In fact, Rylie might be tempted to sleep in here on the thick, padded carpet, surrounded by peaceful colors, rather than the garish room Candace had decorated. Jarrett had insisted Rylie should move into the master bedroom, reasoning their case worker would be suspicious if they didn’t appear to be sleeping in the same room and sharing the huge closet and bathroom. Their well-thought-out plan was that Jarrett would sleep in the adjacent room, while all his stuff remained in the master suite.
Rylie made her way back to the main living area, where dozens of men were busy moving the old furniture out, replacing it with trendy pieces that looked rather uncomfortable to Rylie. But it was Jarrett’s house, and she didn’t want to overstep her boundaries and interfere.
Out front, she heard raised voices and recognized one as Jarrett’s. Candace came racing through the house, meeting him inside the front doorway, where he blocked the two men who wrestled with his heavy leather sofa.
“Put that right back where you found it.” Jarrett’s steely tone left no room for debate. The men did as they were told.
“Mr. Alvarez,” Candace began, “I know you said you only wanted me to do the bedrooms, but—”
“Ten minutes.” The muscles along his jawline bulged. “That’s how long you have to put everything in this living room back the way you found it.”
Jarrett strode directly to Rylie, tension rippling down his neck. She was proud she resisted the urge to melt into a puddle when he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. It was yet another key part of their outline to give the appearance of a happily-married couple. They had brainstormed well into the night until they were both satisfied they’d considered every possible complication. Though bleary-eyed the next day, her anxiety level had decreased to a bearable level.
Jarrett pivoted and stomped down the hallway, his unaccustomed limp giving witness to his anger. Candace followed in his footsteps. “But Mr. Alvarez…”
Rylie turned to the confused workers. “You heard him. Put everything back where it was. You don’t want to cross him—he’s got a terrible temper.”
The men scurried about like busy ants, reversing their morning’s labor. Fortunately, they didn’t know Jarrett was all bark and no bite.
Despite the situation, Jarrett had stuck to their detailed plan. With a little care, their new caseworker would never realize there was anything amiss. She wouldn’t know they were no more than roommates. She wouldn’t guess they weren’t spending their nights together in Jarrett’s king-sized bed. The first home visit was scheduled the following Saturday, giving them a week to get Gabe adjusted to the house after his release from the hospital.
More importantly, it gave Rylie and Jarrett a week to practice their act. It was going to be torturous for Rylie, despite her recent additions to Jarrett’s paltry list of faults. He’d been so sweet to her, she wanted to scream. It was way too obvious his actions were motivated by guilt, while he secretly pined for Carlie. In a weird way, his attentiveness made her depressed, constantly aware of what might have been if only he’d loved her instead of Carlie, whom he’d even invited on their dinner date the previous night.
Well, apparently it hadn’t been a date, though Rylie had initially gotten her hopes up. But her tag-along sister had yakked about her Hollywood trip the entire evening, repeating the stories Rylie had heard two or three times already during the short periods of time she’d been home between work and hospital visits. Yes, her twin was successful. Yes, everything always went Carlie’s way. Yes, everyone loved her, including Jarrett. But did she have to rub Rylie’s face in it?
It hadn’t been a date, after all. And the fact they’d never been on one bothered Rylie like a festering splinter. She did her best to ignore it, but it was always there, in the background, another reminder that what they had together was nothing but a farce.
Rylie followed Jarrett and Candace to the master bedroom, where Jarrett stopped in the doorway, his expression apoplectic, while Candace prattled on about her funk shui. Rylie saw the blood vessels pulsing on the side of his face, and knew the shock, combined with the stress of the last week was about to make him blow his top.
She shoved her way to Jarrett’s side and pushed him into the room. “Candace, can you give us a moment of privacy?” she asked, shutting the door in Candace’s face, and turning to collapse her back against it.
“This is horrific.” Jarrett spoke in a strangled tone, his gaze moving around the room, flinching at each new discovery. “I should never have let that woman loose in my house. Should’ve known anyone named Candy Kane would be a bizarre decorator.”
“It’s okay.” Rylie moved beside him and stroked his arm, willing herself to pay no attention to the hard, defined muscles, under the thin material of his dress shirt. “So what if the case worker thinks I have bad taste? That won’t keep us from getting approved to adopt Gabe.”
“I can’t sleep in this room,” he muttered.
“As of today, you won’t be,” she reminded him. “You’re next door. And Gabe’s room is fine—I already checked.”
His chin jutted forward. “I still have to change clothes in here.”
Unbidden, an image of him stripping out of his suit, muscles rippling in all their glory, passed through her mind. She swallowed the excess saliva from her suddenly-watering mouth, and corrected him. “You’ll be changing in the closet. You only have to walk through this room, and you can do that with your eyes closed.”
He crossed his arms. “I really want to scream at her and fire her.”
She knew he would never forgive himself if he yelled at Candace.
“No you don’t. You know you don’t want to make a scene. You hate conflict.”
His shoulders drooped as he sat on the foot of the bed. “Maybe if I wear sunglasses…”
“That’s a great idea. I may have to wear them to sleep.” She laughed. “Actually, the worst of it is the curtains and the art and the throw pillows. She didn’t repaint the walls. I’ll bet I can tone it down without too much effort.”
“That’s the whole reason I hired someone. I didn’t want to give you any more work to do. You’re already doing too much.” He patted the bed beside him. “Relax for a second. I need to tell you something.”
Her body responded with panic, her heart racing, her hands shaking. Whatever he had to say, she could tell it wasn’t good news.
She perched beside him, ready for the worst. When his hand moved to hold hers, she knew it was going to be terrible. She was so nervous she didn’t have her usual rush of adrenaline from his touch.
“My mom and dad are coming tomorrow to stay for the week and watch Gabe while we’re at work.”
That wasn’t so bad. Jarrett had a large family. Meeting them a few at a time would suit her just fine.
“What did you tell them about us?”
“She doesn’t know how it all happened, and that’s for the best. Mom couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it.” He cleared his throat, squirming like the bed was uncomfortable. “We’ll stick with the necessary facts.”
“Okay. So we’ve known each other for years and recently got reacquainted.” She lifted her index finger. “And we rushed the marriage so we could adopt Gabe. All perfectly true.”
They’d agreed to simply leave out certain details. Neither of them wanted to perpetuate a complete lie.
“Mom is pretty nosy. Hopefully, she won’t grill you like the Spanish Inquisition.”
He grimaced, so apologetic her heart went out to him.
“It’ll be fine,” Rylie said. “We’ll use it to practice for when the caseworker comes.”
He took a deep breath, his chest expanding to stretch against his shirt in a pleasing-to-the-eye sort of way. “My parents are really over-the-top affectionate, even after all these years. They make it their goal in life to embarrass me. And they tease all the time.”
