It was move-in day. The day I started my jail sentence. And yes, it was a sentence—six months without parole. I was being forced to live with a man who could melt the panties off a nun. As if that weren’t bad enough, he also happened to be the only guy I’d ever truly loved. Ever since the last time I allowed myself to fall for his charm, I’d practically sworn off men. If he hurt me again, there was a good chance I’d join a convent. So…I basically needed to remind myself of the third-degree burn his rejection caused in the past in order to get through my stay with him.

Lucky for me, I already had everything packed and in storage. There hadn’t been much time between the last of my classes and my departure for the dating show. So it only took about a week to get everything in place and ready to move into Holden’s house. The one thing I knew from the very beginning was I had no intention of making this easy for him. After leaving Holden’s house, I’d called Connor to inform him of the change in plans. He didn’t like it any more than I did, but for a very different reason. My issues with the arrangement surrounded the fear of falling for Holden all over again, but Connor disliked the idea of it because that meant he’d have to wait that much longer to get his money. Where I’d resigned to my fate, he brainstormed a plethora of ways to make Holden’s life hell in the hopes he’d sign the papers sooner.

If this was what he wanted, this was what he’d get.

First order of attack was to bring everything with me and expect him to accommodate it all.

Which, to my surprise, he did.

Following Connor’s orders, I’d sold my full-sized bed and purchased a queen, along with the matching dresser, chest of drawers, and two nightstands, knowing he wouldn’t have the space in his office for a complete bedroom set. I’d also included a very worn and extremely outdated loveseat and patio table with only three chairs that I “couldn’t bear to part with.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, I loaded everything up in a moving truck, along with the bags upon bags of clothes that had outfitted a walk-in closet, and had Connor drive it all to Holden’s house while I followed behind in my car.

Unfortunately, I had taken a little longer than Connor and arrived the next day. I had to admit I hated to miss the look on Holden’s face when Connor introduced himself, but at least I got a play by play after all was said and done. Apparently, Holden didn’t seem too happy, though he didn’t do or say anything.

As I arrived at my new—albeit temporary—address, I was practically giddy, eager to see what he’d done with all my belongings. The first thing I noticed after walking through the front door was the absence of my loveseat in the living room. I was about to make a comment about it when he led me through the house on our way to my bedroom, and low and behold, he had the hideous loveseat set up in the formal room. It was off from the main part of the house just outside the second and third bedrooms. Then, he showed me what would be my room for the next six months. Only I discovered he’d moved the smaller set from the guest bedroom into his office and given me the bigger room that would hold the larger furniture.

The smug grin toying with the corners of his mouth gave him away. He’d figured me out, and this was his way of showing me he was one step ahead. That was fine, it just meant I had to up my game. There was no way he’d last longer than a month before signing the papers and begging me to get out.

“Your patio table actually fit inside my gazebo in the back yard perfectly. Although, there wasn’t room for the chairs since it has built-in seating, so I stored the three of yours in the garage. And speaking of the garage, would you like to park in there or are you okay with the driveway?”

I hated how accommodating he was being. It made me feel like a bitch. Even though I’d basically gone out of my way to make him regret his decision, I wasn’t normally this conniving or vindictive. This just proved how far Holden had pushed me. I didn’t like being blackmailed or forced to do things I wasn’t interested in, but if he wanted a wife, then I’d give him one.

He more than likely expected someone like Christine, a woman who absolutely adored her man. She took care of my brother better than anyone could, and made sure he knew how much she loved him. But if Holden thought I’d dote on him the way Christine doted on Matt, he had another thing coming. I had no desire to pamper anyone, let alone the one basically holding me against my will.

“The driveway is fine.” While I did prefer the garage, I knew if I said that, he’d make it happen, and then once again, he’d be the good guy and I’d be the needy houseguest. I realized within the first five minutes that I had to rapidly change my approach if I wanted to speed this along.

He showed me the second bathroom tucked away between the bedrooms that would be for my use during my stay, and then he led me back to the kitchen. He stood on one side of the breakfast bar, and I leaned against the other while he gave me my own set of keys and garage door opener. Then he went over the rules he’d typed up the last time I was here, all printed out with his signature along the bottom like a professional contract outlining the terms of our agreement. Lastly, he went over the little details, such as where he kept everything. Again, very hospitable.

“I stocked the fridge with Pepsi for you, because I know you hate coffee. If there’s anything else you like to have on hand that I don’t have, either shoot me a text with the list to pick up when I get time, or I can leave you with money for grocery shopping.”

No matter how much it pissed me off that he looked like the hero and I was left to be portrayed as the nasty, estranged wife, I couldn’t seem to draw my attention away from him. Clearly dressed for work in a pressed, button-down shirt and tie, paired with form-fitting black, pinstriped pants, he looked like sex on legs. Sex on legs that ended in a very expensive pair of shiny black shoes. Sex in a suit. Sex with oh-so-sexy bedhead.

