Free Accidentally Married on Purpose by Rachel Harris Page B

expected him for another two weeks. But after her recent brush with the media, he wasn’t taking any chances.
    They didn’t speak a word on the trek across the lot, or even glance at each other during the tense ride up the elevator. It wasn’t until she’d locked his luggage in the trunk of her magenta-colored Bug, and the doors slammed behind them, that she turned to him. With eyes that could kill.
    “You lied to me,” she accused. “Or at least omitted the truth, which I think is just as bad.” Her voice broke on the last word and her mask of anger slipped. Revealing the raw hurt underneath.
    That was Tyler’s fault. His selfishness had done that. Closing his eyes, he dropped his head onto the seatback, never feeling less like a man than he did then. “You’re right. It was wrong and selfish, and all I can say is that I’m sorry. But I swear I didn’t do it to hurt you.”
    Silence met his confession, and he nodded. Had he really expected anything less? The plans and scenarios he’d cooked up on the plane didn’t matter. His marriage was over before it even began. And, if his team was right, it could very well spell the end for his career, too.
    “Why then?” she asked softly, and Tyler opened his eyes. She licked her lips. “If you didn’t do it to hurt me or embarrass me, then why? Why not just tell me who you were from the beginning, or correct me at any point during the weekend?”
    His mouth lifted in a halfhearted smile. “I couldn’t chance it,” he admitted. “I wanted to be the roadie or the super fan, or whatever-the-hell it was you thought I was, just for a night. I wanted to be with a beautiful woman who looked at me and saw me, not my reputation. Not my bank account. I wanted a night without the fame and any expectations.”
    Sherry’s guard came down again, this time revealing sympathy, and his hand brushed against her cheek before he could stop it. “Don’t go wasting your emotions on me, baby girl. I’m the jerk here. I don’t remember everything that happened, or whose idea it was to get married. We were both wasted. But I should’ve told you the truth in my hotel room. I planned to tell you that night and I’m guessing that never happened. Afterwards…well, I panicked.” He lifted a shoulder, knowing it was no excuse. “Even though I knew you were special, I had to get my team around me before I told you everything. Find out how to handle it. You know, on the off chance you were a crazed stalker or something.”
    He attempted a grin, and despite accusing her of possibly being psychotic, she returned it.
    Blowing out a breath, Sherry glanced out the windshield. Her hands tapped along the steering column and Tyler listened to the beat, waiting, until she turned back. When she did, she said, “I guess I can kind of see your side.”
    That, he hadn’t expected.
    “It must suck being hot and famous all the time,” she continued, with not a hint of sarcasm. “Not knowing whom you can trust. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.” The rest of her protective armor fell away, and a hint of the comfortable, laidback girl he knew in Vegas seeped through. She held up her ring finger with a smirk. “And clearly, this idea was mine. That night’s a total blur for me, too, but this sucker has me written all over it.”
    She laughed at herself, and the tightness in Tyler’s chest lightened a fraction more.
    “So now what?” she asked, lifting a shoulder. “The wedding may be a blank, but I do remember some choice moments of the wedding night. An annulment is out of the question.” Their eyes met, and lingering heat snapped the air. Clearing her throat, she scooted away and rested her head against the window. “A divorce then?”
    There it was. Tyler’s opening. The question of how and when it would happen had kept him up all night, and she’d just presented him with the perfect opportunity. Shifting his weight, his boot crunched an old water bottle on the floorboard of