Page 18 of Pretend Wife (Angels of the Secret Order #4)

FOURTEEN

Danielle

Maggie led us through the entry, which had a metal sculpture of either a crane or a flamingo—I wasn’t sure which—set on a pedestal in the middle, and into a large open living space.

There was a kitchen with a breakfast bar, a glass dining table, dark red plush furniture facing where a flat-screen TV hung on the wall, and a fire flickering in the fireplace in the dining room, adding a warm glow to the space.

But that all faded into the background compared with the stunning view of the beach and ocean visible through the wall of sliding glass doors.

The house was beautiful and somehow gave off both a modern and cozy vibe at the same time.

Hayden laced his fingers with mine and tugged me closer to his side with subtle possession as Miles hopped down from his seat at the breakfast bar and flashed a grin at me .

“Look who finally made it.”

“Stop being a dick,” Hayden said, angling us so he was slightly in front of me.

Miles’s smile only widened. “Some things never change, I see. Do I get a hug, Dani?” I was sure he was provoking his brother on purpose, but his attention stayed firmly on me.

I attempted to pull my hand free so I could hug my best friend, and Hayden tightened his grip, refusing to let me go.

Miles chuckled. “Now who’s being the dick?”

“Boys.” A beautiful woman with long dark curls stepped between the two of them. She looked almost exactly like an older version of Maggie. “Please, can we tone down the bickering?”

“Good luck, Mom,” Maggie muttered under her breath.

“I apologize for my children,” Mrs. Blake said. “You must be Danielle.” She gave me a delighted smile and attempted to hug me.

Hayden still refused to let go of me, so I wrapped my free arm around her in a slightly awkward embrace. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.” She sounded like she truly meant that too.

She got the same one-armed hug treatment from her son while my gaze moved to the man behind her, who must be Hayden’s father.

Mr. Blake had an appearance that suggested he’d once been handsome enough—though I doubted as handsome as his sons—but age hadn’t been kind to him.

His hair was graying and thin, and his skin had that look of someone who’d aged too fast. I wondered if he had a history with alcohol or tobacco.

He had Hayden’s dark eyes, but as those eyes took me in, it didn’t feel anything like when Hayden looked at me. Mr. Blake assessed me like I was a product he was considering buying.

I felt Hayden stiffen beside me, his hold on my hand approaching what would be painful if I were human.

“I look forward to getting to know you, Danielle,” Mr. Blake said.

I nodded, not really sure what to make of the swirl of emotions in his aura. There was none of the joy or excitement that his wife had or the wisps of humor Maggie and Miles had shown. His most prominent emotion was… satisfaction with threads of determination mixed in.

I tore my gaze away from his aura. I’d been alive long enough to understand my limitations when it came to reading emotions. I could see the colors, but I couldn’t hear the thoughts behind them. I didn’t have the why .

The main purpose of my gift was to be able to tell when a human was afraid or how they were reacting to hearing a message from Heaven.

As an angel of the seventh order, my job was supposed to be a messenger, though I’d always been more of a healer even before I’d learned that I was special and could heal more than just humans.

Reading emotions was good for that too. It helped to know how much pain and fear an injured person was feeling.

“Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes,” Mrs. Blake said. “Danielle, my boys told me you don’t eat animal products, so I tried my best with a few dishes, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Oh, I don’t want you to feel like you have to do anything special—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Hayden said, turning a glare on me. “You don’t have to apologize for your diet choices. Ever.”

I blinked up at him, taken aback. Was this his version of being a good husband? Defending my choices in some show of support?

If he noticed my bewilderment, he didn’t show it as he steered me toward the table.

I ended up across from Maggie for dinner, and I was perfectly happy to spend most of the meal talking to her about her Etsy store where she sold various art projects. It was impossible not to like Maggie. She was welcoming and funny, and she treated me like we were already friends.

That conversation came to an abrupt halt when Mr. Blake asked Hayden how the two of us had met.

All eyes turned to us, waiting for the story that had supposedly led to our marriage.

“She was my nurse after my car accident,” Hayden said smoothly. “Then we kept running into each other through mutual friends and family. Orlando’s sister is married to Danielle’s brother.”