“Janelle…” It was enough to catch my attention and make me aware of the fact I’d zoned out. He leaned over the counter, his face dangerously close to mine, which only made the need to touch him worse. Add in the palpable scent of peppermint wafting off him, and I was a goner. “You’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. Yup. I sure will. Perfectly fine. Why? Where ya going?”

He picked at the corner of a piece of paper with his short fingernail and chuckled beneath his breath. With a quick shake of his head, he slapped the countertop and said, “Good. See ya later.” And as if someone lit a fire under his ass, he pulled a set of keys from his pocket and made a beeline toward the front door.

“Wait! You never answered me. Where are you going?”

He stilled by the door and peered over his shoulder with the kind of smile any woman would gladly part their legs for. “I did tell you. You weren’t listening. I have to get back to the office to catch up on some work. I’ll probably be there late since I had to take off yesterday and this morning.”

“What’s considered late?” Suddenly, the idea of being in his home alone terrified me.

“After dinner. If you’re in bed by the time I get home, I’ll see you after work tomorrow.”

“Hold on.” I took a few steps in his direction as if I needed him for protection. “What do you mean you’ll see me tomorrow? Will you really get home that late? What time do you think you’ll get done with work tomorrow?”

“I’ve missed an entire day. On top of that, I’ve had to leave early on a couple occasions because I had to move around all the furniture so all we had to do was move yours in. I have quite a bit to catch up on, and there’s a chance I won’t get it all done until nine or ten o’clock tonight. I’m trying to finish today so I won’t have to stay late any other day and leave you here alone. If everything goes as planned, I should be able to pull a really long day today—which wouldn’t have been as long if I didn’t have to go in late—and be home tomorrow by six.” He paused, probably to make sure I heard him point out the sacrifices he’d made on my behalf. “You have my number if you need anything, and the address to my office is on the piece of paper along with the number to my direct line.”

Even if I did have something else to say, it wouldn’t have mattered because he didn’t offer me the chance to respond. In fact, he didn’t even say goodbye. He opened the door, stepped outside, and then swiftly closed it behind him. Had I not heard the deadbolt engage, I would’ve assumed he didn’t even stop in his hasty retreat.

There was something about the silence in his absence that felt cold and unwelcoming. Maybe it was the fact he acted like he couldn’t get out of here fast enough, like he couldn’t wait to make his escape from me. It made no sense, considering my being here was his choice in the first place. No…not a choice, a demand. One I had no voice in.

Finding my inner strength, I headed back to my bedroom to unpack, and I didn’t stop until I had everything put away in its new place. I tried every trick in the book to keep myself from watching the time, but that didn’t stop me from noting the fading sunlight through the windows, or the streetlights turning on.

I’d taken a bath and stayed in until the water cooled, yet when I got out, Holden still wasn’t home. I poured a glass of wine and sipped it while flipping through the channels in the living room. I figured this way, when he walked through the front door, it wouldn’t look as though I had waited up for him. Except when I’d finished the wine—sipping the entire bottle—he still wasn’t home. The clock above the cable box read a quarter after eleven, and I couldn’t imagine the kind of desk job that would keep someone there that late.

Then I began to wonder if he was still at work or had gone out to avoid coming home, to avoid seeing me. Maybe he was with a woman. Well, it didn’t take long to realize I despised that thought. I absolutely hated the images it produced. I wanted nothing more than to call his direct line, eager to catch him in a lie—then again, I knew that would do no good. I didn’t have room to be jealous; not to mention, there wasn’t anything I could’ve done about it. He was a grown man, capable of doing whatever he pleased.

I did know one thing for sure, though.

If he was out sleeping with someone, I certainly didn’t want to be waiting up for him when he got home.

I had no idea what time Holden finally arrived home last night, because it was after I’d gone to bed. And by the time I got up this morning, he’d already left for work. Then I started to wonder if he’d come home at all. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole situation, but things didn’t seem as bad after a good night’s sleep. If this was how our lives would be for the next six months, I would have no problem getting through it. Honestly, I had no idea what I had been so upset about last night. The less I had to deal with Holden, the better off things would be.

Initially, I’d planned on being with Holden when I broke the news to my parents that I was back in town, though I had made other living arrangements, but considering I hadn’t seen him in the past twenty-four hours and he’d been evasive regarding his schedule, I decided not to wait on him.

“Holden? You’re living with Holden York?” My mother’s voice rose higher each time she said his name, as if he were some Hollywood billionaire and the news of us living together temporarily was so farfetched she had a hard time believing it. “How did that come about?”

