One Hot Fake: An Accidental Fake Marriage Romance

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “You’re insatiable, woman,” I growl, following her closely like a dog that’s seen a bone.

  “Says the man who is happy to have sex day and night,” she says with a laugh.

  “I’ll do it,” I tell her when we’re locked in the bathroom. I take off her clothes piece by piece, marveling at every part of her body that is exposed.

  My cock tents my pants, which is not a surprise. After I’ve undressed Marian, I undress while she steps into the shower.

  “Water’s lovely,” she stays as drops cascade down her curvy, sexy body.

  “No,” I tell her as I step in. “You are lovely.” I wrap my hands around her waist and lose myself in the heat of her body.

  Chapter 26

  Marian

  I’m yawning every few minutes, and I hate it. I can’t remember the last time I felt so sleepy at noon. I returned to my office less than an hour ago from the attorney’s appointment.

  Leonard wasn’t lying. My attorney talked about something called, “A motion for judgment nunc pro tunc.” It means correcting the judgment, but as Leonard said, we both had to agree. He can make things very difficult for me.

  My stomach heaves, the second time since morning, and this time, it doesn’t feel like a threat. I get up hurriedly and rush to the bathroom. Kimberly is already there, and I rush past her to a cubicle, where I proceed to empty the cup of coffee I drank at the attorney’s office.

  “Are you okay?” she asks me when I emerge from the cubicle.

  I make a face. “I’m fine; “I think it’s something I ate in Arlen”, I tell her. I bow my head on the sink and splash water on my face and rinse my mouth. When I look up again, Kimberly is still staring at me.

  “Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” she says.

  “Pregnant?” I repeat foolishly. “Oh my God. I can’t be, can I?”

  “It could happen especially if you’ve been indulging in—”

  “Don’t say it,” I tell her, and she giggles. I place my hands on my belly. “What if you’re right?” My voice is filled with wonder.

  “You know there’s a simple way to find out,” she says. “I’ll pop into the drug store next door.”

  “Wait,” I tell her. “Let me give you some money.”

  “You can refund me later.” She disappears.

  I wait in the bathroom, hardly daring to breathe. I’m excited, happy even. I know these are not the best of circumstances to be pregnant, but you can’t decide when a baby will come.

  I place my hands on my stomach. “Are you there, baby?”

  Tears fill my eyes at the thought of a baby growing in there. Declan and I will have made a baby. He’ll be so excited if it’s true.

  I try to think back to something I could have eaten that messed up my tummy and come up with nothing. Anything that I ate, Declan ate too, so it stands to reason that he would be sick too if the food were responsible.

  By the time Kimberly comes back with the pregnancy test, I’ve paced the washroom floor enough steps to take me to the moon. I grab the box that she offers. “Thanks.” My voice is breathless. I’m both excited and frightened.

  “You’re welcome,” she says and retreats. “All the best.”

  I inhale deeply. “Thanks.”

  I wait until the door shuts before I rip the pregnancy test from the packaging. I quickly read the instructions. Just to be sure, even if I’m sure. I remember when I was trying to get pregnant with Lilly, it took almost a full year and lots of pregnancy tests.

  I carry it to the toilet cubicle and do the deed. I come out a few minutes later holding it like it contains treasure, which it does. I try to keep my eyes averted until I estimate that two minutes have gone by.

  “Okay, Marian, you can do this,” I tell myself. “Five, four, three, two, one.” I glance at the results glass and blink several times. My hand flies to cover my mouth in disbelief.

  “Oh, my goodness,” I shout.

  The washroom door bursts open, and Kimberly rushes in. “Is it positive?”

  I’m too overcome by emotion to answer. Instead, I show her the test results. She jumps up and down and grabs my hands. Laughing, we do a little jig around the washroom.

  “Can you believe it?” I ask her when the news has sunk in. “I’m going to be a mommy.”

  “You’ll be a wonderful mom,” she says, and my eyes fill up.

  I wipe away my tears. “I have to tell Declan.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Congratulations again, Marian.”

