All Chapters of The Temporary Husband: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

80 Chapters

FIRST DAY OF HONEYMOON

A free vacation.Who did not like those? Izzy Valentine, that’s who.The very next day after my wedding, I remain indoors for most of the morning, preferring instead to lay on the bed and pretend the world was exactly as I want. And I manage to believe the honeymoon would go as I anticipated, then there’s a knock on the door, light, once. Gritting my teeth, I pretend to ignore it.It comes again, harder this time, impossible to ignore. Throwing the covers off me, I storm to the door, throwing it open, standing in front of the door is Ivan wearing an expression so tight with annoyance, eyes holding grudges, scan me from head to toe. “What?” I snap, feeling self conscious, still in my wedding clothes, the jacket, tie and shoes were the only things missing.He is fully dressed in a black shirt, top buttons undone, sleeves rolled up his arms. “You’re not dressed.”Could that be any more obvious? I give him a blank stare, he sighs, uncrossing his arms and stuffing his hands into his

BANANA GUN

I stiffen in my seat at the poorly concealed threat.Ivan opposite me cocks his head to the side, studying Larry, his lower lip quaking in amusement. What was amusing about getting caught on the first day we were married?? Everything could blow in our faces. “Did you get a photo of that?”I swallow as I watch Larry momentarily lose composure, he smiles quickly, realizing Ivan would be a tough nut to crack. It’s obvious what he wants, he wants us to pay for his silence. “No…”“Then I hope you have a way to back up the lies you’d be reporting to my mother in-law.” Ivan’s accent is thick when he presses the threat quietly, his eyes never leaving our tour guide. Larry looks between us, his smile unsure.“I was just kidding, why would newly weds sleep in different rooms? That’s ridiculous.” With that, he hurries away, leaving Ivan and I alone. The exhale that rushes out of me is dizzying and I am grateful I have a chair underneath me or i definitely would have slipped. Ivan carries o

LET ME DROWN

“We missed the sunrise beach photos, if it would be okay with you, would you be willing to come out tomorrow morning?” Larry is asking us, but he isn’t really asking, he’s telling us that my mother wants sunrise beach photos and will get them. I grumble a response, mouth still latched on the straw to my drink.He was right, it is exactly as I liked it, the bitterness feels right, the only thing that stayed the same in my life that seems to have been uprooted and dumped somewhere. “Right now, we’re heading out to the water for your private boat ride. From inside the boat, you’ll get a clear view of Littlefield, and.. That’s when I zone out actually.My family went on trips like that when we wanted to do anything that had to do with selling ‘family’, it is nothing new. Same old nausea, same old Izzy who prefers his feet on dry, solid land.By the time I zone back in, Ivan is standing in front of me with a life jacket, the breeze blowing through his hair, sun kissing his skin, and g

THE BET

There’s some form of static in my head.I try to think past it, and it feels suffocating, heavy, too much. “Let’s head back.” I say, without waiting for his response, I turn around, swimming towards the boat. Inside the boat, I find my phone on the floor, he had managed to drop it safely before we tumbled into the water. I don’t touch it, what I do touch is the champagne, pouring myself a glass and tipping it backward in hopes that the alcohol would wash away the buzz in my head. It does not.We return to a waiting Larry, who looks between us, brows high up in his hair.Unconsciously, my thumb brushes my ring finger, searching for the gold circle, my heart stills after finding the too large jewelry still on my finger. “Banana splash,” Ivan mutters, something fuzzy drapes on my head, dropping to my shoulders, the softness tell me it’s a towel.“Take us to the suite quickly, I wouldn’t want my Izzy to catch a cold.”Larry catches himself and nods, he gives us one last confused look

BOXER

Ivan grins at me from the corner of his mouth.I roll my eyes at him, making a ‘tch’ sound. We made the bet, but I had no plans of honoring it. Sun had disappeared into the clouds, and there are a lot more people on the beach than there was earlier. Breeze ruffles my hair, pushing the curls around and into my eyes.The setting for dinner is literally two people table in heart shaped candles in the sand. A bottle of champagne in an ice bucket, fancy cups and plates on the table, next to them, a card that says, “Enjoy your dinner, the Valentine’s.”That earns an eye roll from me. There are other honeymooners around it seems, our setting is the most extravagant, with a bigger heart, but there are a few settings like ours. Ivan pulls out a seat, gesturing for me to sit with his head, Larry makes some sort of a squeal, camera shutters going crazy in the background. A plastic smile line my lips, I pull his own chair out before going to sit in mine. Ivan chuckles as he walks past me.

