Chapter Twenty-Seven—Lidia

Twenty résumés came in within three hours of posting the job offer. I knew it wouldn't be hard to replace Rebecca, but I didn't realize I would feel so guilty about it.

Sure, she'd made our life hell, but I should have been the bigger person. Now some random person would have to look at a mural of my panties.

Way to go, Lidia.

Jace sat with his chair slightly turned away from me most of the day, and my heart sank at the thought of this being our lives. How could I continue to work with him after his birthday, and our marriage magically fail a few months after he turned thirty-give if I would have to endure … this.

When lunch rolled around the glass door to our office opened, and Scott walked in with a worried look on his face. Oh, crap … he saw their marriage in the paper.

"Hey Scotty," I said, standing up.

His eyes rounded as he stared between me and Jace who hadn't bothered to stand. "Uh … you're married?"

Not really. If you call a fake, license a marriage. However, I promised Jace I wouldn't tell the truth—

"No," Jace said exasperated. "It's fake."

Scotty looked relieved, and his shoulders softened for the briefest moments. Jace glanced over at me and quickly lowered his eyes to his laptop screen.

I felt a chill go down my spine at the movement.

"Well … that's good to hear," Scotty said with a sigh. "Who painted a picture up your skirt on the wall downstairs?"

I burst out laughing. "That would be moi."

"I'm not even going to ask," he mumbled. "So, is it okay to take you out to lunch or is that going to make this … arrangement look bad?"

Jace's jaw clenched, and I felt myself get happy to have a reaction from him. "Why don't we order in, and y'all can eat together in the conference room."

"That will work," I said with a nod.

We ordered lunch, and Jace insisted we eat together without him, and it felt oddly wrong leaving him out. Scotty waited until we got our food to put his palms down on the table and look at me.

"What's wrong?"

I shrugged and slurped a noodle. "Nothing—"

Scotty leaned back and gave me a look. "You are both acting weird. What's the matter?"

I sighed, trying to avoid the inevitable I told you so talk that I'd been dreading. I tucked my hair and sat with my palms in my lap. "You were right. One of us did end up hurt."

Scotty pushed back his sandy brow hair. "Did he hurt you? Did you two … ya know."

I shook my head. "No, but damn it, Scotty, I wanted to. I told him I couldn't until I was married. And he said he couldn’t promise that would happen, and he couldn’t marry me just to do that, even though he wanted to. So … this whirlwind feeling of lust and joy, it's sitting inside of me with nowhere to go."

Scotty studied his food carefully. "Lidia, I've always respected you for saving yourself because I couldn’t do it myself. I couldn't control myself. I respect you for holding out when I know you want to give in." He looked up at me. "But that man is miserable. I know I haven't been on your side during this ordeal, but I truly think this man is miserable without you. I'm not saying give in to him if you don't think he will be serious about you, but I'm saying give him a break. He cares about you."

I didn't know what to say. Hearing Scotty say anything decent about Jace meant a lot. Especially about sex when he knew my struggle.

We finished eating, mostly in silence, and Scotty left me with a hug and his words. Jace sat at his desk with a file opened and a blank stare.

"I've called Heather Morgan in for an interview in thirty minutes. I think you're right; she seems decent from her social media and grades from UH."

I swallowed and made my way to my desk. "I think she'll be good … on paper at least. Let's hope she's not another me and embarrass herself."

Jace smirked. "Look where that got you?"

I chuckled, opening my laptop. "Yeah, got me a job and a husband. Who knew, right?"

Jace's dark gaze slid over to mine, and I felt my stomach flip-flop inside of my gut. I wanted to talk to him, put myself out of my misery but I didn't know what to say.

Or how I felt for that matter.

For ten minutes, the only sound in the room, besides my erratic heartbeat was my fingers on my keyboard. I felt my body tensing with each passing second, my throat closing up from the fear of crying.

A palm fell on my shoulder, and I glanced up at Jace, whose eyebrows folded down into a furrowed look and a frown tugged on his mouth.

"Yes?" I asked my voice breathless. His large palm slipped down my shoulder and to my elbow, where he maneuvered me out of my chair and into his personal space.

