Page 29 of Just (Fake) Married (Calloways vs. McGraws #1)

“We continued writing to each other though. So many emails. So when you came back after your dad died and we saw each other again…”

“I thought you looked beautiful,” he said.

“Huh?”

“That day with the alpacas. You had your cute hat on and your wild hair was blowing out from underneath it and I thought, Harmony Calloway grew into a beautiful woman.”

“Oh,” I said, trying not to let his words affect me, but it was impossible. “Anyway, everyone knows the story from there. I got a little tipsy at The Last Stand.”

“I kissed your neck,” he reminded me.

My body chose that moment to remember exactly how that felt. “You proposed that night. I accepted and we eloped the next day.”

“Got it,” he said, taking the last bite of grilled cheese. “I’m fully prepared for the town meeting tonight. What will happen, you think?”

“We will nominate a chairperson to head the committee for festival planning. And we’ll suggest ideas to make the event even bigger. I’m warning you now, some of these suggestions will be a little crazy, but everyone’s heart should be in the right place.”

“And you want to be this chairperson, right?” he asked me.

Of course I wanted to be the chairperson. But every year, that job fell to Leroy McGraw as the de-facto leader of this town.

This year was going to be different.

“I do,” I said. “But I’m sure half the town wants to be chairperson.”

“It should be you,” Ethan continued. “You love this town more than anyone else. And this town loves you.”

Again, it was so strange being seen by him. Admired for things that other people took for granted or didn’t respect. It was the kind of support a woman wanted from a partner. A husband. It was heady.

Just then, my bag tipped and more scraps of paper and lip gloss and cap less pens clattered onto the desk. I scooped up the junk and shoved it back in my purse, planning, always planning, to clean it out later.

I looked up from my mess to see that he had a piece of paper that had escaped my purse in his hands.

“What’s this?” he finally asked, and lifted the paper up so I could see it.

Jesus, Mary and Tom Hanks.

It was my resolution list.

“Nothing,” I said, and tried to swipe it out of his hands. But like a jerk, he held it out of reach.

“See, it doesn’t seem like nothing. It seems like something.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s a New Year’s Resolution list,” he said. I reached for it again, lunging across the counter only for him to hold it out of reach.

“You’re too late, honey,” he whispered with an evil grin. “I’ve read it.”

He stroked my cheek with his finger and my skin tingled like he’d brushed me with electricity.

“You got a pencil in this bag of tricks?” he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he dug through my purse, finding two pens, one pencil and a marker without a cap.

“Okay,” he said, clicking the ball point pen. “This water one is good. We should all be drinking more water. I’ll join you on that one.” He circled the first resolution.

My body made a whimpering sound of embarrassment and defeat.

“Be nicer to the McGraws. Well, I’d say you can check that off. Married to one is probably above and beyond, but you have always been kind of an overachiever.”

“Oh God,” I moaned into my hands.

“Now, you went from move out to clean out the apartment above the store. I’d say you’ve moved out, so let’s put a check there. And like the water one, I can help you with the cleaning up of the apartment.”

“I don’t need your help,” I said.

“Okay. But I can lift heavy things and that might come in handy.”

He licked the end of the pen and I buried my head in my arms, knowing what was about to happen.

“Now, this last one here is very interesting.”

“No, it’s not,” I said, but it was muffled by my arms.

“You’ve crossed out have more sex. Which is too bad.”

I remembered what I’d thought about it when I crossed it off. Like getting to the moon on a paper airplane. It was too out of reach to even consider. Only now, with him, it could be in reach, except I’d put up all these stop signs.

And now he would know that I was fighting my own desires as much as I was fighting him. All of this embarrassment was going to kill me.

“But what you replaced it with is very interesting,” he said. “More making out. Making out.” He said it a few times like he was testing out the words. Putting the emphasis on a weird syllable: “Mak-ING out. MAK-ing out. Making OUT.”

I put a pause on my own death-by-blushing to look up at him and chuckle at the funny faces he was making.

“Let me propose a new resolution,” he said, writing something on my list.

“Ethan,” I breathed.

When he looked at me his eyes were burning blue. “I don’t want to hurt you, Harmony. But I do want to fuck you.”

The words went through me like a sledge hammer and I had to grip the counter or fall right off my stool.

“We said-”

“I know what we said,” he cut me off. “But what if we made sure to keep it uncomplicated?”

Certainly, my body was in full agreement.

Except my heart. My heart was putting on the brakes. My heart was trying to be reasonable. My heart was scared.

“And here it is in writing,” he said with a cheeky grin. “You want it too.”

He folded the note up and pushed it across the counter towards me. Then, like it was no big deal, he started cleaning up our takeout bags and containers.

With one eye on him, I opened the note.

My throat nearly closed as I looked at the addition to my resolution list. Under have more sex he’d written a series of bullet points, like an agreement.

For the length of our marriage.

With complete and utter respect to ground rules.

You say stop, we stop.

Total and complete fidelity, whether we do this or not.

I fucking want you, Harmony.

Hands shaking, I folded the note and tucked it in my pocket.

This was actually the closest I’d ever gotten to a love letter. Was that sad? Or amazing?

My heart was beating so hard it was all I could hear. I could feel it in my eyeballs. I opened my mouth. Shut it. Opened it again. Aware the whole time that he was watching me. Not saying anything. Just tossing out trash.

Like a monster.

“Oh shit,” he said, looking at his watch and then getting to his feet. “We’ve got to get over to that meeting.”