Alle Kapitel von I was his stand-in wife until he wanted me for real: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”My hand was already on the door handle when his voice cut through the room, and I froze before I even realized I’d stopped moving.I closed my eyes for a second, then turned back. “To my room, obviously. Is that a problem?”“That wasn’t a suggestion.”Of course it wasn’t.I turned fully this time, letting the door click shut behind me. “Then say what you want and stop wasting my time.”He watches me for a moment, like he didn’t expect me to push back. His jacket is off, sleeves rolled, but nothing about him is relaxed.“We’re not done.”I met his gaze. “Then don’t drag it out.”Something shifts in his expression. Not enough to name.“This arrangement—” he starts, then stops, like he’s deciding how much patience I’m worth. “You understand what it is, don’t you?”“I understood it before I signed anything.”“Then say it.”I didn't look away. “You need a wife. I need money.”A quiet breath leaves him. “No.”I tilt my head slightly. “Then explain

“What the hell was that?”The words come out before the door even fully shuts behind us.Ethan didn’t look at me immediately. He reached for the handle, shut the door properly, then walked past me like I didn’t just say anything.I turn with him. “I asked you a damn question.”“That wasn’t a question,” he says calmly. “That was a reaction.”I laughed sharply. “You kissed me!”“Okay…so?”I stared at him. “And that wasn’t part of the agreement.”He loosens his tie slightly, already irritated with the conversation. “You’re making it bigger than it was.”“I’m making it exactly what it is!”He looks at me then. “And what exactly was that?”I don’t hesitate. “A mistake, of course!”Something shifts in his expression. “You’re overthinking it. Get over it”.“No,” I say, stepping closer. “I’m remembering the terms you were very clear about.”His gaze sharpens slightly. “Then remember all of them.”“I am,” I shoot back. “One year. No emotions. No complications.”“And no assumptions,” he adds, j

“What?”The word slipped out before I could stop it, and this time it didn’t sound steady; it sounded wrong even to me. I heard her clearly and still refused to accept it.I looked at her again, properly this time, not the way I did before. For a moment, I totally forgot we weren’t alone.“What the hell did you say?”Camille didn’t rush to answer me. She didn’t look uncomfortable or defensive or even slightly thrown by the fact that every single person in this room was watching her because she had just set fire to the room and stepped back to let it burn. “I believe you were not deaf and heard me the first time. She said,“Your husband was in my bed last night.”I didn’t react immediately. I didn’t let anything show, not on my face, my fingers tightened slightly at my side before I forced them to relax again. I let the words settle. Then I turn to Ethan.“You knew,” I said, and I don’t raise my voice, “You knew she was back. And you slept with her?”His jaw tightens slightly, just e

I had thought distance would fix something.Not everything, not even most of it, but at least enough to make being in the same house with him bearable. I told myself that if I stayed out of his way, if I kept to my side of the agreement and treated this like the arrangement it was supposed to be, then whatever happened yesterday would settle into something quieter, something I could ignore without it sitting in my chest every time I saw him.That lasted less than a day.The problem was not the house. The problem was that I was aware of him now in a way I had not been before.I heard him before I saw him.Not his voice, not even footsteps, just that sense of presence that made me look up from what I was doing without thinking about it. It irritated me immediately, the fact that I noticed at all, the fact that my body reacted before my mind caught up.I kept walking.If he was there, then he was there. That did not mean I had to stop.The hallway stretched ahead of me, quiet, empty, and

Ethan broke the kiss first. Slowly, just enough to pull back and look at me, his breath uneven, his gaze darker than I had ever seen it, like something had slipped past his control and he hadn’t decided yet whether to stop it or follow it through.“Don’t say anything, just shut up for five minutes,” he said, low enough that no one else could hear.I should have answered.I should have said something sharp, something that reminded him of exactly who he was and what he had already done.But nothing came out.Because I was still trying to catch up to what had just happened.His hand closed around my wrist before I could step back, and the next thing I knew, he was already moving, pulling me with him through the crowd, past conversations, past people who didn’t notice anything beyond what we allowed them to see.The elevator doors closed behind us, and I turned towards him. He pushed me against the wall. “What…what are you doing?” I asked, my voice shaking.He didn’t answer.His hand was