“And how long were you secretly dating?” Mrs. Blake asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Almost two years,” Hayden replied.

I nearly choked on my sip of water. Was he really just going to act like we never broke up and had been together the whole time?

Maggie narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Then who were all the women on your arm in pictures?”

A jolt of pain hit me in the chest at the reminder of the women Hayden had easily replaced me with.

Miles glared at his brother before giving me a look full of concern.

He’d reluctantly agreed not to spill to the rest of his family that Hayden’s and my marriage was fake, but I knew he was still pissed at Hayden for how our real relationship had ended.

“They were nobodies,” Hayden said with perfect calm. “I didn’t want the media to bother Danielle, so I gave them something else to talk about that would keep them off her back.”

I knew that was a lie, but he sounded so sincere even I was tempted to believe him. Even his emotions were calm and sure.

The skepticism in Maggie’s expression implied that she wasn’t buying it. She looked at me. “And you’re okay with the fact that he was hiding you until a couple of weeks ago?”

No. I was mortified by the way I’d accepted Hayden never introducing me or showing me off, treating me like I was an accessory on his arm most of the time without seeing it as a sign of where I ranked in importance for him. But I couldn’t say that.

So I forced a smile. “I know what I mean to him,” I said. “I mean, have you seen this thing?” I held up my left hand to show Maggie the massive diamond on my finger.

“So he paid you. ”

I bit back a laugh at how right she was. “He certainly tried.”

“I should have known no one in your family can be bought,” Hayden muttered, low enough that I wasn’t sure anyone else heard.

After a dinner spent fielding questions, we all gathered in the living room.

Hayden claimed one of the armchairs and pulled me onto his lap like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Apparently our married-couple act included being one of those couples that was very big on public displays of affection.

Or maybe it was more like public displays of possessiveness.

I really needed to rethink the wrap skirts and slits. I liked them because they made it easy to move without restriction and gave me easy access to the bow I kept strapped to my thigh. But they also gave Hayden easy access to draw small circles with his thumb on my bare skin where my skirt parted.

Okay, so I wasn’t going to rethink it at all. If I was being completely honest with myself, I liked those caresses almost as much as I liked the arm he had banded around my waist. And that was bad. Very, very bad. I had to remember this whole thing had an expiration date.

I was here for Miles, so he could get his company, not to fall for my fake husband all over again.

A couple of hours later, Hayden and I were finally alone in Hayden’s childhood room.

It was almost as big as my room back at his penthouse—complete with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the ocean, a dresser and walk-in closet, a bookshelf that held more sports trophies and photos than it did books, and a single queen-sized bed.

“Dating for almost two years?” I asked the second the door was firmly closed behind us. “Are you seriously going to pretend that we never broke up?”

Hayden raised a brow at me. “You have no objection to me lying with my actions, but you draw the line at my words?”

He did have a point. I’d asked him to make the world believe he loved me. I hadn’t accused him of lying when he kissed me or pulled me into his arms. But words were different. They were harder to keep track of. It was easy to back yourself into a corner when you started lying with your words.

“And how do you plan on backing that story up? We have an eight-month gap in our supposed relationship. Besides, Miles knows the truth.”

“And he won’t tell anyone as long as you don’t want him to. As for the rest of my family, they won’t know the difference. If they ask about the past eight months, just tell them whatever you want and fill me in. Or better yet, tell them it’s none of their business.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond as he dragged his suitcase over to the dresser and began unpacking clothes.

“You can have the lower half,” he said without looking at me. “And take as much of the closet as you want.”

And just like that, he was back to the cold and unemotional Hayden who made me feel about as significant as one of his ties.

“Do you have a side of the bed you prefer?” I asked dryly .

“I can sleep on the floor.”

“That sounds uncomfortable,” I said, keeping my voice light.

“I think the word you’re looking for is thank you .”

“That’s two words, and I’m not thanking you for refusing to sleep on a bed that’s more than big enough for both of us.” Hayden was overbearing and difficult enough on a good day. I wasn’t exactly relishing the idea of seeing what he was like after a night of sleeping on the floor.