  Smiles crease my face. “Thanks.”

  I can fly at this very moment. I rest one hand on my belly and use the other to call Declan. I can’t stand still, and I bounce on my heels. When Declan answers, I force myself not to blurt out my news. We exchange pleasantries.

  “What are you doing at this very moment so that I can picture you,” he says, giving me the opening I need.

  “I’m in the washroom at work,” I tell him. “Holding a pregnancy test.”

  There’s silence from the other end. “Are we?”

  It’s adorable how nervous he is to hear my answer. I let out a laugh of pure joy in response. “We are. We’re pregnant.”

  “Fuck me,” Declan says.

  “Well, that was part of it,” I tease.

  “I’m coming to get you,” Declan says. We’re going for an early lunch to celebrate.”

  “Now?” I glance at the time. It’s eleven in the morning.

  “Yes, now. How many times does a man get the news that he’s going to be a dad?”

  My jaw is starting to ache from all the smiling I’m doing. “You have a point there.”

  We hang up after a few minutes, and after one more pat of my belly, I return to the office.

  “Congratulations,” Eric calls from his desk. “I heard the good news.”

  “Are there no secrets around here?” I ask, but I’m smiling.

  I must be the luckiest woman in the whole world. I’m married to the most awesome man, and I’m pregnant with his baby. What more could a woman wish for?

  I reply to a few more emails, and I manage to clear my inbox. When Declan arrives, I’m ready and standing outside enjoying the warmth of the sun. I spot Declan’s car a mile away and his smile as soon as I can make out his face through the windscreen.

  We must look like two idiots grinning at each other. Declan brings the car to a stop, and I hurry to the passenger side and enter. Declan immediately cups my face and kisses me noisily on the mouth. His manly scent is stronger today, and I make appreciative noises as his spicy, woodsy scent wafts up my nose. Then Declan does the sweetest thing. He snaps open his seatbelt and bends to kiss my stomach, clothes and all.

  “Hello, little one,” he says to my stomach. “Your parents can’t wait to meet you, but no rush, take care in there and know that you’re already loved.”

  Tears gush out of my eyes. What’s wrong with me? Every little thing today is making me burst into tears.

  “Happy tears?” Declan asks as he wipes away my tears with the back of his hand.

  “Yes,” I tell him, my voice shaky. “I can’t believe that it’s finally happened.”

  “I know, me neither,” Declan says. “I’m going to be a dad,” he shouts, and I laugh.

  “People will think you’re crazy,” I tell him happily.

  “I don’t care,” Declan says before he coasts the car onto the road.

  “Where are we going?” I ask when I notice that we’re headed towards Santa Monica.

  “Only the best beachside restaurant,” Declan says.

  “Awesome,” I say and settle back into my seat. I muse over how much I’ve changed in the last few months. If you had told me to take off for the day without planning for it, I would have said not. From the space that I’m standing in now, I can look back and see how empty my life had been. It had been all about work and nothing else. Declan came into my life to rescue me from myself. To bring life and love and now, a baby. I’m so happy that for a mome
nt, fear creeps in. Is it possible to feel this happy?

  “If you had a choice,” Declan says, cutting into my thoughts. “What would you prefer, a boy or a girl?”

  I look at Declan, and the answer comes to me. “I want a little boy who looks just like you,” I tell him.

  “That’s funny,” he says. “Because I want a little girl with gorgeous emerald green eyes, rosy skin, and a perfect face.”

  I blush. “Thank you.” Declan knows the right things to say to make me feel six feet tall.

  I remember my visit with the attorney. With the excitement of the baby, I almost forgot to update him. He listens intently as I break it down for him.

  “So, in other words, we have to wait for him to make a move, right?” Declan asks.

  “Yes,” I tell him with a sigh. “Let’s not talk about Leonard on such an important day.”

  We talk about work, but our conversation meanders back to the baby in my tummy. I’m sure he’s pea-sized, but his size doesn’t matter. He’s still my baby.

  “I can smell the ocean,” I say and realize that my sense of smell has grown sharper in the last couple of weeks.