His breath smelled of coffee and mint, making my heart hammer against my chest. Those full lips pressed tightly together, but his eyes—they looked lost in mine. "I—I don't know how to say this, but I … I lo—"

"Excuse me."

Jace didn't let go of me, his gaze burying deep into my soul, and my mind made up so many different things he could have said, but I knew what it was before Heather interrupted us.

I felt myself breathing as if someone chased me, and my mind raced on how to get her to leave so he could finish it. I longed to hear him say it, to give me some kind of recognition that this could work, that he cared enough to try.

When Jace still hadn't budged, his grip tight on my elbow and a slightly annoyed sound left his throat, I dropped my gaze and glanced over at Heater standing awkwardly in the doorway.

She looked proud, with bleached blond hair and dressed in a pencil skirt and button-down blouse. The self-conscious side of me "I can come back …"

Jace cleared his throat and stood back from me, hands shoved down into his pants pocket. I noticed the look of shock on her face when he faced her, obviously checking him out as they met in the middle and shook hands. "No need," Jace said. "Have a seat. We'll conduct your interview now."

I tried to focus on my work as Jace went through the interview questions, and ignore her cute giggle, and the way she pressed her chest out and nodded like a bobble-head.

I'm not ready for this.

Getting up, I excused myself to the bathroom. I shouldn't be upset. I knew that, and I felt stupid, but a tear cascaded down my face. Get. It. Together.

A knock sounded on the door, and I wiped away my tears before opening it. The interviewee stood on the other side, holding her purse with a huge smile on her face.

She got the job. It was written in bold letters across her perfectly shaped forehead. "Sorry. I've been holding my pee," she whispered softly. "I was so nervous. I got the job," she said with a little hop. "I didn't realize how hot Jace is."

I felt my spine stiffen at her words. God, get over it, Lidia.

"Heather," Jace's voice came from behind her. I lowered my eyes to my new booties and waited for her girlish reply. "This is my wife, Lidia … Archer. We're celebrating this Friday night for our wedding since we eloped; you are more than welcomed to come."

Hearing Archer after my name made my legs go weak. I used the doorframe as support, but I didn't meet his gaze, I couldn't. Because it was all a lie.

Even though I wanted it to be true. This was the plan. The plan I agreed to. And with a big zero balance on my student loans, I had to go along with it.

Heather said, "Oh, I had no idea. I'll be there. Thank you for the invite." She maneuvered around me into the bathroom, but I hadn't moved.

I stood there frozen like a loser.

For several seconds I could feel Jace's gaze on me, and I bit my lower lip to keep from bawling. Why was I even crying? I had no idea.

When the toilet flushed, Jace grabbed my elbow and ushered me toward the conference room in the far corner of the upstairs. Heather's soft footsteps fell down the stairs and then the bell dinged softly.

It wasn't two seconds after the bell stopped that Jace pressed me against the wall, his rough fingertips lifted my chin and he forced me to look at him. "Talk. To. Me," he said lowly.

My bottom lip trembled, and a flood of emotions fell from me. Jace's face morphed into sadness, and he shook his head, bringing my face to his chest, he shushed me gently. "Damn it, Lidia. I didn't want to hurt you."

"It's my own fault," I whispered. "I shouldn't have agreed to this. I thought I could … I thought I could withhold my feelings, but I can't anymore. I'm sorry—"

Jace pushed me back and glared into my eyes. "I love you, Lidia."

And my soul soured higher than I knew it could. The sound of his rich voice saying those words to me, I covered my face to hide the emotion from him. "No," he whispered, grabbing my wrist and bringing them down to my sides. "Look at me when I tell you, please. I'm so sorry about this. I never meant to fall in love with you or hurt you. I promised you I wouldn't, and here I am. I love you, Lidia. More than you'll ever know. I don't know what this means for us, but I do, and I can't deny it anymore."

I sniffled, having so much to say but not knowing how to say it. "Let's go home," he said. "I don't want to be here today. I've sent out the invitation for the party Friday, and my emails are taken care of. Please … come home with me. We'll talk."

But Lidia didn't want to talk, words were the last thing on her mind.