“She is. Anyway, once I started to admit that it was possible the wife and kids were actually his, I’d also convinced myself that it could only be true if he were divorced and he was working his way up to telling me. But that wasn’t the case. We parked down the street—it was a Tuesday night—and watched the house from a distance. Forty-five minutes went by, and then a minivan pulled up.
“The woman from the photo popped out of the passenger side and started helping a toddler out of his seat behind her. And that’s when I saw the driver’s side fling open. One sight of his shoe hitting the driveway and I knew it was him.” The memory was like a thousand tiny knives stabbing at her insides.
“He looked like…I mean, if someone was trying to catch footage of the perfect, happy little family—a dad hoisting a small child out of the mini van, hurrying inside the home while some dog barked in the distance—that’s what it was.
“It was a total face slap, you know? I couldn’t come up with a proper excuse, but I was still trying to. Like, maybe he was terribly unhappy. Maybe they were on the verge of divorce. I didn’t think either of those were true, but even if they had been, it wouldn’t have made what he’d done alright. He pretended he was someone that he wasn’t, made me fall in love with someone who didn’t even exist.”
Kat took in the horrified expression on Duke’s face. “Kat, that’s…terrible. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
“I’m not,” she said. “I mean, I’m sorry that his wife had to go through it, but it made me wiser. I knew that—no matter what I did, no matter who I married—I would never fall for a man who wasn’t who he said he was.”
She reached up, slid a hand along his jaw, and gave him a soft smile. “It’s the reason I was drawn to this experiment. And so far, I’m very happy with the guy they picked.”
* * *
Just when Zander thought he was safe…
While Kat explained the details of her unfaithful ex, Zander’s anger level spiked sky-high. The guy sounded like an absolute lowlife. There he was, gifted with a beautiful wife and kids, and the loser was out there preying on a trusting woman like Kat.
Yet just as Zander’s indignation began to bloom, Kat dropped a bomb. Of course, in his eyes, he and Bradley had nothing in common. Except then she’d narrowed the betrayal down in different terms: He lied about who he was.
This situation was nothing like that one though. Kat couldn’t possibly be as angry about what he’d done, which was simply step in for his brother to spare Kat and her family humiliation. And, of course, to spare the Benton family from a massive lawsuit and public disgrace.
Zander leaned over the bathroom sink, flicked on the cold water, and used his hands to splash his face. Don’t lose your cool, man. It’s fine. It’s fine.
Only the sharp knot of guilt in his gut said otherwise. Water dripped from his face as he reached blindly for a hand towel. He dabbed his skin, wishing he could only sop up the guilt with as much ease. Instead, it was growing, each inhale seeming to pump new life into the awakening of what he’d done.
Not only had Zander pretended to be someone he wasn’t—for the whole world to see, no less—he’d kept up the charade in the privacy of their honeymoon getaway. A rash of heat broke over his face, defying all effects of his cold-water splash. It felt as if everything they’d eaten that night was gathering forces, ready to push its way up his throat in a scorching revolt. Every sense in him screamed a common demand—he had to tell her.
Right now.
Ready or not.
Forget what Duke had said about making sure she was in love with him first. Duke had no idea what it was like to be on this end of things. No one did. Zander wanted a pass. Some get-out-of-the-doghouse-free card for not coming up with the plan in the first place. For refusing to do it even, until… well until he caved and did it anyway. He could blame Duke all he wanted, but the fact was, Zander could have said no.
If he’d have done the right thing, he’d have…what, told the network at the last minute that Duke wasn’t coming? Leave them scrambling on live TV, with no choice but to villainize the billion dollar family who thought they could buy their way out of anything?
“Well, this is stupid,” he muttered, squaring a look at his reflection. He was going in circles. And no matter who was to blame for all of this, one fact remained—Zander needed to come clean. He’d walk out there, explain the whole thing, and apologize for carrying it out so long. He’d take the blame, he’d beg for forgiveness even, but what he wouldn’t do, despite the outcome of the moments to follow, was regret what he’d done; it’s what led him to Kat.
Chapter 17
Kat watched the door with anxious anticipation, ready to act as soon as it showed signs of opening. The pillows in her grip were light, fluffy, and sure to lighten up the mood after the deep and frankly dark conversation about her past relationship.
She squeezed her fingers tighter around the fluff as the doorknob jostled. Before he could even make an appearance, Kat flung one of the pillows toward the open crack.
“Whoa, what the…”
She hurled the next one harder and watched with delight as it clocked him on the side of his head. Kat couldn’t control the giggles as she ran down the hall and toward her stockpile—all the bed and throw pillows she could gather.
“You’re ready to play, are you?” he hollered from behind.
“Yes,” she said while snatching a throw pillow off the heap. Yet as she reached for another, a blurry streak darted into her periphery. In one perfectly-aimed strike, the pillow smacked Kat’s hand away from the pile.
And then it was on. In a whirl of flying pillows, drifting feathers, and growing laughter, Duke battled Kat in a proper pillow fight. What started in the front room quickly moved to the foyer, and the dining room, before circling back around once more.
A pattern developed along the way. Kat getting him good, Duke seeking revenge while she hurried off and into the next room, ammunition balled in each fist as she ran.
This time Kat darted toward the bedroom. Her stomach ached from the laughter. Even her face hurt, fixed in a wide grin of amusement. As fun as the rumble had been, she was running out of steam.