GRITTY SAND VS THE SEA

“Taking a walk around the beach, I think that’s something real, actual couples do.” I give him an incredulous look while stating the obvious. He glances at me, stuffing both hands into his pockets, his chests puffs up and I am forced to look away. “Yeah, I know. But we already agreed to the Bon fire, and that’s still a while away, if we go back, you won’t step outside, ever.” At least he knows that.“I never agreed to that, husband. You did that all by yourself.” My eyes are narrowed at him, putting emphasis on the word that doomed me. Harper had squealed after that blatant lie, Joe had to remind her to give us a little time to ourselves, and we were already done eating, so here we are. “Your mother would be pleased to hear you joined the other honey mooners, don’t you think?” This was about what my mother would like? Knowing him, that’s not even close to it at all, but I let him have it. We are already here, we might as well just enjoy it.“Take off your shoes.” he says, alrea

ISAVAN

Turns out I didn’t need to be so fucking dramatic.Ivan only wanted to get us coconuts, and the stall was right there. Good job needy Izzy. My face and entire being burned in mortification as I accepted it, to compensate for being so clingy, I offer to pay, he swiftly pushes my hand away, paying for it instead. The cool liquid does nothing to soothe my humiliation, but it does give me something to focus on. “Ivan and Isaac are here!” Harper says, everything she says always seems to end in an exclamation, Joe likes it though, he seems perfectly content watching her with a smile on his face. I would never understand love.“We were looking forward to it.” Ivan says easily, his body brushing against mine as he stands very close to me. My mouth latches unto the straw, a perfect excuse so I didn’t have to lie.“We’re going to have so much fun!” Harper claps excitedly, she has changed into something with dangly beads at the waist, so there’s some sort of music as she moved around. My

MR. ROMANOV

Oh no. I am a stiff, caught red handed, gay man in a make believe marriage. “My Izzy isn’t particularly afraid of anything. But he hates it when things aren’t in order, everything has to be arranged in a particular order. I think that just irritates his soul.” Ivan answers smoothly, even adding a fond chuckle as a special touch. My head nearly rolls off my neck with the speed I use to look in his direction. He smiles at me with something of a shrug, leaving me dumbfounded. It wasn’t a lie. It’s something my brothers complained about whenever I moved things around the house. “My Izzy is the cutest thing I ever heard!” Harper squeals,My eyes fall on the straw and I take a sip of coconut water. “But didn’t they technically fail since Isaac didn’t say anything?” Mason says a little too eagerly.Harper rolls her eyes.“Fine, they are docked one point, and will start us off on the next round.”We survived first round, somehow. Ivan’s hand is still in mine, by now I would have shrugge

JUST FRIENDS

“Did you take up acting gigs as well?”Ivan blinks at me innocently, and it’s hard not to remember every single thing he had done out there. In here, it’s like someone had switched off the lights, and he wasn’t performer Ivan anymore. “Yes, mostly for side characters that never had more than a few lines, why?”I exhale.It was all acting to him. Good.Not like my feet are still tingling from his gentle touch that were borderline caresses anyway. Heading to the guest room, only to be stopped by his large frame in front of the door.“I won the bet, and therefore this room.”The snort that slips out of me is derisive, showing him exactly what I thought about the bet. Trying to move past him is impossible. He murmurs something in Russian, no idea what that means but it’s obvious he’s cussing. My body shamelessly likes it. “Excuse me, my body is on the verge of collapsing right here.”“Collapse in the master bedroom.”A heavy sigh escapes me. This is a real conversation, that’s reall

LAMB

“Here, let me.” he says, plucking my phone from my finger tips, he makes sure we don’t touch, angling it at the beautiful sun rise, and clicking a few photos. When he returns the phone to me, the pictures I find are better than anything I could have ever taken on my own. They are amazing. Almost professionally done too. “Was this what you were trying to do? On the boat?”“Hm. When I worked as a tour guide, tourists asked me to take pictures for them, I know a few tricks.” Is there anything he didn’t do??At least I have pictures for Court. She is going to go crazy for them. Larry is taking pictures behind us when he isn’t telling us some resort lore, and it has gotten easier to pretend he isn’t right there.“This is really beautiful.” he says, eyes on the water. It’s blue today, sparkling where the sun hits it. “Didn’t you get to see this kind of stuff and even better while you were working?”He breathes a laugh, eyes still on the water.“You’d think so. But it was work to me, th

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