The Surrogate Husband

by Wynter Daniels

  “Are you okay?” Lucy asked.

  He sat up taller. “Sure, fine.”

  “Ashamed to be caught with me?” She laughed, but not before he heard the waver in her voice.

  Even though she wore a mantle of bravado and self-confidence, he’d caught sight of a crack or two in the wall she’d built around herself. “Absolutely not,” he said. “One of the nightclubs had a strobe that flashed right in my eyes.”

  The light changed. They drove several miles without saying a word.

  Finally, she spoke. “Since you’re now going to be around my aunt all weekend, we’d better take some time to get to know a little more about each other.”

  Much as he enjoyed time with Lucy, the more he spent with her, the more tempted he was to touch her silky hair, to kiss those plump lips. Stealing a glance at her long legs, everything inside him tightened with wanting. “I already know your net worth and the assessed value of your condo.”

  Her musical laugh only intensified the stirring in his groin. “Don’t you think married couples are aware of more than each other’s credit scores and tax brackets? What if Aunt Bev asks me where you went to college or quizzes you on my favorite books?”

  Parking in front of Lucy’s store, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I hadn’t thought of anything like that. Guess you’re right.” This was going to be more challenging than he’d first realized. He’d have to spend more time with Lucy, and the more he got to know her, the more he liked her.

  She got out of the car. “Dinner tomorrow night? I’ll buy?”

  He came around, shut her door, then walked her to the Ninja. Which reminded him that she had a thrill-seeking side, just as Caroline had, something that had ultimately led to her death. His gut clenched at the memory.

  Even if Lucy wasn’t off-limits thanks to Bass Financial’s policies, he’d never risk falling for another woman who took those sorts of chances. Too bad that he was more attracted to her than he had been to any woman in years. So how the hell was he supposed to pretend to be her husband? Dinner with her was the last thing he ought to be doing, but she was right. They had to get to know each other better, more than just accountant and client. “Not a chance. I take a woman out, I pay the tab.”

  “Aren’t CPAs supposed to be cheap?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a write-off.”

  “Aha.” Touching his arm, she held his gaze for several seconds. “Thanks again. I’ve got to run inside the shop to grab my helmet. You can go.”

  “Nope.”

  She gave him her signature eye roll. “Fine, be that way.”

  He waited outside until she’d fetched her helmet, then watched her ride off. “Slow down,” he yelled after her.

  Damn it, he’d gotten in over his head. But he had to do this. He’d committed himself, and he wasn’t a quitter. What the hell was he going to do? Maybe he could take two or three cold showers a day.

  Something he’d heard in basic training echoed in his brain.

  Grunts can do anything. Even what seemed impossible.

  Chapter Four

  “Going out to eat with Dex is a great idea to get to know him better, honey,” Lucy’s mother said late the next afternoon. “He’s absolutely perfect and quite handsome. Who knows? Maybe you two will hit it off and take your friendship to the next level.” She whistled a song Lucy remembered from her childhood as she straightened panties on the sale table.

  Lucy glanced at the clock. Only fifteen minutes until Dex came to pick her up. Not nearly enough time for her to steel herself against her sudden attraction for him. “The next level? The man is an accountant, mother. Do you know that he keeps the CDs in his car arranged alphabetically, and that his socks are always the exact same color as his tie? He totally reminds me of…never mind. But he’s hardly the sort of guy I could get serious about. The only reason we’re having dinner tonight is so he doesn’t trip up and say something wrong in front of Aunt Bev.” She couldn’t admit—even to her own mother—that she’d developed a sudden attraction to Dex. Accepting it herself was tough enough.

  He was a good accountant and phone friend. Someone she didn’t want to lose by doing something stupid like sleeping with him. She’d dealt with enough hyper-organized, number-cruncher types to last the rest of her life, thank you.