Luckily, I’d anticipated these questions and had come up with a very plausible story. “We were talking one day, catching up and whatnot, and I just happened to mention my plans to move back home now that I’ve graduated. I told him I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of moving back in with you and Dad—no offense, Mom, but no twenty-three-year-old college graduate wants to move back in with her parents. I said something about possibly asking Christine and Matt if I could rent a room until I was on my feet with a job and had enough money for my own place, and that’s when Holden said he had extra space. It made more sense than living with my brother and his wife. At least with Holden, there’s only two of us there, not three.”

“I’ve always wished you two would date. He’s such a good guy. So handsome and polite, and he seems like the genuine type who’d treat a girl the way she deserves to be treated. I’ve never seen him with anyone before, but I can just tell. In fact, back when the boys were in high school, I wondered a few times if maybe they were a little more than friends.”

“Mom!” It didn’t matter what her suspicions were or why she had them, I didn’t want to hear about it. “You have the worst habit of seeing a palm tree in the middle of a glacier.”

“Oh, Jelly. That doesn’t even make sense.”

I blinked dramatically, wondering to myself for the umpteenth time what the chances were that I’d been adopted or found in a basket on their front porch. “It makes tons of sense. You see things that aren’t there, yet you run with it. Matt and Holden—especially Holden—entertained quite a few members of the female population. Here. In your house. While you were asleep.”

“What?” She covered her chest with her hand and gaped at me with unadulterated shock painting her features. “How do you know this?”

“I was thirteen, not three. How did you not know about it? You knew they went out back because you constantly had to get on them for not locking the door when they came inside.”

“Yeah…I thought they were trying to find some privacy. Had I known they were entertaining girls, I never would’ve allowed that to happen.”

I held up my hand to keep her from interjecting before I could finish. “So when you assumed they were…together for all intents and purposes, you had no qualms about them sneaking off to do whatever in the back yard after dark. Yet if you would’ve known they were sneaking off to get freaky with the opposite sex, you would’ve put an end to it?”

“When you say it like that, you make it sound wrong. Although, at the time, I assumed he might’ve been having a hard time coming out of the closet, and I didn’t want to make it harder for him. So I figured I was giving them space to be who they were really meant to be.”

“You did acid in the sixties, didn’t you? That’s the only explanation. Lots and lots of acid.”

Mom waved me off and shook her head. “You’re getting off track, Jelly. Let’s get back to you living with Holden. I wasn’t aware you two still spoke to each other. I know you guys used to be close before you left for college, although I guess I assumed that stopped after you moved away.”

Holden had made me swear on the unknown name of my potential firstborn child that I wouldn’t pry into whatever my family had kept from me. I figured it was because he’d made the whole thing up. Regardless, I kept my promise—as odd of a promise as that was.

“Well, I mean, yeah…we didn’t exactly stay in touch or remain as close as we once were, but that kind of thing happens all the time. He’s four years older than I am, so our lives were in completely different places—he’d just graduated from college, and I was getting ready to attend one. He was getting settled in, ready to start his career, bought a house. What was I doing? Packing up my childhood belongings and moving away…not to start a career or buy a house, but to go to school. So I guess we just didn’t really have anything to talk about or have enough in common.” I knew I had to stop talking before my emotions bubbled to the surface. Apparently, discussing that time in my life, especially regarding Holden, was too difficult and left my voice quivering and the backs of my eyes burning with unshed tears.

“Well, I’m just happy you two have found common ground again. You should really spend a lot of time with him while you’re there. He used to look at you like you could spin straw into gold.”

“Ma…that’s Rumpelstiltskin. No one looks at anyone like they’re Rumpelstiltskin, especially if they like them—that’s just worrisome. It’s even more concerning that you would connect that with something romantic,” I added beneath my breath.

“You know what I mean.”

“If you mean he looked at me like I hung the moon, then yeah, I do know what you mean, although I disagree. I don’t ever recall him looking at me that way.”

“Jelly, it’s a physical impossibility to hang the moon.”

“Yet, it’s somehow totally plausible to spin straw into gold? As entertaining as this visit has been, I think it’s about time I head out. But plan on an extra setting for dinner on Sunday. I’ve heard all about your weekly meals and how everyone attends.”

“Oh, absolutely! I’m so happy to have my baby back. Now I will finally have all my children around the same table again.” Her eyes glistened with happy tears seconds before she wrapped me up in one of her emotional hugs. To be honest, I’d missed this—the raw form of unconditional love. When it came to my mom, there was no way to misinterpret it. She wore her heart on her sleeve with pride, and there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know beyond the shadow of a doubt how much she loved her kids. All of us, including the late additions and strays.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

Holden stood in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open, his head stuck inside. “Did you not make anything to eat for dinner?” he called out without even bothering to turn his head to the side.

