FULL NOVELXO Just Pretending: Chapter 11
The pressure from Devin’s hand on my back was commanding. He wanted me to know that I didn’t have a choice.
“What was that about?” I demanded as Devin pushed me out of the cocktail party.
“Why were you talking to Martin? I want you to stay away from that man.” Devin practically growled.
“He’s with McGrady’s firm. We were talking about the will, the inheritance issues.” I harrumphed and rolled my eyes.
I crossed my arms and stood next to the car.
“Get in,” Devin commanded.
I stomped my foot. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
Instantly he was by my side. His hand a vice around my upper arm, his breath hot on my cheek. “You are my fiancée now, and you will do as you are told.”
I could feel the press of muscles under his shirt against my shoulder. He radiated heat. What would he do if I resisted him? I held perfectly still, not out of fear, but out of some need to know how far he would go.
He lowered his head until his face was next to mine. His nose tickled under my ear and trailed down my neck until he pressed his forehead to my shoulder. His breathing was ragged as if he struggled to gain control. My nerves, already on edge from his anger, twisted and were on alert for completely different reasons.
His lips brushed against my collar bone through the open meshwork of my dress. “Harleigh,” his voice was thick, but not with anger.
I turned so that I could face him. He pulled me against him and pressed a lingering kiss to my temple. I closed my eyes and leaned into him. He opened the car door and steered me into the passenger seat. I don’t think I could have resisted him if I tried.
He didn’t look at me when he slid in. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white.
I reached out, but flinched away, uncertain about the tension between us. Was it anger, was it desire?
“I don’t want you talking to that man,” Devin snarled.
“He’s one of the—”
“I don’t care who he is. I don’t like the way he looks at you. And he doesn’t need to know our details.”
“Everyone else knows our details, Mr. Sanderson, Mr. White, McGrady. Why not another lawyer?”
Devin looked at me and shook his head. I don’t know what he was looking for, but he calmed down and started the car.
“Sanderson and McGrady want us to have what rightfully belongs to each of us. White is trying to manage his investments. They aren’t interested in getting your inheritance away from you. Martin has ulterior motives. You are not to speak to him from now on.”
I watched as the lights of traffic played across his face. He had no right being as handsome as he was. It made the whole marriage prospect more confusing. “If you say so.”
He reached out and squeezed my knee. I wanted to intertwine my fingers with his, pretend for a moment we were in love and getting married for emotional reasons, not business ones. For a moment I wanted to admit that I had feelings for him that weren’t born from years of animosity and rivalry.
“We have to get married right away,” Devin started.
“I know,” I whimpered.
I swiped at annoying tears as they started to flow.
“Harleigh, what’s the matter?” Tires squealed as Devin pulled over. He was out of the car and opening my door before I had a chance to tell him it was nothing. He unbuckled me and slid into the car, pulling me onto his lap.
“What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t handle Devin being nice. Suddenly, I couldn’t stop crying. “I’m not going to get a real wedding, am I? I don’t get to fall in love and have a family. My father took away my happily ever after,” I sobbed.
“Harleigh, will you marry me?”
He was so gentle as he ran his thumb over my cheek, wiping my tears away. I lifted my face to him, wanting to see his expression. I knew that as far as proposals go he said the words to placate me, but in my gut, it felt real, with all the emotion and meaning.
I didn’t expect his lips to take mine. My eyes went wide before I closed them and pressed into him. I wrapped my arms around him and held tight. His mouth danced across mine. I gasped when his tongue licked across my lower lip, and then into my mouth.
My name was a moan on his lips. His hands slid over my ass, and he shifted beneath me. Somehow I went from being cradled on his lap to straddling his thighs. I couldn’t kiss him enough. I sucked on his lower lip and tongue. He lowered the seat back so that I practically fell into him. Everything about his body was hard and I wanted to touch him. I pressed my breasts to his chest.
I gasped when his hands began moving over my thighs.
“Harleigh.”
I sucked my name out of his mouth. I lifted my hips back when his hands moved between us. He stroked me through the thin fabric of my shorts. He petted and I rocked my hips against his hand.
He stopped moving. I pushed my hips against his fingers, I had never felt anything so amazing. I didn’t want it to end. He removed his hand altogether and pushed me away from his chest, ending the perpetual kiss.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen. Especially not out here, in the car in the middle of some parking lot.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t sure what he thought we were doing.
“We’ll go to Las Vegas. I’ll make all the arrangements,” he said as he lifted me from his lap. “I will do everything in my power to give you a wedding worth remembering for all the right reasons.”
I nodded. I wanted his hands back on me. I didn’t want to think about our situation, I just wanted him.
