by B. B. Hamel
“Not so bad,” he said, sitting down on the couch and tossing his bag aside.
“The room?”
“No. I mean earlier. You did good.”
“Thanks.” I walked right into the bedroom.
“Bye,” he called out, laughing.
I shut the door and pulled out my phone.
Ever since Vegas, I’d been dreading this moment. But after those pictures, I needed to call my parents and tell them what had happened.
I needed to call and lie to them.
I dialed my mom’s number and held the phone up to my ear.
“Hello?” she answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Mom,” I said.
“Sweetie, how are you?”
“Good.” I paused. “I have news. How’s Dad doing?”
“He’s having a good day, actually. What’s going on?”
“Can you put the phone on speaker and get him?”
There was a pause. “Okay. Hold on. Let me figure this thing out.” There was a rustling. “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I can.”
“Hi, sweetheart,” my dad said.
“Hi, Dad.”
“So what’s this news?” Mom asked.
“Listen, this might seem a little nuts to you guys, but this is good news.”
“You’re worrying me. What happened?” Mom asked again.
“Guys, I got married.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Seriously?” Dad asked.
“Seriously,” I said.
“I didn’t even know you were dating someone,” Mom said.
“We had to keep it a secret,” I said.
“Who is it?” Dad asked.
“His name is Nash Bell.”
“The Navy SEAL guy?” Mom asked incredulously.
“That’s him,” I said.
My nerves were going crazy. I couldn’t believe I was telling them this lie, but I knew I had to.
“How?” Dad asked. “This seems so strange.”
“I’m sorry for keeping it from you two,” I said, “but it all happened so fast. We met and had a relationship, and now we’re married.” I couldn’t say that I loved him for some reason.
“Okay,” Mom said slowly. “I’m sorry if I’m having a bad reaction. This is just so sudden.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s okay.”
“Can we meet him?” Dad asked.
“Of course.”
“Good. This weekend?”
“Uh,” I said, “I don’t think so. We have a bunch of press things to do for his book and his movie.”
“Of course,” Mom said. “Because you married a famous person out of the blue and didn’t tell us about it.”
That hurt. I knew my mom would be the more upset of the two, and I hated letting her down.
“It’s okay,” Dad said quickly. “We’ll meet him as soon as you can.”
“Listen, guys,” I said, “this is good. I’m happy. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“Okay, sweetie,” Dad said. “I’m just glad you’re happy.”
“Listen,” I said, “I have to go.”
“Okay, honey. Call us soon.”
“Bye,” I said.
They hung up the phone.
I tossed mine aside, lying on my back and staring up at the ceiling. The bed was enormous and richly furnished, but even the comfortable surroundings weren’t enough to blunt my anger and pain.
I hated letting my parents down. Dad would act like it wasn’t a huge deal, but I knew he was inwardly hurt. Mom didn’t do a great job at hiding that, either.
But could I blame them? One second it was normal and the next I was married to some rich and famous man they’d never met or even heard me mention.
Frankly, if I were them, I’d think I had gone insane.
But now they knew. The hard part was over. I’d broken the news and now I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. They’d get used to the idea soon enough, and then I’d get the money and explain everything to them. Maybe they’d be mad, but getting that million dollars would be worth it.
It might even save my father’s life. Who knew what was going to happen, but the money would go a long way toward helping them keep their life together.
Just a few months and it would be over. They could deal with thinking their daughter had gone nuts for a little bit.
I’d have to make it up to them in the end.
Frowning, I rolled over and tried not to let the nagging pit in my stomach overwhelm me.
12
Nash
“I don’t know what you’re up to, Nash, but you better cut it the fuck out,” Livy hissed.
I smiled sweetly at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Liv darling.”
I savored the pissed-off look on her face as I leaned up against the door to our rooms.
My new wife was currently hiding away in the bedroom, hogging it for herself. I wondered if I was in for a few months of sleeping on random hotel couches, which was going to be pretty miserable. I was going to have to work on that seduction thing, and quick, if at least to save myself some permanent damage to my back.
Livy looked pissed. She had knocked on my door and practically torn me out into the hallway to wag her finger in my face like I was some spoiled kindergartener or some shit. Fortunately, Livy didn’t intimidate me at all.
“I know you’re lying about something. I just don’t know what.”
“Nobody is lying, Liv. You’re a little paranoid.”
“Who is she, anyway?”
“Met her a while ago.”
She stared at me for a second and then looked down at a piece of paper in her notebook. “Selena Wood, twenty-one. Senior at the University of Pennsylvania, good grades, no trouble to speak of. Working class, normal parents.” She looked back up at me. “This girl is a nobody.”
“She’s my wife,” I said simply.
“Still a nobody. Did you meet her for the first time a few days ago at the signing?”
“Enough,” I said, starting to get annoyed. Livy could always see through my bullshit, and it annoyed the hell out of me. “Selena is here and she isn’t going anywhere. Got it?”
