I was nervous.

This project was everything to Ryder.

Ryder, on the other hand, didn’t look like he shared my anxiety. He looked completely hot. Custom-tailored suit, hand-made shoes, and he wore it all with an effortless air of command.

As inappropriate as it was, I was getting a little bit turned on.

Then he started his presentation. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “There’s been a lot of talk about Drake Towers in the last two days.” His voice was dry, and a few people tittered in the audience. “So let me introduce you to the real Drake Towers.”

Gasps filled the room as an image of Drake Towers went up on the TV screen. People started whispering to each other when they say the park Ryder had designed. Soaring trees, swooping waterfalls, and a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor space, this was like nothing they had ever seen in their lives.

Brad’s shoulders slumped as he took in the audience reaction. He wasn’t a fool. He knew he’d lost.

Ryder had this.

I wasn’t nervous anymore.

Yet I still crossed my fingers in my lap as the councilors voted.

One by one, they pressed the buttons on the screens in front of them, and the votes flashed up on the TV screen dominating the room. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

Then it was Bianca Russo’s turn. “Councilor Russo?” the woman in the front prompted. “How are you voting today? Yes, No or Abstain?”

The seconds ticked by, and Ryder held his breath. None of the Russo block had voted yet - they were all waiting for Bianca’s signal.

Then her response flashed on the screen.

Yes.

And my husband had won.

* * *

After the vote, Ryder took his entire team out for drinks. “Join us,” he said, fixing me with a questioning look. “Please?”

I pretended to weigh my options. “Will there be wine?”

A slow smile spread across his face, and a tremor of desire swept up my spine. “I think I can arrange that,” he said.

“What about cheese?” My brow furrowed. “Will there be cheese?”

His eyes gleamed with a very familiar amusement. “Many kinds of cheese, my little mouse.” He clasped my hands in his own and pulled me close to whisper in my ear. “I’m going to get you tipsy tonight.”

A shiver went through me as his stubble rasped against my skin. “Why’s that?”

“You get horny when you’ve had a few drinks.”

“Silly Ryder,” I giggled. “I don’t need a drink for that. I’m horny right now.”

“Fuck,” he groaned. “First, I get a hard-on right before I need to address the City Council, and now I have an erection in front of my entire team? Zoe, you are going to be the death of me.”

“Poor Ryder.” I kissed him on his lips, aware that his team was gaping discreetly at us. “So what you are saying is, the sooner we go to the bar, the sooner we can get home.”

“My clever wife.” He nuzzled at my neck, and my knees almost buckled. He thought I was going to be the death of him? He was going to be the death of me.

“And what happens when we get home?”

I was prepared for dirty talk, for an explicit description of what he was going to do to me. But instead, he brought my palm up to his lips in a tender kiss. “When we get home,” he said, “we are going to live happily ever after, for the rest of our lives.”

A wave of love washed over my heart, and this time, I didn’t shy away from my feelings. “Okay,” I said, smiling as I gazed into his warm eyes. “Let’s do that.”

And we did.

* * *

Lovely reader, thank you for reading Temporary Wife.

If you enjoyed Temporary Wife, may I recommend checking out my contemporary romance story MAX? It’s a friends-to-lovers romance that’s light-hearted and funny. Flip the page for an extended preview of MAX.