Pretend Honeymoon with the Best Man by Andrea Bolter

Author:Andrea Bolter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-04-06T20:11:22+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

IAN WONDERED WHAT a honeymoon night for a regular couple was supposed to be like as he tried not to toss and turn too much in the bed. He supposed it would surround the betrothed in a celestial cocoon. Whether it was filled with tender affection or driving passion, it would be the couple’s own. It was a snapshot of their marriage they’d hold forever. He guessed that’s what it would have been like if Melissa and Clayton were in this bed as intended. They’d have already had a wedding night in the presidential suite of the Fletcher Club, probably been excited and elated and punch-drunk from the wedding and reception. Plus, they already lived together, so it wasn’t like in older times when the wedding night was the first time they’d have sex.

By tonight, here at the villa, they would have been able to finally exhale into the hope and calm that they believed matrimony was to bring them. Ian figured that even sick and gray in Boston from the food poisoning, they were managing moments of both positive memories and plans for the future. He was sure their good humor would incorporate the offending oysters into their personal folklore.

As for Ian, he was as restless as a slippery eel. He couldn’t see over the pillow wall to gauge whether or not Laney was sleeping. The bed was so big that her movements didn’t even register on his side. All he knew was that he was sleepy but wide awake at the same time, and this was turning into a nightmare of a honeymoon night.

He was ruminating over and over again on two points. One was what a genuine night on a honeymoon would be like for him. The other was on the pretend bride he found himself in bed with. He couldn’t get off the idea that a lot of realness had actually passed between them and that, in her company, he experienced himself in a way he never had before. Which was absurd, because in reality, it was just the situation that was getting to him.

Still, that authenticity with her nagged at him. It was so unexpected. He thought about that creep Enrique making her feel unwanted and how he’d like to give him a piece of his mind. Not treating her right in the first place and then leaving when her café burned down. Unconscionable. Not that there was anything to be done about it.

He tried to clear his head and meditate until the morning finally broke.

He finally heard Laney’s voice after he’d watched the slow turn of sunrise over the ocean through the master bedroom windows. Feeling it was okay to do so, he yanked a few of the pillows separating them and tossed them to the floor.

“How did you sleep?” Laney asked.

“Great,” he lied. “How about you?”

She rolled over onto her side toward him, and he followed suit to face her, but he was careful not to get too close physically. “Slept like a baby.

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