Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
He found Wednesday in the rose garden, kneeling beside a flower bed with dirt smudged on her cheek and her hair escaping its braid in wispy tendrils. She wore one of those soft, flowing dresses that made her look like something from a painting. Cream-colored with tiny flowers scattered across the fabric. Completely impractical for gardening, but she didn’t seem to care.
She was humming under her breath, some melody he didn’t recognize, and the sound made something twist in his chest.
Get it over with, he told himself.
Walk over there, tell her the marriage is finished, arrange for her to keep the house as compensation, and send her on her way.
Simple.
Straightforward.
But when he moved closer, deliberately keeping his footsteps silent, he realized he wasn’t planning to announce himself at all. He was planning to...
“Oh!”
She backed up suddenly, her soft bottom colliding with his groin, and every rational thought fled his brain. A blush stole over her cheeks as she realized what had happened.
“I’m so sorry!” She started to spin around, flustered and apologetic.
“Don’t be.” The words came out rougher than he intended, but he meant them. Because this, he realized with self-disgust, had been subconsciously deliberate on his part. He’d wanted her unaware of his presence. Had wanted exactly this to happen, her coming into contact with his body, feeling the soft fullness of her curves against his hardness.
She whirled around to face him, still blushing, and...dammit.
It was only for a second, her gaze dipping down before flying back up to his face.
But he’d still seen it.
The way her eyes had gone wide when she’d glimpsed the obvious evidence of what her innocent collision had done to him.
And he knew, with bone-deep certainty, that she still wanted him.
“W-Why are you here?” Her voice was breathless.
To get rid of you.
To end this farce and get my life back.
But for the life of him, he couldn’t even say a fucking word.
“Is something wrong?” She bit her lower lip, and the sight had his fists clenching against his sides.
Everything’s wrong, dammit.
You’re wrong.
This whole situation is wrong.
Those were the things he should have said. Instead, he heard himself say, “I need to head into the city, take care of some paperwork at my office. Do you want to come with me?”
Her eyes widened. “If you’re sure I won’t be any trouble.”
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.” The words came out more brusque than he’d intended, but before he could even apologize, she was already smiling up at him with that radiant expression that made his chest feel too tight.
“Then thank you.” Her pleasure was so genuine, so sincere, it made him want to grab her shoulders and shake her.
Why, dammit?
Why are you so grateful for scraps?
Why are you so nice?
Instead, he just nodded curtly and turned away before he could do something truly stupid.
Like kiss her senseless right here in the rose garden.
THE DRIVE TO THE CITY passed in comfortable silence, with Wednesday simply gazing out the window at the passing landscape. Sometimes she would catch him staring at her, which happened more often than he cared to admit. But she would only look at him questioningly, and when he didn’t say anything, she would smile shyly and look away, as if his silence was an answer in itself.
It should have annoyed him, that easy acceptance.
Instead, it did something dangerous to his resolve.
He was in the middle of mentally rehearsing how to tell her their arrangement was over when the world exploded around them.
The impact came from behind, metal shrieking against metal as another vehicle plowed into their rear bumper. Their car lurched forward, and Wednesday cried out as she was thrown against him, her hands instinctively grabbing for stability.
“Are you hurt?” His arms came around her automatically, holding her against his chest as their driver pulled over and got out to assess the damage.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, but he could feel her heart hammering against his ribs. Could see her breasts rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. “Are you?”
He should have said yes. Should have put distance between them immediately. Instead, he found himself studying her face, noting the way her lips had parted slightly, the way her tongue darted out to wet them.
He inhaled sharply.
“I want to kiss you.” The words escaped before he could stop them.
Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t pull away. “Okay.”
“But it won’t mean anything.” He had to make that clear. Had to spell it all out so she would know that the only right thing for her to do was reject him.
But instead, her lips formed the opposite.
“Okay...”
And then his mouth was on hers.
She went completely still for a heartbeat, her lips soft and unmoving beneath his, and he realized with a jolt that she had no idea what she was doing. None at all. When he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue, she made a small, startled sound.