Nathan smacks Chloe on the mouth with his knee, and then somehow in the next second, he’s picking her nose with his toes.
“All right, you little monster.” Chloe rolls Nathan off of her. “You’re done. You can each have a juice box from the fridge. Go on,get.” She shoos them off as they speed to freedom and I’m tempted to speed right along with them.
“Good show,” I say, getting on my knees, and Chloe yanks me right back over to her.
“Oh no, you don’t. It’s time for a picture with just you, me, and the baby.” She stretches that T-shirt over her bare belly and straddles her legs on either side of me. “Get down and kiss it.”
I inch back, looking at Chloe as if her daily bout of insanity has just kicked in.
Her eyes enlarge dangerously as if she were threatening me with a curse if I didn’t comply, and I have no doubt she is.
“Fine,” I say it curt, just as threatening. At this point, I’m not sure if Chloe wants a show for Lexy or something she considers high art to hang on the wall. The thought of her doing just that makes me cringe. Skyla will undoubtedly see it. The sight of the malfeasance will singe her soul. And if I’m being truthful, it might actually infuriate her—and that seems to be my mission in this new life of mine.
I lower myself to Chloe’s bulbous frame and press my lips gently over the tip of her belly and hold my pose while Lexy moans and surges as her camera shutters at dangerous speeds. Chloe cradles my head, digs her fingers into my hair, and I have no doubt she’s getting off on this.
“Got it!” Lexy cheers. “Such a phenomenal picture! Okay, now stand. Gage, you get behind her and form your hands in the shape of a heart over her stomach.”
We do as we’re told and Chloe does her best to burrow her bottom into my crotch as Lexy goes on a shooting spree.
“Perfect!” Lexy cries. “Got it. Got it.” She pulls back and studies the backside of her camera for a moment. “Okay, so I like to wrap it up with a smooching sesh. It brings good juju to my camera. Smack her one, Gage.”
It would be my privilege to smack her, but I’m not kissing Chloe. I’ve done that enough already, a peck at our faux nuptials last winter—for the camera, that is. Wesley was unlucky enough to kiss her at the original ceremony in the throne room right before they set the sheets on fire, literally.
“Can’t do it.” I’m quick to offer an apologetic shrug to Chloe. “I’ve got a sore throat and I don’t want to get you or the baby sick.”
Chloe’s eyes widen, then retract. “Wait a minute. You can’t get sick. You have a new body.”
“And I haven’t been to the Tree of Life in months. That’s the deal, remember? I need to replenish. My throat hurts. Who knows what kind of hybrid crap I’m capable of.” None of it is true. I’m actually not even sure if it were possible, but I think it’s safe to say I don’t owe Chloe Bishop an ounce of truth and we both know it.
Lexy scoffs. “Aw, come on. At least fake a smooch. No tongue. Make it look juicy, though. All this equipment is a pain in the ass to set up. I’m not coming back in a week just because you’re feeling better.”
Chloe slits those dark eyes my way. There’s a fury in her I haven’t seen in a good long while. Certainly it’s one that hasn’t been directed at me in a very long time, if ever.
“Do it, Gage. And make it look real.”
Lexy may have said it because she bought the bull I was slinging, but Chloe is demanding it because she knows the facts. Chloe and I are a sham, a shell of wedded bliss, and she knows it. I never promised her a rose garden or a slice of my ass night after night. That baby in her belly should be more than enough to satisfy her.
“Right now,” Chloe snips and I study her with dismay for a moment.
Here I am, right where I never wanted to be.
Dear Skyla, the lengths I will go to love you have no reasonable bounds. It is all insanity out here in deep space without you. All of my formidable affection for you is the only thing that keeps me going.
“Come on, come on!” Lexy harps, already looking through the eyepiece.
“Yes. Just one careful kiss.” I glower at Chloe a moment before closing my eyes and landing my lips to hers. Chloe’s mouth is soft but intrusive, demanding as she moans and presses against me as if she were about to infiltrate without my permission, but I hold strong, and soon enough Lex announces it’s a wrap.
Chloe backs up, lancing me with her eyes before putting on a cheery front for Lex and helping her put away her things in record time. But according to Chloe’s body language, the way she’s refusing to acknowledge me, her stiff movements, the haste in which her hands jam Lexy out the door, I know for a fact I’ve finally managed to push my new wife to the limit. And as pleased as a part of me is with the endeavor of pissing Chloe off, the far more logical part of me understands I’ve just skated my way onto paper-thin ice.
No sooner is Lexy out of our airspace than Chloe herds the boys back into the room and puts on a movie for them. My heart warms for a moment looking at the miniature versions of myself as they sit shoulder to shoulder just the way Logan and I did when we were kids, mesmerized by whatever they’re watching.
Chloe yanks me by the arm and violently drags me to the kitchen, slamming me against the steel fridge in a show of fury.
She steps in, her eyes glowing with fire. “You don’t humiliate me like that ever again in front of my friends. If I ask for a kiss, you will damn well give it to me.” Her lips are trembling, but Chloe is far from tears.
I step in close, my own fury percolating. “Then don’t ask for one.” I pierce her aggressive gaze with my own.
She takes a breath, her fury quickly morphing into shock. Chloe Bishop has never been spoken to that way. Scratch that, Chloe Bishop is always spoken to that way with the exception of me.
