Page 21 of Moonlight & Matrimony (Oak Ridge #2)
Is there a witness protection program for when your fake husband finds your box of sex toys?
I don’t think there’s even a word for the level of mortification currently surging through me as we all sit around the dining room table.
I’m not shy by any means. In fact, I consider myself a strong, confident woman, and I own my sexuality in and outside of the bedroom, but this whole situation is throwing me for a loop.
Add in a dry spell that could rival the Arizona drought, and I’m a bomb ready to detonate at the slightest touch.
I didn’t miss the heat in Luca’s eyes when I walked in on him standing next to my toy box. Nor did I miss the visible bulge straining behind his zipper. In hindsight, I probably should have hidden that particular box, or at least taken it to my room before anyone else helped with the move.
“Looks like we’re almost finished,” Cade says, cutting through the thick tension when Luca takes a seat to my right on the bench. “I was thinking it would take longer.”
Luca’s thigh brushes against mine, and I feel my cheeks heat.
Clearing my throat, I explain, “I didn’t really have a lot to move.
When I left Austin, I only packed the essentials.
We thrifted some things over the last year, but I didn’t have any emotional attachments, so it was just a case of letting go. ”
Luca leans over to whisper in my ear, his breath tickling my neck, sending shivers racing up my spine. “There were at least a few emotional attachments in that box.” His voice is husky, and it does nothing to quell the ache between my thighs.
I shift restlessly. For whatever reason, my body has decided it likes Luca’s voice — a lot.
Paige narrows her eyes at me in silent question from across the table, and I shrug in response.
This man is going to be my undoing, but if I’m going down, I’m bringing him with me.
I gather just enough resolve to lay a gentle hand on his thigh, and I feel his muscle clench under my palm.
“What are you doing, wife ?” he mutters.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish, husband .” His head swivels in my direction when I use the moniker for the first time, and I take in the pure lust in his gaze. Fuck me.
“Think you two could stop eye fucking at the dinner table?” Miles says, a chorus of snorts erupting around the table.
“Careful, Trouble. I never said I couldn’t finish it,” he whispers before quickly turning back to his meal, leaving my whole body vibrating with something I refuse to acknowledge in front of our friends.
Once we finished getting the last of my boxes moved and settled Hazel and Sage into their new home, we thanked everyone for their help and ushered them out the door.
Sofia is staying with Paige until she has the baby and for a few weeks after, so she’s moved in with them for the foreseeable future.
Rylin is sleeping over at Austin’s sister’s house, so that just leaves me and Luca alone in the quiet of our now shared space.
“So,” I say, at the same time as Luca starts, “I think…”
I turn to face him on the sofa, one knee bent towards him with my arm slung over the back.
His home is masculine but inviting, with dark wood accents and muted tones throughout the space.
It’s surprisingly cozy for a bachelor pad.
And fuck, it feels good to just sit for a while.
My body is aching from the day’s activities.
“You go first,” I say, settling back into the cushions.
Clearing his throat, he says, “I think we should set some ground rules.”
“Like what?” I have a sneaking suspicion this has something to do with the now hidden box of sex toys, but I don’t like to make assumptions.
“Well…” Luca’s eyes are fixed on the ceiling, and there’s tension in his shoulders.
“We never really talked about dating or anything. For all intents and purposes, this is just a marriage on paper, but I think we should be exclusive.” The words come out quickly and somewhat jumbled, but they stun me just the same.
“I’m going to stop you right there.” His expression sobers, and I feel a little bit guilty for cutting him off, so I soften my tone.
“We’re married, Luca. I’m not a cheater and I don’t intend to start now.
Regardless of the circumstances of this marriage, we are exclusive.
” His posture visibly relaxes as he finally meets my gaze.
“But,” I continue, “if you happen to meet someone, I don't begrudge you your happiness. We’ll file for divorce and separate amicably.”
He huffs out a breath in a self-deprecating way that has his slight dimple forming in his right cheek. “That won’t be a problem.”
I sense there’s a story there and I’m not one to mince words, so I scoot a little closer, hoping he’ll open up. After all, he’s already seen the skeletons in my closet. “Who hurt you, Luca?” I ask, injecting a bit of humor into my question which I instantly come to regret.
He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, hanging his head and sighing. “Her name was Sienna. Or is, I guess. She’s not dead,” he clarifies. “We’d been together for four years and she dumped me on our anniversary after I proposed. A year later, I found out she’d been cheating.”
“She sounds like a cunt,” I say, hoping to infuse a little levity into the moment.
His shoulders shake as he looks at me out of the corner of his eye, his laugh reverberating in the quiet room.
My body instantly reacts to the sound, and I’m not sure what to do with that information.
It’s like I can’t decide if I want to jump his bones or run far away. Or run far away and let him catch me.
Still, I get the sense there’s more to the story than he’s letting on, but instead of prying into a past that he’s clearly not comfortable sharing just yet, I decide to change lanes. “Do we want to talk about bills and division of labor?”
His body visibly relaxes as he sinks back into the sofa. “You pay nothing, and we all cleanup after ourselves,” he says matter-of-factly. “I have a cleaner who comes once a week so we don’t have to worry about the big things. Just tidy as we go.”
“Ok, the cleaning stuff sounds good, and I’ll obviously take care of my animals. But I still think I should at least pay rent. I can’t afford much but —”
“No. Absolutely not. Save your money for the lawyer fees, Ivy. I have more than enough. You also have daycare costs, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that every time you walk into a store that little girl talks you into something new, and possibly cat-shaped.”
I smile at how well he knows us already. “Have you been talking to Paige?”
“Maybe a little,” he admits. “But I’m also observant.” I’ve got so many things he can observe.
“Ok, but I’m buying groceries.”
“Fine. But I’m cooking. Anything else?”
“Nope. Good talk.”
He chuckles, then reaches an arm across the couch, his hand grazing mine as he plucks a stray hair off my shirt. “You look exhausted, maybe we should get to bed.” Yours or mine?
I grumble, sinking so far into the plush velvet sofa I just might disappear. “I would, but I don’t think I can make it up the stairs yet.”
He pulls a throw blanket off the back of the couch, one of the plush ones I brought over with the move, and lays it across my legs. “Wanna watch a movie?”
“Sure. You pick.” I burrow even further into the cushions until I’m damn near horizontal, my head resting near the arm of the sofa as my feet inch closer to his lap. He grabs the remote off the coffee table and flips through the streaming apps, coming to a stop on a romcom I’ve never seen before.
The opening sequence starts and I feel a hand reach out to pull my foot onto his lap. I stifle a moan as he runs his thumbs over my aching arches. I think I’m in heaven. Can you come just from a foot rub?
“God that feels so good,” the words come out as a moan before I can stop them, and Luca adjusts his position.
Diverting our attention back to the movie, he clears his throat before moving on to my other foot.
This time I do a better job of stifling my sounds, but fuck, this is the best foot rub of my life.
Luca, to his credit, carries on as if nothing happened.
The movie is fine, but I’m bone tired. I feel myself drifting off to sleep until I feel Luca shift beneath me.
A moment later, the soft blanket is pulled up over my body, and he readjusts our position so my calves are draped over his lap with his right arm slung over my thighs.
The comfort of this quiet moment allows me to fall into a dreamless sleep for the first time in months.