  “I hear that pregnant women can smell a fart, miles away, is that true?” Declan says with a straight face.

  “That’s gross and beneath you,” I tell him with mock seriousness.

  He laughs and reaches across to pinch my nose.

  Declan parks the car in his regular parking space behind the Pizza shop. I step out into the warmth of the sun and inhale the scent of seaweed and sand. I follow Declan to the shop’s front entrance and marvel at the vibrant colors of people walking by. People in Santa Monica wear the brightest, most colorful, and prettiest clothes.

  “I’ll just pop in for a moment,” he says.

  “Sure, no problem,” I say like a woman who doesn’t have a wedding planning business to run.

  I exchange greetings with a few of the workers and follow Declan to his office at the back. He gets behind his desk and grabs a document, which he proceeds to sign.

  I walk around his office, taking in little touches that could only be Declan. Like the framed pictures on the wall. One is of Ace and his family, which doesn’t surprise me, and the other is of Declan standing with his parents. What strikes me about the last picture is the loving look caught by the camera between Declan and his mother.

  I fold my arms across my chest as I stare at it. He’s a man who adores his parents, especially his mother. My mind meanders to the only time we met. We didn’t hit it off, and I didn’t make an effort afterward.

  Guilt floods me as I remember how friendly and accommodating Declan has been with my mom and Josh. There and then, I decided to try my damnedest to become friendly with Mrs. Carter.

  Maybe she and I could have lunch together. I feel a lot better after I make that decision.

  “We can go now,” Declan says, standing up.

  He stands behind me and slips his hands around my waist. Heat sizzles over my skin as he kisses my neck softly. “Have I told you I love how you smell?”

  “Yes,” I murmur.

  His hands slide up to cup my breasts. I arch my chest, inviting him to caress me and rub my ass against his erection. Declan grunts. He flicks his fingers over the taut peaks of my breasts pressing against my blouse.

  My breathing goes shallow, and my legs turn to rubber. In a matter of seconds, Declan has turned me into a mess of arousal. I want his hands everywhere on me. My hand creeps down under my skirt to my aching pussy, and I rub myself over my panties.

  A knock comes on the door, making me jump. I quickly drop my hand and extricate myself from Declan’s hold, but I make sure to stand in front of him.

  “Sorry,” one of Declan’s supervisors says. “Before you go, can you take a look at the new arrangement at the counters?”

  ‘Sure,” Declan says, unfazed. He places his hands on my shoulders.

  When we’re alone again, he whirls me around and kisses me deeply.

  Chapter 27

  Declan

  The beachside restaurant is a hit with Marian. After lunch, we kick off our shoes and hide them under a rock near the small gate at the back of my apartment block.

  I take her hand as we stroll down the beach. There are few people today because it’s a weekday. I now know how Ace felt when he learned that he was a father. I feel twenty feet tall, and I want to blurt out to the whole world and have everyone celebrate with me. I sneak a glance at Marian. Her chocolate brown hair is flying in the wind, and her skin has the tinge of someone who spends a lot of time outdoors. I want Marian to love Santa Monica as much as I do, and I think it’s working, judging by the permanent smile on her face.

  She senses my stare and smiles at me. My heart somersaults in my chest. My wife. Words I never thought I would ever use.

  “I can’t wait to tell everyone,” I tell her and imagine the look on Ace, Lexi, and my parents’ faces when I tell them I’m going to be a dad.

  Marian grinds to a halt, and so do I. “You can’t tell anyone just yet. One, I haven’t confirmed with the doctor, and two, it’s early days. Let’s wait a while.”

  “Sure, no problem,” I say, disappointment coming over me. Which is stupid. There’s no urgency for anyone to know. The baby will come when the nine months are up, whether we tell anyone or not.

  We resume walking. My gaze goes out to sea at the gentle waves as they rise and fall over each other. White boats glide over the water, with happy people on the decks. No matter where life takes me, Santa Monica will always be my home. Me and my family.

  “After we got married in Vegas, did you ever imagine that one day, we would be walking on the beach like this?” Marian asks me, her voice tinged with laughter.

