Page 52 of Make-Believe Match

Then I was lost to it, the climax tearing through me with the force of a hurricane, my face buried in his neck, my mouth open in silent throes. He powered through a few more deep, hard thrusts before going plank stiff, buried deep inside me. Just as my orgasm was fading, his broke loose, and I was able to feel every single throb of him inside me.

I clung to him like a woman overboard.

And maybe I was.

TEN

devlin

We werebleary-eyed and dizzy with exhaustion the next morning, but we made it to the airport on time—barely.

“Caffeine,” moaned Lexi, the way a zombie moans for brains. “I need caffeine.”

“I’ll get us some.” I nudged her forward in line at security, smiling at her off-kilter bun, her mismatched socks, the dark circles under her eyes. I’d made good on that promise to fuck her all night long. And even going on less than a couple hours’ sleep, she was still beautiful.

She’d asked to wear the Two Buckleys sweatshirt again. Between that and the ring on her finger, I was experiencing some feelings that weren’t exactly normal for me when it came to women. Protective. A little possessive. Kind of caveman-like. I’d started calling herwifebecause I thought it was funny—and to be honest, just to poke at her because she was giving me such a hard time about the night we met—but I had to admit, the word kind of turned me on.

How fucking crazy was that?

I decided it had to be the game, the whole faking-it-for-a-limited-time thing. I’d never actually wanted a wife before, not in the sense that I wanted to be emotionally and physically beholden to one person for the rest of my life. That was too much. But this? Six months of shacking up as friends with benefits while we worked together on a project I was actually kind of excited about? A couple seasons full of nights like the one we’d just spent? Keeping each other warm while the weather turned cold?

Sign me up.

We got through security and picked up two large coffees on the way to our gate. Sinking into two seats near the window, we sipped coffee in silence for a few minutes. “I know we need to talk about what happens next, but I’m so fucking tired, I can’t think,” she said.

“Let’s just get home, okay? We can talk after we get a little rest.”

“Okay.” She finished her coffee and got up to throw the cup away. When she came back, she tipped her head onto my left shoulder and fell asleep. Switching my coffee to my right hand, I managed to wrap my left arm around her without waking her up, and she snuggled in as much as the seats would allow.

Her arms were wrapped around herself, and her wedding band caught my eye. I thought about my dad, about how he’d continued to wear his ring long after we lost my mom. How he’d never fallen in love again. How he continued to maintain her rose gardens in the yard, and every summer, he’d proudly bring some to her gravesite to show them off. He’d been so thoroughly devoted to her.

Looking at the ring I’d placed on Lexi’s finger, I felt a little guilty that we’d so flippantly entered into this short-lived marriage while people like my parents went into theirs believing in forever.

But that belief had been shattered, hadn’t it? So maybe there was no such thing. Maybe that belief only set you up for heartache anyway.

I finished my coffee and held on to the empty cup while Lexi slept. From time to time, she jumped, like maybe she was dreaming. When our zone was called for boarding, I squeezed her shoulder. “Lex. Time to go.”

“Huh?” She picked up her head.

“We’re boarding.”

“Oh.” She sat up straighter, giving me an apologetic look. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

“I didn’t mind.” We gathered our things, and I tossed my cup in the trash on our way to get in line.

“I was having the weirdest dream,” she said.

“About what?”

“I was skiing down a hill, but I was totally out of control, like no matter what I did, I couldn’t catch my balance. And then I got to the bottom, and all these people were laughing at me. That’s when I looked down and discovered I was naked.”

I laughed. “Naked skiing?”

“Based on my dream, I do not recommend it.”

“I don’t ski, so it’s unlikely I’d try it.”

She stopped moving forward in line and stared at me. “What?”