Free 10 Ways to Steal Your Lover by Dee Tenorio

slightly.
“Oh, you know, dissolution of my every fantasy for the last three years.
Ruination of my every hope I’ve held since I was a kid. No pressure or
anything.”
             Delilah slanted her gaze at him, ignoring
his only-slightly sarcastic response. “You’ve barely said boo to me for the
last year, Kane. Why does being married to me now mean so much to you all of a
sudden?”
             He cocked his head to the side, tsking as
if that were the most ridiculous question he’d ever been asked. His hand
slipped from her back, down her arm to reclaim her hand. But he didn’t answer
the question.
             For some reason, that just amped up the
tension she’d been feeling since she’d stepped out of the limo to stare at the
building now one corner behind them. Just like that, the insecurities and
uncertainties clamoring in her mind seemed so overwhelming. “I mean, seriously.
What will it change, if we’re married or not? We’re not really in a
relationship. We’ve never even been on a date. It’s not a real marriage, legal
or not. If you think about it, this is just one more episode of impulsive
insanity to add my long list of stunts my parents are tempted to disown me
for.”
             His hand tightened around hers. Like a
reflex against her words. They didn’t feel good coming out of her mouth,
either. In fact, with every one she uttered, a frown creased deeper and deeper
into her face and her stomach tightened until it hurt. But she couldn’t stop
herself from talking. As if her father’s voice in her head had somehow,
horribly, stolen her own, leaving her feeling lacerated and wrong.
             She didn’t want to think what it was
making him feel like.
             Still, he kept them moving, though his
steps finally slowed. Long moments passed in silence while they both brooded
uncomfortably. A second corner turned, but nothing else changed. He didn’t
argue. He didn’t drop to his knees and tell her he loved her so much the sky
would fall if she didn’t love him back. He just kept walking and so did she.
             She was insane to be disappointed at the
intrusion of reality. Since waking up, nothing about this day had been truly
real. Not the money, the room, the shower or even something as simple as
breakfast. She hadn’t realized how far she’d fallen into the surreality of it
all until now.
             Because until she had said it wasn’t a
real marriage, she didn’t have to admit she’d been considering it one. The only
thing she’d been worried about was whether or not to stay married. To Kane.
There was something wrong with that, wasn’t there?
             After all, she’d spent three years
talking herself into marrying Craig. Good looking, great guy Craig, whose worst
crime was that he didn’t make her heart leap.
             But Kane did. The brooding man with his
under-the-breath humor and searing stare that seemed to say I see you every
time she dared to meet it. He always had.
             And right now, in this moment, the
thought of not being married to him physically hurt.
             God, she knew then that she must have hit
her head sometime last night too.
             “Why would they even consider disowning
you?”
             She could hear the frown in his tone, but
she couldn’t look up and face it. Kane, whom she knew valued family more than
anyone she’d ever met, probably couldn’t imagine a world where family turned
its back on family. When his parents had died, his grandparents had raised him
as if he were their own. Simply put, because to them, he was. But in her
family…
             “They probably wouldn’t, but that doesn’t
mean they wouldn’t think about it. Or that he’d speak to me for a long time.
The Colonel has never had a lot of patience when it comes to screw ups.”
             “You seriously call your father ‘The
Colonel’? When you