Page 102 of Holding Penalty

“Things were normal for a while. We were planning our wedding. Then, one weekend, I was supposed to be in Austin for team stuff while she was in LA for a photoshoot, but my coach let me take a day off to go surprise her. I walked into the apartment we still kept in LA, and found her in bed with another man.”

Piper’s jaw drops. “No.”

I shrug. Even though I’ve long come to accept Bridgett as no great loss, it still stings when I think about it.

Except this time. This time, it doesn’t sting. This time, when I shrug, it really does feel like a weight falls off my back.

“It was a photographer she was working with. Turns out, they had a whole plan. Bridgett was going to marry me, stay with me for a year or two, maybe even three, and then divorce me, taking half of my money to start her real life with him.”

“That’s awful.” Sympathy and disgust show in Piper’s eyes.

I shrug again, giving her a reassuring smile. “Sure. But it’s in the past now. Honestly, it’s never felt more in the past than this moment. It’s never mattered less.”

We’re still washing dishes. Piper’s focusing on really scrubbing one clean, even though it’s already spotless. A thoughtful look is taking up her face.

“Do you still feel that way? The way you described earlier? That maybe you’re not capable of feeling the spark? Feeling the extra something that lets you know you’re in love?”

“For a long time, I did.”

“But now?”

I take a deep breath through my nose. “Not anymore.”

Piper turns to me. A charge thickens the air between us. The tiny hairs on the nape of my neck stand up.

“What changed it?” she asks.

“Living with my wife.”

Piper’s eyes widen, breath catching silently in her throat.

I take a step forward, feeling like the electricity threading through the air crackles against my chest as my body moves closer to Piper. I bring my hand to the side of her neck, letting my thumb brush against her pulse point.

“I hate to sound cheesy, but everything changed when I started living with my wife. With you. Really, everything changed when I saw you walking alone on the side of the road and grumbled to myself because I couldn’t drive by without picking you up. What I didn’t know was that you were going to be the one picking me up, putting pieces of my heart back together that I thought I’d lost, or just never had.”

Piper’s body shifts closer to mine. Keeping my left hand on the side of her neck, I plant my right on her waist, pulling her closer so our chests brush together.

“I feel that something every day now, Piper. That extra something that lets me know I’m in love. Because I feel nothing but that when I’m with you.”

The surprise on Piper’s face slowly melts into a soft look. A playful smile hitches on her lips.

“Are you saying that you’re in love with me, Nash Miller?” she asks with a coy tease that makes me smile, too.

“I’m saying that I love you, Piper Dashwood.”

“In that case, I’d better admit that I love you, too.”

My heart is twisting and swirling, like it’s writing her name in cursive in my chest.

“Your heart’s racing,” I say, feeling her pulse beating fast against the pad of my thumb.

“I’m a little scared,” she says, still smiling. She lets out a shallow chuckle. “This feels like more than the just sex we agreed to.”

I grin. “I think it’s supposed to feel like more than just sex, with your husband.”

She laughs, letting her forehead drop onto my chest. Then she looks up at me. “I can’t believe I was going to go through with marrying Crew if it hadn’t been for you. Because if this is what love feels like—that was never it.”

“Baby, I’d rather fake marry you than really marry anyone else.”