“Listen, Nash, I don’t give a shit what you do.” I made a face at her. “Really, I don’t. What I care about is doing my job, and if this girl is going to make that harder, then we’ll have a problem.”
“My wife is a problem for you?” I asked, getting annoyed again.
“Not yet. Keep it that way.”
I watched as she turned and stormed away.
“Shit,” I muttered to myself, walking back into the room.
Livy was onto us. That wasn’t surprising, since Livy was always on me like white on toast. She was my damn professional babysitter, and she was good at it. Since she was my publicist, she wouldn’t do anything stupid like contradicting me in front of a journalist or saying something stupid around the paparazzi.
But her word held weight with the publisher. If I wanted my mission to be a success, I needed to convince my publisher that this wife thing was for real.
And, hopefully, they’d decide to let me go free of this fucking hell.
I sat back down on the couch, lounging out. I took off my shirt and tossed it aside, closing my eyes to take a little nap.
“Do you ever wear a shirt?”
I opened one eye. “Sometimes,” I said.
“Well clothe yourself, please.”
“No. I’m in my bedroom.”
Selena stared at me for a second and then sighed. “Fine. You can sleep on the bed tonight if you want.”
“Nah,” I said. “That’s fine. You can have the bed.”
“Really. You don’t have to sleep on couches for the next few months. We can alternate.”
“Really,” I said, “you can have the bed.”
“Fine.” She sat down in a chair. “I’m starving. Where do we eat?”
“Call room service. It’s on the publish
er.”
She nodded. “Okay. And I need my stuff, too, from home.”
I sighed and rubbed my head. “I’ll have Liv send for it. Make a list of what you want.”
She nodded again.
“Is that all, princess?” I asked, not sure why I was being short with her.
“No,” she said, frowning. “Look, we should talk about tomorrow.”
“What about it?”
“We need to have our story straight.”
I sat up. “Yeah. Okay.”
“So you told Liv that we’ve been together secretly for a while, but our relationship was open. I think that was a good idea.”
I nodded. “Thanks. I’m pretty great sometimes.”
“Also,” she went on, “we should tell the media that I’m very private. That way we can minimize the number of times I’m on camera.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Trying to get out of your work?”
“No, but the fewer times I have to lie, the fewer times I can screw it all up.”
He nodded slowly. “Makes sense.”
“How did we meet?”
“At a bar. You were a huge fan and couldn’t resist my charms.”
She shook her head. “No. You haven’t been in Philly in a while.”
“Have you traveled recently?”
“I visited a friend in Chicago.”
“I was in Chicago three months ago. We can say you were there with your friend and we ran into each other at a bar.”
She frowned, thinking. She looked cute as fuck trying to reason this whole thing out. “Okay, fine. That could work.”
“What else?” I asked.
“They’re going to ask for the story exactly.”
“Let me handle that.”
“Fine. What about the wedding?”
“We can tell the truth about that. Spur of the moment thing in Vegas.”
“Okay.” She stretched her legs and looked at me. “I think that’s it.”
“Good,” I said, lying back down and shutting my eyes. “I’m fucking exhausted.”
“I’ll leave you alone.” I listened as she stood and went back into the bedroom.
I lay there, eyes shut, and felt bad about how short I had been with her. She was probably pretty nervous for tomorrow, especially considering she had never done a media interview before, let alone lied to the whole nation.
Sighing, I stood up and slipped my shirt back on. I walked over to the bedroom door and pushed it open.
“Hey, why don’t you—”
I stopped in my tracks. Selena was standing there next to the bed in nothing but a bra and panties. She turned beet red and tried to cover herself.
“Get out!” she yelled.
I smirked at her. “I was just going to say you should order food for me too, but now I’m hungry for something else.”
“Nash! Get out!”
I laughed as I turned and left.
My cock was fucking rock hard as I moved back into the main living room. Selena was fucking incredibly sexy with her full, firm tits and her incredible ass. The way she got so embarrassed just made it that much better.
She came back out a minute later, fully clothed and looking pissed.
“You cannot just barge in like that,” she said.
“Forgot we aren’t really married,” I said, grinning at her. “Just wanted to check on my wife.”
“Seriously, Nash. Boundaries.”
“Sure. Whatever you say.” I smirked and moved closer to her. “But you know it excites you thinking about me staring at your body.”
“Not at all.”
“No? You don’t get soaking wet knowing that I’m fucking hard just thinking about your incredible fucking body?”
“Professional, Nash. We’re being professional.”
But that look she was giving me wasn’t professional at all.
In fact, she was looking at me like a starving cat looking at milk. She wanted to lap me up, and I fucking knew it. I stepped closer to her, cutting the distance between us in half, but she didn’t move a muscle.
Her lips were slightly parted. “I like to keep things professional, too,” I said to her.
