Page 13 of About That Rule

He gave her a crooked grin. “How committed are you to playing house?”

“If you expect me to wear an apron, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”

Hmm, Samantha in an apron—only an apron—sounded sexy as hell. He took a deep breath to remove the naughty image of her from his head. He didn’t need his dick getting hard, let alone when it came to their sleeping arrangements.

“Are you going to be disappointed if we have to share a bed?”

She laughed, loud and unrestrained. When she got herself together, she said, “Nate, that’s what I figured. Your couch is more for show when you need to bring clients here to sign paperwork. No offense, but it isn’t the best for sleeping. Whenever I visit, we always pass out on your bed. What would be different this time around?”

What would be different? She had a point. To him, ever since they’d tied the knot, he’d had thoughts about Samantha he’d never had before. That was the difference.

It was up to him not to make a move.

FRIDAY NIGHT INNew York City was exactly what Samantha needed. Nate took her out for dinner, where she took loads of pictures of them to prove they were at least trying to fall in love. It was all pretend, but they would work. The judge would be pleased to see how goofy they were together. In almost every smiling picture, one of them was making a silly face. When she was looking at the pictures on her phone, one stood out to her as her favorite. It was when she took a selfie and Nate jumped in the picture and kissed her cheek. She would frame that one because it was cute and they were both just enjoying the moment.

After dinner, they went for drinks and dancing. It was the quintessential New York night out. By the time they got back to Nate’s apartment, it was after two in the morning. They drank as much water as possible, not making another amateur move like Vegas, and fell asleep watching Netflix in his room.

Oh, how Netflix and chill had changed for her.

In the morning, she stretched in bed and noticed someone was missing.

“Nate,” she pseudo-yelled as she walked out of his bedroom.

There he was, brushing his teeth, the bathroom door wide open. She was unable to move as she open-mouth appreciated the view. Nate was hot—all her friends constantly mentioned it, and duh, she wasn’t blind. Nate without a shirt was even hotter with his natural muscle on display. But Nate wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist was jaw dropping. Were her eyes fooling her, or was Nate packing down there?

Geesh. This whole no sex thing was really messing with her.

“You want to go out for breakfast?” Nate asked when he looked over his shoulder in her direction.

She shook her head, mostly to stop drooling over him. “It’s almost lunch time.”

“Do you think they stop serving breakfast because of that?”

“No, but I’ll need an hour to get ready. Will you still want breakfast then?”

Nate stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to her. He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “My wife is so high maintenance.”

She tapped him on the nose. “My husband appreciates it.”

“Like how you appreciate me in a towel?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I caught you staring.”

Samantha playfully swatted him away. “Trust me, you’ll be the one staring later. It’s all part of the high maintenance effect.”

“Sure, Sammy.” He walked to his room without bothering to turn around.

This new flirting between them was fun. It was like they didn’t want their skills to get rusty over the next few months of celibacy. Nothing was going to come out of it. It was innocent, really. Either way, she was making sure he was the one to stare tonight.

THEIR PARTY STARTEDat eight, which meant no one arrived until nine. Samantha swore it was a New York thing, being fashionably late, but either way, it bought her more time.

It had been a productive day. They’d been able to go to lunch and buy all the food and drinks they needed, which obviously meant lots of champagne. Whether they were happy about their union didn’t mean the celebration should suffer. Luck had been on her side because she’d also been able to swing in a nap and had still gotten ready in time. She’d spent an excruciating amount of time making sure Nate would be the one salivating over her. It was hard for her to forget how sexy it had been seeing water dripping down Nate in only a towel. The man oozed hotness. It was like she’d never appreciated how sexy he was until now. Talk about bad timing.

She wore a black lace dress that hugged her tightly, showing off all her curves. The dress was one of her favorites because it came mid-thigh and was long sleeved but had an open back. She liked to call this look librarian in the front, party in the back.

On a normal day, Samantha’s dark hair fell straight down below her shoulders. Tonight, however, she’d been aiming for a glamorous style to match her sexy dress. She set her hair in curlers while she applied smokey eye makeup and red lipstick. Okay, she’d had to multi-task and watch a YouTube video on how to do the makeup, but it had worked.

After she released the curlers, she smiled. She was a sex-vixen. Nate was definitely going to break his neck looking at her. It made her smile, the idea of him checking her out.

Soft music played in the background, and she heard the pop of a champagne bottle. The whole theme for the evening was Bubbly and Babes. She made sure she was in charge of the e-vite so everyone dressed up and was prepared to party. If she would have left it to Nate, he would have just sent a text message telling people about the night.