He drove home in silence.
The next day when I woke up, I immediately shut my eyes and rolled over, hoping the events of the previous night had been a dream. Part wonderful, and part nightmare. Devin’s kisses had been thrilling and they freaked me out. He didn’t like me. He made no effort to hide that fact. Of course, that didn’t stop me from developing a serious infatuation with him after my first year away at college. An infatuation that I thought I had locked away forever.
I didn’t need those emotions coming back and confusing me over this entire arrangement. I was going to spend a year and a day married to Devin. We weren’t going to be playing house, and being happily married.
Devin had proposed. Even though I knew it was all a business arrangement, it had felt like a real proposal. His hands on my body had been real enough, and that had nothing to do with some business arrangement. My phone rang. Of course, it was him.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Good you’re up,” he sounded cold and efficient. “I’m meeting with McGrady. We’re making sure all licenses are arranged for our arrival in Vegas.”
“So this is really happening?” I asked.
“Yeah Harleigh, it is. You need to go shopping. Get yourself some nice clothes, no more of those dreary sacks, and work out clothes you’ve been wearing. Get something to wear around Vegas that would be appropriate for my wife to be seen in.”
I started to protest.
“The estate has transferred funding into your account, so you have plenty of spending money.”
“Am I going to need a wedding dress? Where the hell can I find a wedding dress in one day?” I started to panic. It wasn’t the money that was my issue, it was clothes.
“Don’t worry about that. I have a concierge service already working on that for us. I’m going to give you their number, they want your measurements. Be sure to contact them, okay?”
I nodded as if he could see me.
“Get something with some color to it. All you wear is black.”
“I’m in mourning. My father just died.”
Devin didn’t say anything, but I could hear him breathe. I smiled, everything was normal for a moment. I was irritating Devin, and he was being bossy.
“Fine, I’ll see what I can find.”
After I ended the call with him, I sent my measurements to the number he texted, and then slogged my way downstairs. I wasn’t really looking forward to my day. I had to go shopping. Had to. That was like a double whammy to my ego, take a task I already wasn’t a fan of and turn it into a chore.
I heard someone moving around downstairs. Having grown up with staff in the house, I didn’t pay any attention. It was more familiar than the house being completely silent. I pushed into the kitchen.
“Hannah,” I called out as soon as I saw her.
I had her in a hug before I realized what I was doing. I was so relieved to see her. “Where have you been?”
Hannah shrugged. “Mrs. Tina fired all of us. I know Devin specifically said to stay around, but she had made some pretty serious threats if she saw me. I know she said the same to Jessie. Jessie has been in contact with Devin. I talk to Jessie, she tells me things.”
“Is that why no one has been around?”
Hannah nodded. “I was hoping to find Devin. He’s been here so much lately I thought he might be here.”
I shook my head. “I think today is the first day in weeks he hasn’t been here.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I wanted to find out if I could get my job back. I didn’t think Mrs. Tina could fire us, she never had that authority. You know?”
“She never did,” I agreed. “Well, technically I don’t know if I have that authority, but I want you back. I need you back. I need everybody back.”
“Is that a job offer?”
I let out a bitter laugh. I didn’t know if I was in a position to be able to hire my own cook. “Can it be a contingent job offer? I have to check with Devin regarding what I can and can’t do in regards to the estate.”
“You didn’t inherit?” Hannah slapped both hands over her mouth, her eyes went wide. “I’m so sorry, that was completely out of turn. My apologies Miss Harleigh.”
I reached out and patted her arm. “It’s fine, no offense meant, none taken. The inheritance is messy. I just don’t know if I can make any official decisions like hiring staff before the wedding.”
“Wedding? Are you getting married? You’re going to need a cake. And we have to—”
“It’s not like that,” I cut her off. “Devin and I are getting married in Las Vegas. It’s going to be a quiet, private affair. Something my father wanted.”
“What, no celebration party?”
“No, nothing. We’re keeping it small, but maybe we could have a special dinner when we return.”
“You tell me what you want. I will be happy to prepare anything you want. I’ll even make a small wedding cake.”
I laughed. And then shoved down the bite of pain I felt. I wanted cake, a big cake. I wanted a party with a wedding band. I wanted to wear an obnoxiously full white dress covered in too many rhinestones with a long train. I wanted flower girls and well-wishers. I wanted to dance with a husband who wanted me for me, and not because marrying me guaranteed he would get the business he helped to build.
I wanted to be wanted. I was nothing more than an asset, an acquisition. I blinked back tears. The weight and responsibility of the inheritance issue too much to deal with.