“So then stop making comments.”
“I have to lie to everyone else. I’m not going to lie to you.”
“You can just not say it,” she mumbled.
“Why? I want you to know how badly I want that pussy on my mouth. I can make you come a thousand different ways, you know that?” I watched as she began to blush again, and I knew she was soaking wet for me in that moment. “I’m trained to know the human body. I can kill a man in a hundred ways with my bare hands. I can get a woman off even easier and in much more fun ways.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “And I doubt the military taught you that.”
“It didn’t, not exactly. That was my own training. And I’ve gotten very, very good at it.”
“Enough,” she whispered. She shook her head and took a deep breath and then stepped away from me. “I’m ordering food. What do you want?”
“Steak and a whisky,” I said, grinning at her.
“Okay.” She walked back toward the room.
“You going to hide in there all night?”
“Yeah,” she said, “I am.”
“Don’t trust yourself around me? Think you’re going to lose your mind and wrap those pretty legs around my face, let me eat you up?”
She looked at me quietly for a second. “Not at all,” she said finally, and then she turned and disappeared back into the bedroom.
I watched the door click shut.
My cock was so hard I could barely stand it.
God damn. That fucking girl drove me wild. Her words sounded like she didn’t want it, but every look begged to differ. She was practically dripping wet for me, begging for it, wanted me more than she even realized.
And fuck if I didn’t feel the same way.
What had I gotten myself into? Maybe it was a bad idea to choose a fake wife I wanted to fuck more than anything.
Or maybe it was the best decision I had ever made.
Only one way to find out.
13
Selena
The lights were bright as hell as I sat there and tried not to sweat.
After that arrogant asshole had walked in on me while I was getting changed, I pretty much went right to bed. I ate a little bit of the food that was delivered, but I didn’t have much of an appetite.
Because he was right. He was absolutely right. I didn’t trust myself around him. Every time he looked at me with that serious, piercing gaze and said something so deliciously inappropriate, I found myself so excited. My pussy would be dripping wet and I’d practically have to run away or else risk throwing myself at him.
And that was a real problem, because I wanted to keep things professional. The second we started mixing business with pleasure was the second I lost myself in all this.
I looked at him and he grinned at me. “Relax,” he said.
“I’m not relaxed?”
“You look like you’re about to get into a firefight with the Taliban,” he joked.
“So I looked terrified.”
He smiled softly and put his hand on my leg. I didn’t flinch or move it off since we were in acting mode. And since I really liked it there. “You’re going to be fine,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“Really. Just follow my lead.”
“Okay.” I looked at him for a second. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For being nice,” I said softly.
Whatever cocky response he had lined up was forgotten as a slim, gorgeous girl walked over to us.
“Nash!” she exclaimed. “Good to see you again.”
“Melissa.” He smiled and stood up. “I’m glad it’s you.”
“Why’s that?” She came over and kissed him on both cheeks.
“Because you’ll go easy on us.”
She smiled and looked
at me. “Is this her?”
“Melissa, my wife, Selena.”
“Nice to meet you, lucky girl.”
I stood and shook her hand. “I am lucky,” I said.
“Damn right she is,” Nash said, laughing.
Melissa smiled again and sat down, turning her gaze back to Nash. The cameramen were getting set up, and a woman came over to pin a microphone to my shirt. Nash sat there and let people buzz around him, and I had to try hard not to swat them away. He looked like a Zen monk sitting in a forest, not like a Navy SEAL sitting in a media room.
“So, we’ll make this fast,” Melissa said. “I’m sure you guys want to get it over with.”
I laughed. “Yeah, we do.”
She ignored me, staring at Nash. “Nothing too tough question-wise, but I hope you’ll be forthcoming.”
“Sure,” he grunted. “Whatever you want.”
“Okay.” She looked at her crew. “Ready?” They gave her the all-clear sign and she looked back at Nash.
I got the distinct impression that she had absolutely no interest in talking to me at all and that she’d be looking to Nash for most of her answers.
Which suited me just fine.
“Nash Bell, how are you?”
“I’m good, Melissa. How are you?”
“I’m swell. So, who is this sitting with you?”
I smiled as Nash introduced me. “This is Selena Wood.” He paused dramatically. “My new wife.”
Melissa laughed. “Congrats to you two. Can I see the ring?”
I held my hand out, and she glanced at it before looking back to Nash. “So, tell me how it happened.”
“I was in Chicago doing interviews, a lot like this one. She was there visiting a friend.”
“That's fun,” Melissa said, smiling.
“Yeah, well, she’s a fun girl. More fun than I am. Anyway, I was at this bar, drinking like I normally do, and this girl comes up to me. I don’t know how, but she manages to trip and spill her damn drink right in my lap.”
Melissa laughed. “You’re kidding me.”
He shook his head, grinning. “True story. Right in my lap. Well, I bought her a new drink, and we hit it off from there.”