My Husband

Amaya

My head was pounding as I watched him move around the room, and I tried not to think about the nightmare we’d just caught ourselves up in. I couldn’t handle this. My body was aching all over, the ring on my finger feeling as though it was cutting off circulation and about to send my finger straight tumbling to the ground. The covers of the bed felt oppressive, but there was no way I was going to take them off knowing I was naked beneath them and he could get another free show. I flushed at the thought of it. Where was the Amaya of the night before, the one who had slipped away from the party with a stranger, the one who had gotten up to god knows what all over this room, the one who had …

I looked down at my finger again, and my stomach clenched. Then, I noticed he had come to a halt and had slowly turned to look at me.

“What is it?” I demanded. “Did you find something?”

He shook his head, and I once again strained my memory to try and come up with what had happened the night before. Everything was coated in a sheen of champagne, and beyond taking his hand and walking out of that party, I couldn’t remember anything specifically. My body still bore a few marks that gave me some hints. I could feel fingerprints on my hips from where he had no doubt been clutching on to them, and there was a mark on the inside of my thigh that looked like a love bite. And, of course, this fucking ring on my finger. That too.

“I just had an idea,” he announced, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“Does it involve getting an annulment as soon as we can so we can both go home and forget about all of this?” I demanded, and he chuckled and shook his head. He suddenly seemed completely calm, as though none of this was happening. What the hell was going on? I pushed myself up on the bed and stared at him, waiting for him to explain what the hell was going on right now.

He took a seat on the edge of the bed and laid his hand on my leg, still beneath the covers. The heat of his touch sent a shiver down my spine. No, that was what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. If I had only allowed myself a little flirtation and then headed home, I wouldn’t be in this mess. It was typical. The one night I allowed myself to blow off steam and forget about all of it—about Jolene, the money, her illness, everything that came with it—this had happened. And now I was pretty sure it was for the best that I never had any kind of fun again. I obviously couldn’t be trusted not to do something like this.

“Hear me out,” he began slowly. He looked even better in the light of day, if that was possible. His strong jaw was outlined by the light streaming in through the giant window opposite the bed, and I tried not to pay too much attention to it.

“Just tell me,” I prompted him. I didn’t know how much longer I could spend here before someone started asking questions about where the hell I had gone.

“So, my nonna, uh, my grandmother, she’s been pressuring me to get married for a long time,” he explained. “And I run a company that’s not exactly—it’s the kind of place that suits a settled-down man, you know? That’s why my dad’s on his fourth wife.”

He snorted with laughter, and I couldn’t help but smile in response.

“And I’m your first?” I asked nervously. He nodded.

“If we are indeed married, then you’re my first wife,” he replied. “And I think we could turn this into something good if we just stick it out for a while.”

“What?” My eyebrows shot up, and he held his hand up to quiet me before he continued.

“I know it sounds crazy,” he conceded. “I get that. But you said last night that you were raising money for something.”

“A library,” I replied. My heart warmed as I imagined what it would look like when it was finished, how it would feel to be able to stand there and look around and know I had been the one to put this all together. I wasn’t sure how well I’d done the night before, but I could distantly remember giving away a few cards to people who appeared interested or at least were too polite to say they weren’t.

“It would make my family extremely happy if I were to get married.” He looked me up and down again as though he was seeing me for the first time. “Especially to someone like you.”

“You barely know me,” I reminded him. “How do you know your family would like me?”

“Because as long as you look like that and agree to stay married to me, I’m pretty sure my nonna’s not going to give a damn if you drown puppies in your spare time,” he replied, and I couldn’t help but laugh again. There was something loose and excited about the way he spoke like he owned the place and wanted everyone to know it. Confidence oozed off him in waves, and I could see why the men of last night had been attracted to this guy, even if I was too nervous at what I was sure he was suggesting to appreciate it much at that moment.

“And I could make it seriously worth your while,” he finished up. And that’s when my ears pricked up. I looked around this place again, reminding myself how gorgeous this suite was and how much damn money it had probably cost. This was a guy who could put his money where his mouth was when it came to cash, and frankly, I could use it.