Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
And then…
We both smell it at the same time.
I slam my hand over my face and drag my sweater up at the same time to try and block out a bit of the choking fumes.
Sterling isn’t so lucky. His button-up shirt isn’t easy to drag up, and yes, even though he slept in it, the thing is still perfectly wrinkle-free. And so are his slacks. It makes sense now that he has tons of money. Obviously, because he’s paying me a total of half a million to be his on-paper wife so, he probably has millions or billions socked away. I’d bet billions. Five hundred thousand would be a drop in the bucket then. It makes sense why I got the vibes that he just flew in and wasn’t from here and why I also got the weird, earth-shaking sensation that he knew me. I thought it was some cosmic connection, but no, he really does know me because he pays Smitty to spy on me. Or something like that. Report back, whatever. I knew all about that. I’m not holding that against him. Just the rest. The rest I can definitely hold against him.
As soon as this dog fart clears out.
“Good heavens,” Sterling chokes out. He lunges for the tea towel I keep hanging from the oven door and uses it to block his nose and mouth. He still makes a coughing and gagging sound because he must have gotten more than a small dose of fumes before the tea towel was in place. “I think that beast needs to go to the vet.”
“I took him there. The day before yesterday. When I got him.” My tone is defensive, said from under my sweater. “Do you think I would just get a dog from a shelter and not get him care? They do their best, but clearly, he needed a checkup. The vet said he was fine.”
“Probiotics then. Doggy probiotics. Are those a thing?”
“I imagine they make them,” I respond.
“Well, then he needs them. Something needs to be balanced out in there. Those smells aren’t just unnatural. They’re ungodly.”
I smirk. “Ungodly, hmm?”
“Alright, don’t go there. I used the wrong word. Anyway, those smells are just…wrong. Something is off. Something that could be fixed with some healthy gut culture.”
“Fine, maybe I agree with that.” Then, I pause, still trying not to breathe through my nose. The smell is starting to permeate through my sweater, so I should shut up since I don’t want any of it getting into my mouth. “The rest, not so much. I’ll have to talk to my family first, and you’ll have to meet them. I won’t do anything they aren’t on board with.” I say it fast to get it out and get my mouth shut again, so it comes out sounding like a bunch of garbled nonsense. I think the only thing Sterling catches is family, but he clearly gets the gist.
“Family? You want me to meet them?”
“Obviously. I want to see what they think about all this,” I say.
“I don’t know if I can do that,” Sterling replies, shaking his head.
“If you want to date me for real, you’ll have to meet them first. And there’s nothing saying I want to date you for real. Or be your real wife. It seems like there would be a lot of complications to iron out. Aren’t you busy? You have a life somewhere else. Probably a huge company you’re some hotshot CEO of. And a vast fortune to defend from your cousins. You were wary about men and trails and stuff leading back to me and back to you, so maybe you shouldn’t even be here. You can’t just say fuck what everyone thinks and call it a day. Why do you now, all of a sudden, want to do this anyway? Why after four years?”
I don’t taste anything in my mouth after all that long-windedness, so maybe it’s safe to lower my sweater a fraction. I do, but then quickly tug it back up. Nope. My sweater was filtering out more than I thought.
“Meet your family?” he gag-gasps. “That’s…insane.”
“And this whole thing isn’t?” Something stirs low in my belly. Something that feels a lot like want. And not just physical want. It’s not just my hormones or nipples acting out again. Although, thank goodness for this sweater because my nipples are totally free right now under this tank I have on underneath, and they’ve definitely perked up a good inch since descending the stairs and finding that Sterling was still in my house and in my kitchen and that he’d made coffee.
Never underestimate the allure of a man who makes strong java first thing in the morning. I haven’t had anyone do something like that for me since I lived at home, and it’s been years.