Abby studied Hunt as he pulled off his suit jacket, his strong arms and flat stomach defined through the fine linen of his shirt.
She cleared her throat and opened the fridge. “Are you hungry?”
Hunt snorted. “Are you? My brother provided food for a party of fifty instead of twenty. Hate to see good food go to waste, which means I might have overeaten.” He patted his flat stomach. “Not sure I can fit anything more in here.”
Abby closed the fridge and turned around. She wasn’t hungry either, but what were they going to do all night?
She needed to keep busy or her mind would wander to the handsome man she now called husband. And that made her think of other things.
It had been years since she’d been with a man. Sad but true. Not like she had time for relationships. But she was in one now. Only she couldn’t have sex with Hunt. That would complicate the situation to mass proportions. As long as things remained platonic, she and Hunt were good. At least, that was what she was telling herself. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
His eyes narrowed, and Abby got the feeling he read her mind.
He lifted a bottle off the coffee table she’d seen him carrying inside. “I have a better idea. Why don’t we open the champagne Adam and Hayden gave us and toast to our future?”
Abby squeezed her hands together. Alcohol and sexual frustration were not a good combination, but maybe they could tackle another issue. “Sure, this will give us a chance to figure out how to make the marriage look real without little ears around.” Between their two work schedules and her son, she and Hunt hadn’t had time to lay out the specifics of their new reality after the wedding.
Hunt popped the cork and poured fizzing liquid into two mismatched champagne glasses Abby had found in the back of a cupboard. “The only way to make it look real is to act like it’s real.” He tipped his glass and clinked it to hers.
Abby sipped the tart liquid, her tongue tingling. “What do you mean, ‘act like it’s real’?”
Hunt sank into a chair at the two-person dining table. She’d have to buy a folding chair if they all wanted to eat together. “We act like a married couple. We live together, as planned, and are affectionate.”
“Affectionate?” It had been so long that she was starved for affection, but... “Won’t that confuse things?”
Hunt set his glass down. “Abby, if we have any hope of showing we’re a united front and providing a solid household for Noah, we need to look like a married couple.”
She bit her lip. “But…what does that look like?”
He laughed. “Damned if I know. Never had one myself. You?”
“My parents are still married, but they don’t like each other.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “So we’re both in the dark. Well, we’ll just have to make the best of it. Why don’t we start by getting to know each other better?”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“Not yet, but we will,” he said.
And why did that send prickles running down her arms?
“Have you ever heard of a game called ‘Never Have I Ever’?” he asked.
“Don’t they play that onEllen?”
“The talk show? Maybe, but I think it originated on college campuses.” His eyes twinkled and he sipped his champagne.
“I didn’t finish college. And I was with Trevor while I was taking courses, so I didn’t party much.”
“See.” He grinned. “I just learned something about you. And for the record, I never finished college either. I applied and got into a few places, but decided to run my boat-touring business instead. The money was too good to pass up.” At her questioning glance, he rubbed his chin. “I stopped asking my father for money before I graduated high school. Was too stubborn to ask him to help with college.”
Abby’s mouth gaped. “Your family owns Club Tahoe, and you’re filthy rich. Yet you turned down family money…to run a boating business?”
“Still want to be married to me?”
He was a complex man, her new husband. And devilishly handsome when he looked at her like that, with a crooked grin. “Yes.” And not only because he could help her with Noah. Hunt was easy to be around. And kind. Honestly, the thought of marriage to him was a little too exciting for Abby’s delicate heart.
Better not mention that or he might changehismind.
