softens. I don’t think he’s used to people speaking Bear. “What else?” he asks.
“Well, there's a list of names and different things like that. People that we’ll probably meet or run into, who we should avoid.” I point to the names on the paper, not wanting to say them out loud. But when I look at him, he's not looking at the paper. He’s staring at me, and his look is guarded again. He’s looking at me like it’s painful to even be talking with me. I close the file and fold my hands together on top of it. “You do know that you're going to have to act like you like me, right?” I ask him.
His eyes don't shift from where they’re trained on my face. His facial features don’t change at all; he's just looking at me blankly and shrugs. It doesn't leave me feeling very confident.
“I can do that,” he says.
I nod and laugh, even though a part of me wants to cry. “So you’re telling me you can act like you love me. That I’m your wife you’ve loved and been faithful to for five years.” I shake my head. “You think you can be convincing? Because I have to be honest with you right now, I don’t think you’re going to be able to pull it off.”
He crosses his big, beefy arms across his big chest. I try to ignore the way the stance makes him look even more dominant. “What about you? Can you pull it off? You think people will believe that someone like you is happy with someone like me?”
I jerk, instantly offended. “What do you mean, someone like me?”
He leans forward and whispers, “I mean someone like you. A hot-ass stubborn woman that could have any man you want. You think people will believe you’re happily married to me?” He points at himself with his thumb.
Damn. It takes everything in me not to crawl into his lap right now. Any woman would be blessed to be with Bear. And it won’t be hard at all for me to pretend anything with this man. I pull at my shirt around my neck because suddenly the temperature of the plane just got way hotter. “Yeah,” I squeak and then clear my voice. “I can.”
His eyes never leave mine. “Well, this I can’t wait to fuckin’ see.”
Instead of getting into another argument with him, I just roll my eyes and turn back to the file as if I'm studying it. I want to kick myself. I always go for the emotionally unavailable men, and of course of all the men in Whiskey Run I like the one man that shows zero emotion. He looks as if he's impatient just sitting next to me. How the hell are we going to pull this off? There’s no way people are going to believe we’re happily married. Not like this.
4
BEAR
How can a two-hour plane ride seem twice as long? She thinks it's going to be hard to act like I like her when I'm doing my best to contain myself sitting next to her this whole damn time.
And the whole entire time, I held myself back, stopping myself from reaching for her hand, her arm, or even her thigh. I want my hands on her. God help me, when she was talking, I could barely pay attention to what she was saying, because the only thing that I was focused on was her lips. Fuck, they’re so kissable.
We're walking off the plane, down the hallway, and I’m letting her walk in front of me. She has an independent streak a mile long, and I'm trying not to infringe on that, so I've been walking behind her and just watching her hips sway back and forth.
She stops suddenly and turns, frowning at me. She takes the few steps back to me and grabs my hand, threading our fingers together. I look down at our intertwined hands and have to remind myself to breathe.
She leans in, and her voice is soft as she whispers in my ear, “We’re supposed to appear as a happily married couple, Bear. Right now you look as if you’re going to kill someone.”