What do you want to eat tonight?
Do not make me dinner, came Jace’s reply.
Noah’s heart sank. He wasn’t the best cook in the world, but he didn’t think he was that bad.
Why?
Because it’s my turn.
Noah couldn’t stop himself from letting out a tiny aww. Jace was sweet. The fact that he was still available was a mystery to Noah. He was going to make someone extremely happy one day.
Let me do it tonight to thank you, and you can do it tomorrow?
The pause before the reply came was longer this time. Noah wondered if he’d caught Jace right at the end of a break and was intruding on his personal time. He didn’t want to do that. He wanted to make as little negative impact on Jace’s life as he could.
Fine. But you gotta shop, cause there’s nothing in the fridge.
Noah laughed at that.I noticed. I’ll shop.
You’re a good fiancé.
Shut up, Noah texted back. He could feel himself blushing. He knew this was all make-believe, but it would serve as one hell of a practice run for the real thing. Up to and including how nice it felt to have someone appreciate your presence.
Noah had never had his heart set on marriage, exactly—he wanted a family someday, but he’d never thought about the route to it before. This was nice so far, though. Even without the kind of love a marriage was usually based on, it was good to know someone had your back—and was about to be legally obliged to continue to have your back.
He wondered if Jace felt the same way. Not that it mattered. They were just in this until Noah could get his immigration status sorted out.
In any case, it was nice to feel as though Jace wanted him around. Especially enough to go through all this crap for him. It may not have been romantic love, hearts and flowers, but Noah felt very loved, all the same.
He could handle three years of this. They’d basically be roommates. Once they got married on Monday, their lives would go back to normal.
Noah had been avoiding thinking about the wedding. They were just going to the county clerk’s office to sign papers, but the small ceremony was mandatory. He hoped that his nervousness about it would read as excitement, that it wouldn’t be too obvious that he’d never intended to marry Jace.
Research told him that they didn’t even need to exchange rings, so maybe it really was just a formality. That was definitely how Noah intended to play it, anyway. As though he’d been in love with Jace for a long time, and they were just now signing paperwork for their own mutual benefit.
It’d be fine. No one would notice that their hearts weren’t in it.
Chapter Six
Jace spent the whole wedding ceremony with his stomach in knots, aware that once they got to the end, he was going to have to kiss Noah. He should have suggested they practice, or discussed it with him first, but by the time he remembered it was a thing, it was too late. They were already filling out paperwork.
There was no way he could get away with not doing it. The clerk seemed excited for them, after Noah had explained that they’d been keeping their relationship a secret for a long time, but they were finally ready to be together in public. It was a better backstory than Jace could have come up with.
All he could think of wasthis is Noah, he’s my best friend, and I don’t want him to leave me. It was true, but it was a good way to get themselves in trouble with immigration from day one.
The story that they were in love with each other had to hold up. He was supposed to say things likelove of my lifeand… other stuff, probably. Jace had never really met anyone he wanted to marry before, so he wasn’t clear on the details of how in love with them you had to be.
He was pretty sure it was generally expected that you’d know how to kiss them, though. They’d moved way past the era of virgin brides, and he was almost certain that Noah wouldn’t have qualified, anyway. He knew he didn’t. This was where it could all go to hell, if he didn’t make kissing Noah look real.
Jace was so worried about the moment coming up that he nearly missed it. One second, Noah was repeating after the clerk, beaming up at Jace, and the next there was a pause.
Backing out now wasn’t an option. It wasn’t even that he wanted to back out, exactly. He just wanted to avoid an awkward kiss.
Jace braced himself, figuring it was only awkward if he made it that way. He dipped his head, his stomach swooping as he made contact with Noah’s lips.
To Jace’s surprise, it wasn’t all that different to kissing a girl. It wasn’t gross, it didn’t feel fundamentally wrong, and it wasn’t like kissing your brother, either. Not that Jace had a brother, nor would he have kissed him if he existed.
He didn’t intend to make a habit of it, but it was nice. He liked kissing in general, and this was… kissing. Like pretty much all other kissing. Noah’s lips were soft, and he did have a little stubble, but it didn’t bother Jace. A lot of the girls he’d kissed hadn’t had baby-soft skin either, because real life wasn’t like that.
