Fake Empire(79)

There’s no chance I’ll be doing that. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I almost did. In Italy, after we…” She glances at the doorway her friends disappeared through, like she’s worried they’ll overhear us. “I wasn’t sure how you would react. If you’d still—” I watch her play with a stray thread on the hem of her tank top.

“If I’d still what?” I nudge in a soft tone.

“If you’d still be interested.”

I blink a few times as those words sink in. “Interested?” I echo. What the fuck is she talking about?

“Don’t play dumb, Crew. We’re married. I’m basically a sure thing. Guys want what they can’t have, not what they have.”

I laugh. “You’re serious?” Based on the way her eyes flash, she is. “You think I think you’re a sure thing?” Saying the words makes me laugh again. I’ve never worked harder for a scrap of a woman’s attention than I do with Scarlett. Every time she touches me, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I grasp her chin in my hand and tilt her face up, so she has no choice but to look right at me. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you, Scarlett. Thinking you were with other guys didn’t make you more desirable or keep my attention. It made me want to punch every single one of them in the face.”

“We made it through the maze!” Sophie announces, bouncing into the room.

Scarlett jerks her face out of my grasp and faces her friend, pasting a wide, fake smile on her face. “Great. Where’s Nadia?”

“Here.” Nadia walks into the room and settles back in her original spot on the couch. “What are we watching?”

I study Scarlett as Sophie and Nadia debate options on Netflix.

“We can talk more later,” I tell her quietly. “Did Teddy get fed?”

She nods without looking at me. “Yeah. And walked. Your dinner is in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.”

“Thank you.” I lean over and kiss her shoulder. “I’ll be upstairs.”

“You don’t have to.” This time, she’s looking at me when I glance over. “You can stay down here. Eat with us, if you want.”

I don’t ask if she’s sure. Scarlett doesn’t make offers she doesn’t mean. “Okay.”

Both Nadia and Sophie glance over when I stand. “Just going to grab some dinner and change,” I tell them. “Do you ladies need anything?”

They both shake their heads, giggling.

When I walk into the kitchen, there are three paper containers on the counter. I open one, finding Mongolian beef inside. The next has kung pao chicken. I’ve eaten Chinese with Scarlett once, and she remembered everything I liked. It does something twisty to my insides. Something that’s more than attraction, more than loyalty. My role models, when it comes to romantic relationships, have all been shitty ones. Men who know they can get away with anything and women who let them.

Scarlett and I are different. I want us to be different. For the first time, I feel some real confidence that it’s something she might want too.





Nothing has changed when I reenter the living room in sweatpants, dinner in hand. Teddy trails on my heels. I love the little dog, who’s steadily growing every day. The papers from the rescue only guessed at his heritage. There’s definitely a lot of golden retriever in him. Beyond that, he’s a mystery.

Scarlett smiles when she sees him. Teddy sniffs around her and then heads over to Sophie and Nadia on the other couch. They both gush over him. Sophie even climbs down onto the floor to pet him.

I take a seat beside Scarlett and dig into my dinner.

“You softie,” she accuses, looking at Teddy, who is basking in her friends’ attention. “He’s supposed to have a routine with his crate.”

“Says you,” I reply. “The doggie daycare said you picked him up three hours early.”

She shrugs, but I see right through it. “It was on my way home.”

“Admit it, you missed him.”

“You came home early too.”

“Not to see Teddy.”

“What are we watching?” Nadia asks, interrupting our side conversation.

Scarlett leans forward to grab the remote off the coffee table. Her tank top rides up, exposing a strip of skin. Just like that, I’m envisioning peeling the thin material off her body. Changing might have been a mistake.

The girls settle on a comedy. A few minutes in, I know I won’t be paying much attention to it. I finish my dinner and spread out on the couch. After hesitating, Scarlett lies down beside me. Her ass rubs directly over my crotch, and I groan into her ear. “Unless you’re willing to finish it, don’t start it, Scarlett.”

“Who said I’m not willing to finish it?” she whispers back.

I slip a few fingers under the hem of her tank top, tracing circles on her smooth skin. Nadia, or maybe Sophie, laugh at something happening on the screen. I don’t look over to check. “I don’t want to share you. I’m the only one who fucks you, Red.”

Her breath hitches. I hear it, and I feel it. The quick rise of her rib cage.

“Say it.”

She turns her head, so it’s tucked under my chin. “You’re the only one who fucks me,” she whispers.