His melted-chocolate gaze rose to meet hers. Then his lips stretched in a sheepish smile, and his arms opened wide.
“Buddy-hug?”
Her iron will lasted all of two seconds before she fell against him, relishing his touch, his scent, the warmth of his embrace.
Maybe she’d start her new master plan tomorrow.
CHAPTER 16
Rylie’s hand was clasped in Jarrett’s, as it had been for most of the previous two hours.
“Bye, Elaina! Let us know if there’s anything else you need from us.” His fingers tightened, cutting off Rylie’s blood circulation.
“And thanks for coming!” Rylie called, waving at the caseworker’s retreating form as she walked to her car.
Jarrett shut the door and leaned against it, releasing her hand at last. “I’m glad that’s over.”
“It was awful, wasn’t it?” She blew a strand of hair off her face.
“The worst. I’d rather go to a business social.”
“Or the gynecologist.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Wouldn’t know about that one.”
“Okay, the dentist.”
“I like my dentist.” He walked back toward the family room where Gabe was playing on the floor. “But then again, I’ve never had a cavity.”
“Wow, that’s great! I hope our kids get your teeth.”
Jarrett froze and she gulped, realizing what she’d said.
“Oh… I meant my future husband’s teeth… if he has teeth like yours… So they would be your teeth, but in my future husband’s mouth.” She willed the floor to rise up and swallow her.
His shoulders shook with laughter. “That’s what comes from pretending to be a real married couple for two whole hours. I thought Elaina would never leave.”
“Right.” Thank goodness he hadn’t taken her seriously.
“It’s Saturday. Do you know what that means?” he asked. “We’ve officially been living together for a week.”
“True. And it has to be one of the most stressful first weeks of marriage anyone’s ever had, but we made it.”
“Without killing each other… or anyone else.” Jarrett knelt beside Gabe, adding blocks to the back of his toy dump truck.
“I’m glad to finally have the house to ourselves. Not that it wasn’t awesome to have your parents here all week, especially after Gabe’s chemo on Wednesday.”
The poor boy had been miserable, spending most of the last three days in Maggie’s lap. Only last night had he perked up enough to eat more than a few bites. Fortunately, this morning he’d been almost back to normal, just in time for Elaina’s visit.
“Do you think we fooled her?” Rylie sat on the floor, her legs crisscrossed.
“We didn’t have to fool her.” Jarrett stacked some blocks, building a tower, careful to make sure each layer was a uniform color. Rylie would’ve done the same. “We showed her we both love Gabe,” Jarrett said, “and he has a wonderful, stable home.”
“Yes, but does she believe we’re a real married couple? She asked a lot of questions about why we got married so fast. I think she was suspicious.”
“Seemed like she accepted that we’d known each other nine years. She even remarked that we act like an old married couple.”
“Because you teased me the entire time. That was reckless, you know. I had to watch my mouth so I wouldn’t be too snarky.”
“It kept you from being so nervous,” he said.
“You were nervous, too. You took it out on my fingers.” She wiggled them in the air. “I’m surprised they aren’t black and blue.”
“I had to grab your hand as self-protection. You had my arm in a vise grip. I think you pulled all the hairs out.”
Her fingers were kneading her aching shoulders when an idea struck.
“You know what I wish we could do?”
“Go for a run?” Jarrett said.
“Okay that’s just creepy! You read my mind!”
“Or you read mine.”
Now that the idea was on the table, she realized it wouldn’t work.
