“For our dinner date?” I toss a sweet and sour smile up at him. “With your COFFEE business partners?” See, this is Darcy’s idea of a date: blending business with pleasure. He hasn’t learned to separate the two. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending time withhim wherever or with whomever, but when I’m having to act as his wife and campaign manager while on a “date,” it’s not exactly ideal.
He hasn’t planned a single date for us. Just the two of us. Out of the public eye where we can just be together without the pressures of this real-but-fake marriage.
“Don’t worry, Hayden,” he says, completely misreading me. “I’ll still kiss you on the doorstep when we get home tonight as if we are parting ways instead of walking inside these four walls together.”
I snort at the idea of this mansion having a mere four walls, but Darcy seems to take that as proof I’m feeling better. I’m not, but as he smiles softly at me and places a chaste kiss on my lips, I let my frustrations melt away into understanding.
He’s in the middle of a presidential campaign and a marriage ruse, and I’m at the heart of both. This has to be our version of dating right now. We don’t get the luxury of down time just for the two of us. Darcy has made it clear and reiterated over and over again that he likes me and wants me and is in this with me. Because that’s the type of man he is—determined. Once he sets his mind to something, there’s no stopping him.
“Will you kiss me inside, too?” I ask, batting my eyelashes in a dramatic way that makes him roll his eyes.
But then the icy blue color darkens. “I’ll kiss you wherever and whenever, Divine Princess.”
He makes good on this promise for a solid minute before his personal assistant takes him away from me so he can join in on a virtual meeting with somediplomats.
I stand dumbfounded that this is real life, wondering when Darcy Marshall became so much more than a man I simply tolerated for my career. Edith Hamilton was right; “Love cannot live where there is no trust.”
Trust.
It all comes back to those five letters.
Trust is not built from love; love is built out of trust.
The two crossed-shaped letters stand sturdy on either side of the word like a protective barrier. That’s what trust is. It’s knowing you are safe. Protected.
With Darcy, I am those things.
He, alongside God, make the two t’s on either side of my life.
I don’t know when I came to need Darcy, but I do.
And the idea of ever dissolving this marriage sends spiders straight to my stomach.
“Hayden, we need you in the conference room!”
I startle, following the voice to find Paul at the edge of the hallway, breathing heavy, eyes set with panic.
“What’s wrong?”
“Loveless is running his mouth again. He’s saying Mr. Marshall is paying you to be his wife, and unfortunately, he says he has proof.”
The earth tilts on its axis, and everything that once felt safe, secure, and steady crumbles beneath my feet. The earth rocks, the ground opens, and down the rabbit hole I tumble.
“Wh-what?”
Paul’s frantic expression hardens. “Listen, Hayden. I don’t know what the two of you are doing. It’s not my position to callit love or not. I trust both of you and know that neither of you would do something to intentionally sabotage this campaign. But the team needs the truth, and then we have to figure out how to manage this.”
I nod once, not trusting my voice.
And for once in my life, I wish Darcy was by my side.
I need my shield to take some of these bullets for me.
Following on my assistant manager’s heels, my mind whirs. How did Loveless find out? We were so careful. Only told people we trusted. Had our bank sign NDAs. What receipt is he bringing to the table? Should we lie to the public or come clean?
I step through the double doors and into our meeting room. All eyes turn to me, waiting. Examining. Wondering.
“It’s true.”
