“You’ve done nothing but thank me since this whole thing started. I feel plenty appreciated.”
But not loved.
Jarrett’s announcement went off without a hitch. Rylie’s shyness actually worked to their advantage, as she clung to his arm like they were newlyweds in love. He didn’t even bring up the fact that Carlie was Rylie’s identical twin sister, and as he expected, not a single soul had the nerve to ask for clarification. The rumors would probably be rampant until Carlie sent out some sort of clarifying tweet to counter her original social media announcement, but Jarrett couldn’t have cared less.
On the other hand, Rylie would probably be sensitive about it. He certainly intended to make sure her reputation was protected when he and Carlie came to an agreement about their official statement tonight. Rylie wasn’t the type to make demands, so he planned to take her with him to the meeting and attempt to read her facial expressions during the discussion. It was frustratingly difficult to read her emotions, but he was getting better at it. A good husband should know what his wife was thinking, right? Even a platonic husband.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He walked her toward the elevator, having planned the announcement so he could immediately take her out to lunch.
“Almost as fun as stubbing my toe,” she murmured, her death-grip on his arm cutting off his blood circulation.
“But aren’t you glad we don’t have to keep it a secret?” he asked, shifting her hand to a more comfortable spot further up his bicep.
“I guess so,” she mumbled as they got on the elevator, packed with Phantom employees.
The doors closed, and the elevator fell into awkward silence. “Congratulations,” someone said, followed by a chorus of congratulatory comments.
“And we’re happy about your son,” said Angie, a programmer who’d been with the company since he opened the Denver branch. “And we’ll be praying for him.”
“Yes, we’ll all be praying.” Another chorus followed, and Jarrett voiced his thanks. Though he was certain many of those were empty promises of prayer, he knew their intentions were kind.
Rylie shrank against him, in a vain attempt to disappear. She had on her glasses today, but they only drew more attention to her piercing blue eyes. It must be hard to be shy when you’re so beautiful.
She relaxed over lunch, probably because he took her to his favorite dive restaurant in his home neighborhood, where he was known to most as the scrawny kid brother of the gorgeous Alvarez sisters. He let the owner know his parents were in town and promised to send them over. And if anyone recognized Rylie as Carlie’s sister, they kept their mouths shut about it. By the time they’d finished eating Rylie was back to normal, laughing and joking.
On their way back to work she said, “I figured out what to call you.”
“Besides Jarrett?”
“Not a new name. An alternative to husband. It’s a cross between husband and buddy. Busband. What do you think?”
He rather liked being her husband, but he didn’t say it. “Does that make you my bife or my wuddy?”
“Wuddy sounds better. Don’t you think?”
“If we’re going down this road, we should revisit the kiss thing. Your busband should be able to give you a biss.”
“That sounds dangerous,” she said. “Abyss. We might get lost in it.”
“We might,” Jarrett said, playing the game. “Especially if we went too deep.”
“Exactly why both an abyss and a biss should be avoided at all costs.”
The corners of her lips tugged into a smug smile. She’d won that round, but he wasn’t ready to give up.
“I don’t know… abyss with you… I can think of worse things to fall into.”
“Yeah,” she murmured. “Like love.”
Her comment was a harsh wakeup call. How easy would it be to let himself fall in love with Rylie? She was as gorgeous as her sister. And though they both admitted they had too many similarities, he enjoyed her company more every day. But someone had hurt her, and she’d completely closed off her feelings. He had zero chance with her, and he needed to remember that. Besides, he was probably confusing his attraction to Rylie with his attraction to her sister. How could he trust himself to know the difference?
“Okay, we’ll stick to bugs.”
“Bugs?”
“Yeah. Buddy-hugs!”
Rylie wasn’t looking forward to meeting with her sister, but she hoped it would clear the air between them. Carlie had been fairly curt during their last few phone calls. Jarrett promised she didn’t have to say anything, if she would only be there for support. It seemed like what a good wuddy would do. She refrained from commenting, even when Carlie suggested Rylie be painted as the conniving sister who stole Jarrett away.
“Since I’m the only one whose reputation is actually at risk, I would think you’d be willing to go along with this story,” Carlie said.
“Except it’s not true, and I’m not going to lie.”
“It’s sort of true,” she said, lifting her chin in the air. “Rylie did kind of steal you away from me.”
“I don’t want to get into a public war of words,” he said. “But I won’t let Rylie take the fall for this. She’s the innocent one.”
As if I wasn’t already in love with him, he defends me to my sister.
“None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t suggested I use the marriage as publicity,” she said. “I originally offered to keep the whole thing a secret until we had to tell people about it.”
“You’re right. That was my idea.”
No! Don’t take the blame.
