Paris
I WAS GETTING married for the second time in one day.
Who did that?
Apparently, me.
With the contract executed, Tyler leaned back in his seat and stretched his long legs. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
I pointed my finger at him. “This is business, Tyler. A temporary arrangement until we get things back on track.”
He placed his hands behind his head. “Tomato, tomahto.”
I shook my head. “Grow up.”
Those brows of his rose in amusement. “Oh, I have. But in case you’ve forgotten, I’d be happy to remind you just how much.”
The bitterness I’d been feeling toward him was chipping away and that old playfulness emerging. Caution though. I had to proceed with caution. With that in mind, I raised both my palms. “I’m good.”
Trees blew in the wind and the car sped forward. “Your loss.” He reached forward and grabbed the bag that Tabitha had been carrying. “This is for you. For the start of the execution of our . . . temporary . . . arrangement.”
Snatching it from him, I opened it feigning only mild curiosity when in truth I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Inside was the gold lame dress he’d bought me over the weekend and the most perfect gold Prada platform sandals.
Prada.
How in the world did he get those?
“I wanted to get you something new, but time was short.”
A kind of hope started to sprout as I stared at the new shoes in my hands and then raised them. “You did,” I whispered.
He shook his head. “They aren’t.”
My heart pounded in overload. “They are to me,” I told him, touched that he’d gone out of his way to make this silly day special.
His voice lowered and he said, “Something new, check.”
My mouth fell open in complete shock when I realized he was attempting to accomplish the something borrowed, something new, and something blue list for me.
Giving the heels a flick with his finger, he watched as they swung in my hand. “Personally, I think you’re sexy as fuck in bare feet, but I figured you’d want to be wearing shoes for pictures.”
Gaping at him, I was struck with the realization that this wasn’t silly to him. He was actually taking this seriously. “Pictures? I asked.
He gave me a curt nod. “Yeah, sure, why not?”
“Because this marriage is temporary, Tyler. Until our family businesses are up and running again, or at least one of them. We don’t need pictures to capture a brief memory.”
“Sure we do.” The sincerity in his deep voice caught me off guard. “You know,” he said, “you could have an open mind about this and stop thinking of this marriage as . . . temporary before it even begins.”
At that moment, our eyes locked on each other and I couldn’t stop my pulse from racing. “Tyler—”
For a moment I forgot everything about our soul-crushing past except what it was like to get lost in his beautiful blue eyes. “Go ahead and get changed. We’re on a tight schedule,” he ordered.
Blinking away the past, I protested, “In here?”
He glanced around. “I don’t see anywhere else, and it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”
Since I was anxious to get out of the miles of ruffles I was still wearing, and he was right, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me without my clothes on, I did as he’d instructed.
For the entire time it took me to undress, I never once looked at him, especially when I had to take my bra off and leave it off.
That didn’t mean that I couldn’t feel his burning stare on me, because I could, and you know what? I took my time and tried not to shiver, and when I finally looked at him, his eyes were raking over every inch of me.
Hot.
Hungry.
Primal.
I was such a goner.