“Only because a small-town medical clinic was the best I could do. But at least it’d be mine. Or it would be if Dr. Dicknose stopped fucking around and agreed to sell already.”
“He’s still dragging his feet?”
“He’s refused to even look at the proposal I sent over.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, finally voicing the thought that had been bouncing around in my head for weeks. “What if we did this all for nothing?”
“We didn’t,” he said firmly, his tone laced with something I couldn’t name. “We still have Chelsea’s wedding.”
“Right.” The whole reason he’d agreed to this in the first place. “I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“What if I like you when you’re not?”
“I can do that, too.”
He hummed low in his throat, then said, “Your parents are complete shitheads.”
It was so out of the blue that I couldn’t stop the laugh from bursting free.
He shifted me so I was straddling his lap and wrapped his arms around me, holding me against his chest. “I’m serious. You don’t have to put up with it. Youshouldn’t. In fact, next time they call, I’ll answer the phone and tell them to fuck off.”
“I can’t just…stop talking to them.”
“Why not? You’re amazing, and they’re assholes for making you doubt that. Why would you want to invite that into your life?”
“I don’t,” I murmured, but I didn’t know how to tell him that part of me felt like I didn’t deserve to be free of them. Part of me believed their lies. And part of me—the little girl inside still desperate for her parents’ approval—still yearned for the kind of loving relationship I now knew they’d never give me.
Almost as if he could hear my thoughts, he said, “You shouldn’t listen to anything they say, kitten. You’re gorgeous and kind and so fucking smart. And if I have to tell you that every day for the rest of your life until you believe it, I will.”
My eyes burned as I let his words sink into me. Could it really be that easy? To just…stop talking to them? Put up a boundary and cut off that part of my life—the part that only ever brought me pain and suffering—and be rid of them once and for all?
I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure it was something I could actually do, but knowing I had his support if I ever chose to lightened something inside me.
I snuggled into his chest, letting him hold me. Letting him comfort me after I’d been weathering this storm on my own for so long. He tightened his arms around me, dropping his head so his lips pressed against my neck. After long moments, I shifted to sit back, but he just squeezed me tighter.
“Not yet,” he murmured into my neck.
Tears clogged my throat for an entirely different reason as I relaxed back into him, closing my eyes as I returned his embrace.
Had I ever felt this cared for…this loved…this precious…in my whole life? I didn’t think so. In fact, I knew so. This was a first for me.
And how sad was it that I was finally feeling it now with the one person I wasn’t supposed to keep?
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
QUINN
Tonight was the night.
Nothing had yet come of my offer to purchase the clinic. Dr. Dicknose was actively ignoring me, which meant next week, I was going to have to pull out the gives-no-shit tack again.
Because of that, it made Ford’s ex’s wedding feel even more important. Like the entirety of our marriage sham was riding on this one single night and what came of it—if Ford would get out of this marriage what he’d hoped.
The event tonight was the whole reason Ford had agreed to this in the first place, so I needed to fulfill my end of the bargain. I needed to get this right because I didn’t want to let him down.
“Fuck me, you’re gorgeous.” Ford leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom, wearing an unbuttoned dark gray dress shirt, his black suit pants sitting low on his hips. Andgood God. I wasn’t sure I was going to survive this night in public with him.
He didn’t try to hide the slow perusal he gave me, his gaze skimming over my red wrap dress, eyes lingering a little too long on the deep V showcasing my breasts. Before I could give him shit about it, he stepped up right behind me.
“I have a present for you, kitten.”
