The situation that only a moment ago had been a hilarious stunt to shove in Patty’s face that would also net me a way out of my financial shitstorm is, all of a sudden, anything but funny.
“We’re actually married?” I look up into the face of myhusband.
Holy shit. That word makes the dance floor spin around me.
He nods once. His ridiculously handsome face is a mask of seriousness.
“For real? It’s not just pretend?”
He shakes his head. “We signed the contract. I assumed you knew.”
“I didn’t?—”
“Are you happy now?”
The voice jars me.
There’s only one person who can make this situation any worse than it already is. And of course, she’s found me.
Travis tightens his hold on me, pulling me closer to him, a small action I’m beyond grateful for as Patty pushes her way through the crowd to us.
“You just had to get married before me, didn’t you?” she spits at me the moment I turn around to face her. “You couldn’t let me have this one thing.”
“What?” I blink hard. “Are you serious right now?”
Judging by the very pissed-off look on her face, she is very serious. Clearly, I was right; she hadn’t expected me to go through with her little stunt. Hell, she probably didn’t even expect anyone to volunteer to be the groom.
“You must be my new sister-in-law that Maisey has told me so much about?” My mouth falls open as Travis extends his hand to her like the chivalrous cowboy I’m starting to realize he truly is.
“She’s told you about me?” Patty blushes and presses her left hand to her chest so her diamond engagement ring sparkles in the flashing lights. My stomach clenches the way it always does when I see the ring Carter gave to her instead of me.
Travis squeezes me a little tighter as he flashes her a charming smile. “Just enough,” he says smoothly. “And I understand you’re the one responsible for our happy union.”
Her mouth falls even further before she can catch herself. “I…well, I…this isn’t real!” She points at me. “There’s no way this…cowboy actually married you.”
“Oh, it’s very real, darlin’.” He’s suddenly adopted a very thick drawl that gives me the urge to burst out laughing. Somehow, I manage to swallow it.
“No.” Patty crosses her arms. “You couldn’t even get Carter to marry you after two years,” she fires the thing she knows will hurt me the most. “Why would this…” She waves her hand up and down to encompass every sexy inch of my husband. “Man,marryyou?You’re nothing. You’re just a broke artist whowasted all her money on a useless art history degree and can’t do better than a job at a stupid neighborhood coffee shop slinging lattes while your bills pile up.”
Just the way they always do, her words crack something inside me a little bit. I should be used to it by now. The way she attacks me with her words to break me down, making me feel useless and insignificant. She’s done it for most of our lives. And it only got worse when I started dating Carter. I’d been so sure we were going to get married and live happily ever after.
I had no idea Patty was filling his head full of lies about me. And even truths, too. That’s what hurt the worst. She used who I really was against me, until finally, he broke up with me with a text message.
I don’t know what hurt more. The text. Or the fact that he only waited forty-eight hours before showing up on the doorstep of our family home with a bouquet of roses…for Patty.
Either way, I’d completely dodged a bullet because who really wanted to marry a man who’d so easily dump you for your vapid stepsister?
Not me.
Still, it stung.
Especially when she brought up the fact that he’d chosen her over me. It didn’t help that she was tall, thin, and blonde with big boobs while I was... well, the exact opposite.
I bite my tongue because saying anything to Patty only makes everything worse. Plus, then Dad would call and ask why I wasn’t being nice to my stepsister on her big, important weekend, and the one thing I hated more than Patty was upsetting Dad.
So, I swallow all the words on the tip of my tongue, take a deep breath, and I’m about to turn my back when Travis slides the hand he’s kept around my shoulders down my back to rest on my ass and, in a very fancy and unexpected move, spins me into him. Hard.
My boobs are pressed up against the wall of muscle he calls a chest, which has my half-tipsy body reacting in all kinds of ways I can’t fully explain. But, like, a lot.
