Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
I saw his smirk first, then I drifted down to the water bottle in one hand, and the spit cup in the other.
“I won’t break... until you do.” He handed me both. “Here. Rinse out your mouth, and then drink. Finish half that bottle, then the medicine.”
“You won’t break until I do?” I repeated slowly even as I complied with his order. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s just a little incentive for you to keep up the act—and we both know it’s an act—longer than you were planning to. Nari loves you like this.” He accepted the gross spit cup from me, setting it down on the end table and then tapping the water bottle to remind me to drink. “For her sake, I want you to keep the real Sue down for as long as you can.”
Silence fell while I drank. “And how is the deal you’re offering me any different from the deal you think I’m offering you?”
“Aww, yes,” he breezed, falling back and laying his head on my lap. “You see, the one I’m offering you comes with a guarantee. Whatever your orgasm tally is, I’ll be a good little husband for that number of days no matter what you do or don’t do.”
I nodded slow. “And if I break the truce without taking you up on your offer?”
Dark, piercing eyes stuck me through. “Then it’s war. Bloody, brutal war with casualties on all sides.”
Setting down the water bottle, I picked up the medicine, measured it out, and downed the lot. Only when I recapped and put it back, did I say, “Well, that’s something to think about.”
I poked his chest. “I should get back to my room.”
“No, you shouldn’t.” He heaved himself off. “What you should do is relax and get some rest while I clean up in there.”
“What? No, Micah. Come on, you don’t have to do that.”
“Course I do.” He winked his way out the door. “It’s what any good husband would do.”
He was gone before I could argue some more, leaving me with my flipping stomach and spinning head.
What was I supposed to make of his offer? Unlike what he assumed, I wasn’t putting on an act, so if he was really willing to hold out as long as I did, he’d be holding out forever.
Or until the anniversary party. Whenever the hell that was, and whatever the hell the three of them meant by getting rid of me for good.
Could they have been talking about serving Sue with divorce papers? a voice asked.
I shook the question away. Why would they want to put themselves and Nari through a potentially messy divorce when I already said on tape that I would take a far smaller price to walk out of their lives for good? That’s a deal any scorned husband would jump on. It doesn’t make sense for them to escalate a situation I already defused.
Then, what did the three of them mean when they were speaking in the hall, and what does Micah mean by this strange offer only a few hours later? And then the even bigger question, what are the ethical, and mostly legal, ramifications of sleeping with a man who believed I was someone else?
I tossed those questions back and forth in my mind for so long, I passed out before I got an answer.
Chapter Ten
“Hello? Hello, is this Mrs. Prado?”
Crackling came through the speakers, followed by a thin, weedy voice. “... is this?”
I checked the screen, clicking my tongue at the weak signal. Reception wasn’t so great deep in the trees—which is where the founders of Lantana Little Learners Day School insisted on building the elementary school.
I climbed out of the passenger seat, waving around the phone and moving farther and farther away from the car trying to catch a signal.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” I asked. “This is Ms. Kim of Kim Manor. I’m calling to speak to Mrs. Prado.”
“Mrs. Eleanor Prado?” came back clearly. “Is that who you need?”
“Yes, it is. Are you her?”
“I’m her daughter,” replied a smoky voice. “Mom’s out walking the dogs, but she should be back soon. Do you want to wait, or call her back?”
“I’ll wait. Thank you.”
I strolled the length of two parking spaces, eyeing Micah out of the corner of my eye. He loitered outside the school entrance with the other pickup parents, chatting up three attractive, well-dressed moms who were hanging on his every word.
That they were fawning over him, despite all boasting wedding rings, did not surprise me. What did surprise me was actually being there to watch.
I woke up that morning with the surprise of my life—Micah’s arm thrown over me, and his chest warm and steady at my back. I ended up slipping out from under him to sneak back to my room—which was clean and vomit-free just like he promised.