  Still, she couldn’t get the image out of her head of his six-pack abs and muscle-bound shoulders, which incited a warm, tingly ache in her belly that she had to admit was kind of…pleasant.

  Damn it. She didn’t want this new attraction to him. She went into the bathroom and freshened her makeup, dabbing on her favorite perfume, which had nothing to do with the fact that she was going to see Dex soon. Nothing at all. Why shouldn’t she look and smell her best since she was heading out for the evening?

  The front door opened, and Dex entered the shop in a pair of jeans that were faded in all the right places, and a T-shirt that hugged his thick shoulders and chest.

  Holy moly. Where had he stashed the buttoned-up Clark Kent CPA? She’d never seen this more casual side of him, but he wore it well. Hell, the man would look good in a burlap sack. Or nothing at all. Especially nothing at all.

  “Evening, ladies.” He smiled at her mother but when he turned his gaze on Lucy, something changed in his eyes. The green seemed to turn dark and smoky as he looked her over from top to bottom.

  Her face and neck heated, and her rosacea threatened to turn her red as a tomato, but she stopped in front of the AC vent to cool off. This dinner was merely to ensure Dex played his role well. “Hey. I’ll be ready in a sec.”

  Mom hooked his arm. “I don’t know how to thank you for this. You’ll be saving my bacon and making my aunt a very happy woman.”

  He glanced at Lucy again. “I like making women happy.”

  What did he mean by that? Her breath caught, which was ridiculous.

  Get it together!

  Suddenly being around Dex was making her nervous as hell. Her palms were sweaty, and her pulse was racing. How was she supposed to convince her aunt that they were married if she didn’t appear relaxed with him?

  She’d always been perfectly comfortable with Dex in the past. Only that was before she’d allowed herself to think of him in this new light—as a lover.

  No, they were merely pretending.

  But when she stepped closer, his manly scent surrounded her. This was a mistake. God, how was she going to get through this? Between her sudden hyped-up attraction for Dex and the pressure not to screw up the charade they were perpetrating on her aunt, her insides felt as if someone were in there kneading dough. Her stomach groaned, loud enough that Dex surely heard. Setting her hand over her abdomen, she backed away. “Where are we going to eat?”

  Dex swept his gaze over her again, lingering on her breasts, reminding her that she wasn’t wearing a bra under her silk tank top. She folded her arms over her chest.

  Amusement shone in his eyes. Or was it something else? “There’s a new Italian place not far from here I thought we’d try.”

  Circling the counter, she grabbed her helmet. “Fine. I have my bike today. How about I meet you there?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of letting you do that.” Instead, he offered his arm. “Come on, wife. Your chariot awaits.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes, but she dropped the helmet on the counter. “I had no idea you were so bossy.”

  “Get used to it.”

  Nope, she refused to get too used to anything about him.

  He opened the door for her before getting behind the wheel. She glanced sideways at him as he pulled onto the street.

  She found herself mesmerized by his great profile and strong jaw before she forced herself to look away. She attempted to concentrate on the task at hand rather than Dex’s great body and amazing scent. She moved the side air-conditioner vent toward her to cool her skin, which only made her smell him more. “Why don’t we get down to business?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  “We’ll j
ust tell the truth about how we met—at the store. And Mom told Aunt Bev that we eloped. Where would we have gone?”

  “I read an article about couples getting married at Niagara Falls. We could have done it in a helicopter over the falls. Or aboard the Maid of the Mist.” He turned onto Ocean Drive.

  She shook her head. “Nothing that involves bodies of water, please.”

  He glanced at her for a brief moment before returning his eyes to the road. “You have a fear of drowning? I never knew.”

  Few people did. It wasn’t something she enjoyed discussing. She stared out the window at the beach, the black waves that stretched out to eternity. A shiver rolled over her skin.

  He patted her hand. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Your husband would know these things though, right?”

  She sucked in a breath. “Right. Maybe I’ll discuss it after a glass of wine. Tell me more about your family first. I know they’re Armenian and that you have no siblings.”

