“It’s hard,” she said softly. “Always having to be strong. It’s exhausting.”
“Yeah. I know all about that.” I dropped a line of light kisses across her cheek. “But I’ll block the hits for you now. It’s your turn to take it easy. You can rest.”
A nod, another yawn. “I’m not an unhinged ex-girlfriend who can’t let go.”
“I know you’re not.” It was a risk but I added, “Though I need you to stop letting him have this hold over you. You don’t deserve that and he’s not worth the energy.”
“I know but?—”
“No,” I said, brushing my lips along her jaw. “The best revenge is forgetting all about him. Can you do that for me?”
She dragged her fingers up my arm, back under my shirt. I almost ripped the thing off to let her explore but then she stopped, gathering the fabric in her fist.
“I’ll forget him but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever forgive or that I’ll stop being angry.” She must’ve read something in my expression—probably the realization that shewouldmurderpeople with her eyes if she had the capacity—because she went on. “Isn’t there anyone in your life, any of yourmanyexes?—”
“There’s not that many.”
“—who never fails to make you want to scream and smash things with a baseball bat?”
I held her tight because she kept shifting and no one had invited a hard-on to this conversation. “Not really, no.”
“It doesn’t matter how long it’s been but whenever you see them or hear about them, it’s like chewing on tree bark. It’s awful and you hate it and everything tastes terrible for the rest of the day. And you also want to smash things.”
She turned her big eyes up at me. All I could think about was staring into those eyes when I’d laid her down and pushed inside her last night. Which wasn’t useful or remotely appropriate at this moment but she wasright hereand she was touching me and I couldn’t help it.
She drummed her fingers on my bicep. “It’s not like that with Poppy?”
I blinked. “Who?”
“Poppy,” she said, as if enunciating would jog my memory. “Singer. Purple hair. Posh little British accent.”
“Oh, no.” I scowled. “Why would you think that?”
“The song!” she cried, shifting her knees to either side of my lap to face me. The sweatshirt rode high on her thighs, concealing very, very little. Not a great development as far as my restraint went. “The one she wrote about you! Aren’t you chewing on tree bark every time you see her?”
“No, and I’m going to explain why.” I held up a finger and tapped it to her nose. “One. I can’t remember the last time I saw her.”
“Her music is everywhere. Including that song about you.”
“Two,” I went on, tapping two fingers to her top lip. I fucking loved that lip. “That song isn’t about me.” Her eyes flared andshe wanted to argue but I held those fingers to her mouth. “And three, I’m not legally permitted to disclose this but we’re married so I’ll tell you that relationship consisted of carefully arranged public appearances and nothing more.”
“Oh, so, you have experience with this setup,” she said, gesturing between us. “Makes so much sense.”
“Quiet, wife.” I reached for her hand and straightened the ring perched on her finger. “You know that’s not what we’re doing.”
She tried to roll her eyes but didn’t pull off more than a lazy wink. “Why did you need a fake relationship with Poppy Hemphill, then?”
“I didn’t. She did.” I shrugged as I kissed her knuckles, her fingertips. Dragged the pad of her ring finger between my teeth and watched while her eyes widened when I bit down. “Her label needed to build her reputation up in the States. The label’s parent company also owns the luxury car company that’d just offered me a massive endorsement deal. Do the math, Muggsy.”
She shook her head like she needed to carefully sift that information into the rest of her consciousness. But she was still a little drunk and the headshake involved her entire body. “Then who’s the song about?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“But everyone thinks it’s you!”
“And?” She waved her arms at me like I was intentionally missing the point, and what little patience I had for this topic snapped. “Is there a demographic that believes I’m a dick because some part of that song lines up with something they saw on the internet? Yeah. Aside from the issues with closing the franchise deal, I’m not losing sleep over it and neither should you.”
“But what about other exes?” she asked. “There has to be someone you’re still bitter about.”