  “Not at all. You were so angry and initially refused to entertain the idea of staying married,” I said, chuckling as I remember the look Marian had given me when I made the suggestion.

  She laughs. “How many people do you know, though, who have done what we did?”

  “None,” I admit. “But that only goes to prove that we’re special.”

  “Ha,” Marian says.

  “The beach suits you,” I tell her. “You look carefree and happy.”

  “I am, but it’s not just the beach; there are lots of reasons why I’m happy,” Marian says. She’s silent for a beat before she continues talking. “Have you ever come close to getting married?”

  “No, never,” I tell her honestly. “I’ve never met someone who made me want to get married. If anything, it was the other way round. I took off as soon as a woman hinted at wanting to get married.”

  “What made you agree to my mad scheme then?” she asks me. “Was it the trust fund?”

  It would be easy to say yes, and that would be the end of that, but it wouldn’t be the truth. “I thought about the trust fund the following morning. It’s crazy, but I just wanted to be married to you.” Even though I’d been drunk out of my mind, getting married to Marian was not a decision that I had wrestled with. A part of me had known she was special right from the moment when I first saw her on the airplane. “What about you?”

  “Before going to Vegas, I’d invited Jason and Brooke for dinner at the house. It was their first time after I moved in. Anyway, by the end of the dinner, I realized how little I had.”

  “Buying a house is quite an achievement, Marian,” I point out.

  “Yes, but it’s mortar and brick. I had none of the things that mattered. Kids, a family. So, when we met and drank ourselves silly, those were the things on my mind, and the idea of marrying you just kept growing and growing through the night.”

  I laugh. “I’m glad you were crazy enough to go through with it.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t just marry me for the trust fund,” Marian says.

  We’ve walked a long way along the beach, and I point out my parents’ house in the distance. “That’s my parents’ home from the back.”

  “Nice, I wouldn’t have recognized it,” she
says. “Imagine growing up next to the beach like that. You and Ace were two lucky boys.”

  I’ve never thought of it like that, but I suppose she was right. There was always something to do. “We were.”

  We turn around to walk back. Marian’s phone rings, shattering through the sounds of the waves crashing on the sand. She picks it up.

  She stops walking. “How did you know where it was?” She’s silent for a few seconds before she continues talking. “You can’t just come to my office without telling me.” She shakes her head. “Fine.”

  She clicks her tongue and disconnects the call. “That was Leonard. He’s in my office.”

  “How does he know where you work?” The thought of that slime ball in Marian’s office gets me all riled up.

  “I don’t know,” Marian says with a sigh. “He refused to say. We should go back. I need to talk some sense into him.”

  Why does the jerk have to show up now when our lives together are just beginning properly? Still, he won’t stay. That I’m sure. Marian is not interested, and he’ll get tired of wasting everyone’s time.

  We are both lost in our own thoughts on the drive back to LA. I keep glancing at Marian. She’s worried. I wish I had the words to reassure her. It’s common sense. The divorce was already granted years ago. What happened was a clerical error.

  I’m pissed off that our plans are ruined. I’d intended to take Marian to my apartment and make sweet love to her. We’d spend the afternoon in bed; I’d cook her dinner, then we’d drive back to LA.

  Instead, I’m pulling up to Marian’s office to drop her off. “I’ll stay,” I tell her when I bring the car to a stop.

  “No,” Marian says. “Sorry, but you’ll just aggravate him further.”

  I sigh. “You’re right, but call me if you need me, okay?”

  “I will,” Marian says. “Thanks, I don’t take for granted that you always have my back.”

  I kiss her and watch her as she gets out, and with a wave, she disappears into the building. I kill the engine and prepare to wait. There’s no way I’m leaving Marian alone with Leonard.

  I tap the steering wheel as ten minutes pass and then twenty. At the forty-five-minute mark, just as I’m considering storming in, Leonard emerges, followed by Marian. They stand outside the entrance of Lilly’s Love Boutique. They look as if they are arguing.