  He turned onto a side street then parked in front of a closed flower shop. “Not much to tell. My folks have been married for thirty-seven years. They’re very…traditional. My grandmother has lived with my parents since I was a kid. Mom is a housewife and Dad’s a bookkeeper. They still hold hands and kiss when they don’t think I’m paying attention.” He chuckled softly, and she glimpsed the warmth in his expression.

  “Aw, how sweet.” And rare. Certainly not what she’d grown up with.

  “They had an arranged marriage. Never met until a few days before their wedding.” He opened her door and offered his hand again. The man could teach the guys she usually dated a lesson or two about courtesy. Which reminded her how different he was from the type of men Aunt Bev knew that Lucy had been dating for years. But now that they’d taken this plunge with the lie, they had to go all the way.

  She let him help her out of the car. “An arranged marriage.” The notion made her cringe. “I had no idea.”

  “My grandparents were all from the old country. That was just how things were done.” He let go of her hand. She didn’t want to admit that she missed the contact. Couldn’t get too used to it.

  A couple women walking in the opposite direction looked Dex over, and she moved a little closer to him.

  He’s with me, bitches.

  Geez, where had that come from? No, she would not allow herself to get jealous. The marriage ruse hadn’t even begun yet, but already she was taking it too seriously.

  “Here we are.” Dex set his hand on the small of her back as he opened a glass door and led her inside. The smell of garlic and rich sauces filled the air. Grapevines intertwined with string lights provided a soft, romantic setting along with the quiet strains of Italian music. Just the sort of place where a couple could fall in love.

  Yikes, what had she gotten herself into?

  A hostess seated them at a corner table lit by a candle. Dex ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and when the waitress returned with the wine, they placed their dinner order.

  As soon as she was gone, he slid his chair toward Lucy’s and pinned her with a stare. “So why is Great Aunt Bev so important to you?”

  She set down her wine glass. “After my grandmother passed away, her sister, Aunt Bev, sort of filled in for the role. Bev took us in when Mom left my father, let us live with her and Uncle Clyde for more than a year. She’s always been special to me. I think she sees me as the granddaughter she never had.” And even though Dex was the kind of guy Bev would want to see Lucy settle down with, he was the last sort she would expect.

  Then there was the possibility that her aunt might already suspect something was amiss since Lucy had caught her eying Dex suspiciously at the rehearsal dinner.

  They had to put on a convincing show. If Bev learned the truth, she might never forgive Lucy and her mom. “My aunt was probably expecting my husband to be more like the guys I’ve dated in the past few years. Not one had a nine-to-five job or the slightest notion to take a wife. All of them had tattoos, body piercings, or both.” Dex should be the safest guy in the world to be her pretend husband, only he wasn’t, thanks to her new attraction to him.

  A slow, sexy grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “So I’m probably prime husband material.”

  She squirmed in her seat to dissipate the heat building between her legs. “Not necessarily. If we’re not convincing as husband and wife, she might wonder what the hell we’re doing together. Sure I can’t convince you to get a few piercings or maybe a half-sleeve tattoo?”

  He glanced at his upper arm as if he were actually considering it, but then shook his head. “Not a chance.”

  “Just checking to see how dedicated to the role you are. Tell me more about your family. So I’ll know if Bev asks.” In truth, though, she was curious about what made Dex tick, where he came from, and what turned him on. Especially what turned him on.

  After taking a sip of wine, he circled his finger around the rim of the glass. Damn, he had nice hands. Neat, manicured, perfectly groomed. Just like the rest of him. So unlike what she thought she liked.

  “Not much more to tell,” he said. “They’re old-fashioned, hard-working people with traditional values.”

  People who probably couldn’t be more different from her family. She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t plan on following your parents’ example and going for an arranged marriage, do you?”