Luckily for him, I was in the hallway behind him. “No. I ate leftovers from lunch. I wasn’t sure what time you were going to get home.” Granted, even if I had known what time he’d be home, I still wouldn’t have made dinner.

I finished putting in my gold hoop earrings just as he straightened and found me next to him. “What are you all dressed up for?”

“I ran into some friends from high school, and they invited me out tonight. It sounded like fun so I figured…why not?”

Something flashed in his eyes and it immediately set loose a flurry of uneasiness in my stomach. “Great, give me a few minutes to change my clothes and we can go.”

My stomach flipped with excitement—and that’s when I knew I’d never survive it if he came along with me. I had to remain strong. Even though it seemed innocent enough, I knew it never would be. Spending time with Holden would only give him another chance to break my heart, and I couldn’t afford that. I’d loved him once before, and he never returned the sentiment. Doing it a second time would be foolish.

“Uh, Holden…I don’t mean to sound like a bitch, but they invited me. Not us. Not to mention, we’re not a couple. This definitely wasn’t part of the agreement.” It’d been three days since I’d officially moved in. I didn’t see him the entire first day, saw him briefly after he came home from work on the second day, and assumed today would’ve been the same routine. Although Holden wouldn’t be Holden if he didn’t throw a monkey wrench into my plans.

For a split second, he looked almost pissed off, but it disappeared just as fast as it came on. “You may have told your family and friends that we’re just roommates and I’m this good guy who’s helping you get on your feet after college, except that’s not the deal we made. You’re my wife.”

“Yeah, yeah…I remember that part. You don’t have to remind me all the time. But there’s nothing on our printed agreement that mentions tagging along with me and my friends. And stop calling me your wife—it’s a technicality.”

“It’s a legality. Regardless of that, what makes you think I’d be okay sitting at home by myself on a Friday night while you go out with a group of people? How does that make any sense?”

Rather than argue, I kicked off my shoes and carried them back to my room, Holden following close behind. He stood in the hall, gripping the frame and leaning his chest forward as if the doorway was responsible for holding him back.

“I don’t want a roommate, Janelle.”

“Well, I don’t want a husband, Holden.” I spat his name like it tasted foul and bitter. “You never said I couldn’t go out with friends. It’s not a date, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

His posture melted before my eyes, and instead of the lion stalking his prey, the man before me resembled more of a beaten-down housecat. His eyes, dark and almost all slate-grey with hardly any noticeable green to them, lost the spark of fight they held a moment ago. And his normally adorable chiseled cheeks just looked pathetic. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I brought this up. I guess I hoped we could rebuild our friendship, but it seems you put more effort into marrying a total stranger for money than you do dealing with the husband you’ve already got.”

He almost had me. Had he not completed his thought, I might’ve been putty in his hands. However, he just had to throw the fact he was my husband in my face like I had anything to do with it—well, more so than the obvious. “You’re such a jackass. You know that? I’ve already told you I have no interest in this marriage. Rebuilding a relationship with you? Sure. You got it. You want us to be friends again like we used to be? Then maybe you should start treating me like you used to—you know, like a friend, not a prisoner, not someone you’re forcing to be your wife. This is going to be one long half a year if this is how you plan on treating me.”

“No one’s making you a prisoner. You can go out. I just want to go, too.”

“With you as my babysitter? No thank you. I’d rather stay in.”

A shadow deepened at the corners of his smile, just enough to bring attention to the humor he found in this situation. “Then that means you’re the prison guard. Not me. But now that we’re staying in, let me get changed out of these clothes, and I’ll meet you on the couch.”

“For what?” I stared at him unblinkingly.

“To watch TV. Your pick. Movie, binge on a show, or just flip through the channels like you used to do. I don’t care. I’ve got some cold drinks in the fridge, and I can order pizza or whatever you like.” No longer did he show any signs of the controlling “husband” or the downtrodden friend. He seemed almost giddy at the prospect of sitting on the couch all night watching whatever and stuffing our faces with shit. We’d only ever done that a few times in the past, all of which were during the weeks following my breakup with Justin.

The entire situation confused me. It was so difficult to understand how sincere he really was, and when he looked at me like he just did, it made it harder to remember that I didn’t want to be here. Not in his house, not as his wife, and sometimes, not even as his friend. I had to close my eyes and remember the way it felt to sit on a plane, next to an empty seat, and fly home alone…after having sex. I had to remind myself how degraded he made me feel that entire summer, when he treated me like some random hookup he tried to avoid.

I remained still while he walked away from the bedroom, and then I waited to hear the familiar sound of his bedroom door closing across the house. Feeling smug, I carried my shoes to the front door, slipped them on, and then quietly snuck out. If he wanted to watch TV and gorge on pizza, then he’d have to do it by himself.

Holden was about to learn that I wasn’t interested in his games.