She lay on her side, hair scattered over the pillow, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. Peaceful and pretty.
I sat on the edge of the mattress. It dipped.
“Jessa,” I whispered, brushing a knuckle along her shoulder.
“Griffin?” She stirred, lashes fluttering.
I took her left hand and slid the ring home and then linked our fingers together.
“You were right. I was wrong. We’ll amend the contract and add the clause: ‘Jessa may put Griffin in his place as needed.’”
A sleepy snort. “Might be daily.”
“Probably.” My mouth twitched. “And we’ll tell Sophie together next time we see her.”
She squeezed my hand, still half in dreams. “Okay. Thank you. First fight, right?”
“Probably the first of many.”
“Then kiss me to make up.”
I bent and took what she offered, kissing her mouth first, then dipping lower to her pulse. Down the column of her neckmy lips grazed, and further still along her creamy, smooth skin to her cleavage. She moaned—until a door down the hall clicked.
Her eyes flew wide. “Theo’s up.”
“Rain check later tonight?”
“I’d like that.” A flicker of worry chased across her face as she got up. “My stomach’s a little off this morning.”
“Still a bug left over from the other day?”
She shrugged. “I just wonder if we’re doing the right thing, telling Theo.”
“You don’t think I’ve thought about that? What kind of father would I be if I didn’t consider the ramifications our contract could have on him?”
“I didn’t mean any slight toward you.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “If he heard anything about us from someone else, he’d be upset. We could be in the social pages tomorrow, and someone like Clare could bring it up in front of Theo at school drop-off. We can’t hide this from him.”
“But our contract has an expiration date. What then?”
Shit. Having a fake fiancée became complicated. Wasn’t this whole thing started on the premise that it would make things easier for me with the IPO?
I didn’t want a stranger as my fake fiancée, but a stranger would have been easier for Theo to dismiss in the end. Jessa would be hard for him to get over. Unless there wasn’t an end to our contract…
What am I saying? Of course there would be. This was temporary. But I understood her concerns about Theo.
He was a baby back when Elsa left us. They had little connection to begin with, and he always took it in stride that she wasn’t an active part of his life. She visited the U.S. a few times a year, and she sent cards and gifts from her travels now and then. He never seemed bothered by it, but then I’d always tried to be everything he needed.
Things were different with Jessa, and he was older now. Definitely more complicated.
“If you’re not ready to tell him today, we could wait,” she offered.
“No. We need to do it now. Don’t worry. Follow my lead.”
“If you think that’s best.” She nodded and slipped into the bathroom.
I left and found Theo in the kitchen, already rummaging through the pantry.