  He chuckled. “I make my own choices, much to my grandmother’s chagrin. She finds me a new prospective candidate every couple months. Occasionally I go out with one of her picks, but I’ve never dated any seriously. Doesn’t deter her, though. She’ll never give up.”

  Lucy dropped her jaw. “She actually thinks you’ll marry one of them? In this day and age?”

  “That’s how they did it in Armenia. There aren’t many divorces there. People don’t know anything but the old ways. I’ve told her to stop setting me up, but, like your Aunt Bev, she’s old and frail and deeply concerned for my happiness, which she thinks she can ensure with one of her friends’ granddaughters or great-nieces.” He rubbed his forehead. “My family would be ecstatic if I married an Armenian girl who was tops in her class at milking a cow or cooking a spinach pie.”

  “I can’t imagine. But thankfully, our wedded bliss only has to last as long as my uncle’s reception does.”

  He stared at her for a while, as if she were a math problem he didn’t quite know how to solve. Then he raised his wine for a toast. “To marriage. May ours be a happy one.”

  She tensed, but tapped her glass to his and drank. Pleasant warmth spread outward from her stomach to the rest of her body. “I’m surprised none of your grandmother’s picks have put a ring on you yet.”

  He grinned at her. “It’s the man who puts a ring on the woman.” He shrugged. “I have very discriminating taste when it comes to women. And besides, like I told you, no one makes decisions for me, even my sweet, old granny.” His expression held a new intensity. Or was she just now noticing something that had always been there?

  She tore her gaze away. Her abdomen seemed to inflate with giddiness. Why was she so happy that Dex hadn’t chosen any of those women? It shouldn’t matter to her.

  She took another sip of wine. “What are some things you like to do? Just in case Aunt Bev asks.” She wanted to know everything about him, and not only because they were going to play the roles of husband and wife. The notion made her feel as if she were on one of those amusement park rides that mercilessly jostles its passengers.

  A slow grin lifted the corners of his mouth. He reached across the table and pushed a lock of her hair off her face. “There was a piece of fuzz in your hair. Is this an interview?”

  The intimate gesture quickened her pulse. “Absolutely.” They exchanged a smile and the temperature in the room rose a dozen degrees.

  No, I can’t flirt with him for real.

  She had to keep in mind that this was all pretend. Problem was, it was beginning to feel all too real.

  He folded
his arms over his broad chest. “Let’s see. I was born in Virginia. We moved to Florida when I was in elementary school after my father had a job offer here.”

  “We lived in Virginia for a few years, too.” She thought about all the moving around she’d done as a kid. North Carolina, California, Hawaii. Just when they’d begin to feel comfortable in one place, the orders would come for them to leave. And just like that, all the friends she’d made faded into memory.

  “Really? Do you have family there still?”

  “Never did. My father was in the military, which was why we were there.” She took a big swallow of wine.

  “What branch?”

  She playfully slapped his hand. “Quit that. We’re talking about you now. Who was your first love?”

  “Miss Loomis, my kindergarten teacher. I had a huge crush on her.” He threw her a wink.

  She grinned. “So you have a thing for older women?” Much as she didn’t want to be attracted to him, she couldn’t help it.

  “I have a thing for women in general. I don’t care how old they are.” He wasn’t staring at her like an accountant does his client or even how one friend looks at another. Heck no. His lids were half hooded under his glasses, as if he were having wickedly sinful thoughts.

  Like she was.

  She actually thought about kissing him. More than thought about it. She pictured it in her mind. What he’d taste like. What his tongue would feel like swirling around hers, sucking on her…

  Damn, her face was heating up. She was sure her rosacea had made her appear like a red-faced clown.

  He opened his napkin roll and carefully arranged his forks, knife, and spoons in a perfectly straight pattern in front of him. A long-buried memory came to mind of her father slapping her fingers with a spatula because she’d set the table wrong.

  Her mouth grew dry.

  “How old are you?” he asked, pulling her back to the present.