12. Scruffin Moment

CHAPTER 12

Scruffin Moment

NATE

T here were a few new things I learned about women, since I’d quickly entered into this forced arrangement three days ago. Never having lived with another woman before, the learning phase proved a challenge.

One. They certainly had their mood swings. No telling when one of them would eye roll over something I said that I’d intended to be funny.

Two. Tori said more words in her sighs than in conversation sometimes—if I listened carefully. I couldn’t tell if she was happy being here with me or not, although we weren’t in this for a joyride, but stuck here for a while together. We should try to grin and bear it.

And three. I stood here in the bathroom and stared too hard at the black lace bra draped over the towel bar. Over my towel, I thought I’d claimed, because I used it first. Apparently, what’s mine was theirs.

I discovered they liked to rinse their bras out nightly in the sink and leave them hanging to dry. Thankfully, the bra in front of me with intricate lace detailing had nice-sized cups, which had to have been Tori’s. My mind instantly went there, picturing her tits in my hand, how the softness of her skin would feel under the caress of my fingertips, and how her nipples would pebble hard for me. Fuck. How my tongue would twirl around her peaks…

I kept my eyes off the smaller white cotton one on the other towel bar. Bad enough, my sight had to be assaulted by black lacy things belonging to my fake wife, but I wasn’t about to creep on my young, fake daughter’s too. No way.

The temptation to reach out and touch the dark lace taunted me. If I gave in, where would that lead next? You have one job became my motto, repeated in my head every single time Tori opened her sassy mouth to me or her fragrance wafted to meet my nose or, fuck me, when I took in an eyeful of her plump ass as I carried her over my shoulder in to the house after she’d stepped in crap.

I was here to protect her tits—no, to protect her and her daughter. That was all.

I needed to be delivered from this bathroom bra temptation. Fast. I slipped the towel slowly off the rod and managed to keep her lingerie on the bar without touching it. After drying quickly, I put my jeans on, realizing I hadn’t brought a t-shirt in with me.

When I opened the door, walking out freshly showered, chest and abs bared, an audible gasp hit my ears. Tori eyed me from the bed where she relaxed on her side, flipping through a Southern Life home style type of magazine. I swear since she bought it at the grocery store yesterday she must have read it a thousand times, so intensely, devouring every word.

Wearing only a t-shirt that barely reached halfway down her thighs, my eyes devoured her hourglass figure, from her hips dipping down to the curve of her waist. And nipples. Those babies poked out because obviously her bra wasn’t on her body.

The vision in front of me didn’t last long though as she got up from the bed and dug into her backpack. “Are you done in there? I need to do my makeup.”

That was the fourth thing I’d learned. She and Porsche take a long time to get ready to go anywhere. Prepping for tonight’s “wedding” party, no exception. I’d told them they could keep it casual though, considering this was Kissing Springs, and the event was being held in our honor at one of the empty barns here at the ranch.

She stepped closer, and I caught her glance down the front of me, although without a single hint if she considered me candy for her eyes. I certainly enjoyed my view of her every morning when I brought her coffee to her bedside and watched her stretch, waking up like a black cat in bed. I cleared my throat, and it snapped her eyes to attention.

“The bathroom is all yours, for now. I’ll shave before we leave.” I let her squeeze by me in our cramped quarters.

“Must you?” She bit her bottom lip as she passed by and paused, completely zoomed in on my chin and jaw.

“Uh, no?” I curled a brow.

“I mean, you’ve already started growing a little… scruffin. Don’t rush back to that clean shaven look on my account.”

“Scruffin?” I teased, my grin cocky. With one quick glance out the window, I spotted Porsche on the porch swing, minding her own business far enough away from the interesting turn things between Tori and I took. I twerked my lips and stepped closer. “Are you saying you like the way I look, a little messy hair, a few days’ growth on my chin?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“Would you like a full beard?”

“Absolutely not. I think in general, a man with a five-o’clock shadow is attractive. That’s all.” She shrugged me off and rushed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Definitely an interesting moment there. But I have one job. I let out a frustrated sigh, with every promise to treat my cock to some random Las Vegas pussy as soon as this mission was over. And now the thought of Tori’s pussy tortured me, as if there’d ever be a chance I’d become that intimately familiar with her.

I reached for the navy blue henley, slipping it on over my head, and focused on the event ahead of us. The wedding party celebrating our fake union. A tucked in shirt, belt, and my boots came next.

Only one thing remained to complete my look for the ruse tonight. The black round silicone ring I’d bought at the hardware store on Main Street. Some of Cap’s team wore similar wedding rings instead of gold ones. This would do fine, since the idea of seeing gold on my ring finger would freak me out more about lying to my family and friends.

Putting it on, I focused on the way it looked. It hardly weighed an ounce, but weighed down my finger plenty. Never did I expect in my lifetime that I’d wear a ring symbolizing my vow to a woman. Although the only vow here was mine to protect Tori and Porsche, not to love, honor, and cherish.

“Fuck. Quit freaking out about this, okay? It’s only a mission,” I said under my breath.

“What’s that, Dad?” I hadn’t heard Porsche come back inside.

“Nothing, Pip. Your mother’s in the bathroom getting ready. Are you all set for tonight?”

“I guess.” She slumped on the arm of the couch, shoulders hunched. The three of us talked at length all day about how things would go tonight, the role each of us would play, even words to say, prepping like we were actors about to go on stage. “I wait to say anything about us staying here for a while until either you or Mom make the announcement, and I stay in sight of you at all times. Are those my orders?”

“You got it, soldier.” I winked. She must have inherited her mother’s ability to sigh heavily, because a big one escaped her lungs. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“I just…think I’m going to like it here in Kissing Springs. I’ll be sad when we leave.”

Wow. I wasn’t prepared for her to jump there, all the way to the goodbyes, about twenty steps ahead of where we were at this point. The idea of her sunshine grayed out by clouds and tears ate away at me.

To play along at being my daughter, an accomplice to this family fakery, at her young age, we were asking so much of her. She played the role like a champ, though. And I needed her to keep going.

“Hey. We’re the NTPs, remember?” I plucked her chin. “We stick together through this plan, like a team, right?”

Her grin returned, reciting the lyric she’d made. “We’re the NTPs and we’re here to say, ain’t nobody gonna get in our way. Not today.”

I had it memorized by now, too, because it was catchy, like an earworm stuck in my brain that wouldn’t go away. I said it with her as she repeated it and added in some of my goofy dance moves because I had no musicality and couldn’t groove for shit. It got her giggling again, though, the only thing that mattered.

As for me, I kept a strong face and exterior. I had to be that way, for them. I couldn’t let on that I had fifty-two worries jumbled in my head all at the same time. Not the least of which was how in the hell to act like a husband tonight.

I’d attended Tracy’s wedding and reception several years ago. The thing that stood out for me was the number of times people used their spoons to clink their glasses, calling out, “Kiss her! Kiss her!”

I licked my lips, anticipating the first moment Tori and I would have to… It wouldn’t mean anything, though. Only a peck or two, keeping up appearances for everyone’s sake.

My motto replayed in my head. You have one job…