Free Three Loving Words by DC Renee Page A

peach and I was worried he’d take it away from me.  I was already miserable. How much worse could it get?
    One look into his eyes told me that he’d somehow manage to make it much worse; maybe not physically or even to the obvious eye, but he’d make things even worse.
    “And you?” I half-whispered my only remaining challenger.
    “And me what?”
    “Are you going to be every bit the loving husband you should be?”
    I saw his eyes scan mine, jumping from one to the other as he narrowed his own.  I was being defiant the only way I could, yet my question was actually sincere.  If he treated me with fake love, sure, it would be make-believe, but for one night, I would get to live in a fantasy world, one where I married the love of my life and all my childhood dreams came true.
    “Yeah, whatever.” He said it so nonchalantly that I didn’t believe him, but my dumb, romantic heart didn’t care.  I was going to get some sort of love, and I was going to take it however it came. A backward Cinderella story in the making.
    “And make sure you wear your wedding ring,” he added before he walked away.  “Whenever we go to these things, always wear it.”
    “Only on these occasions?”  I regretted the words the minute they hit my lips, but with everything Enzo complained about, I couldn’t fathom that he hadn’t laid into me for not wearing it before.
    “I never thought much about rings.” He shrugged.  “You could take them off as easily as you put them on.  But for pretenses, wear it.  I will, too.”
    He was a puzzle.  The things that bothered him, the things that didn’t … he was an enigma, but if that was one less fight to have with him, I was thankful.  Who was I to question small favors?

Eight
    Enzo
    My dad had made it very clear.  I had to appear happy; I had to put on a front that all was well in the world between Paige and myself.  I was starting to get tired of these games he was playing with my life, but I didn’t really have a choice.
    The evening had started poorly.  I knocked on Paige’s door to let her know we were leaving.
    “I’m giving you five more minutes before I open the door and drag you out.”  One thing I learned thanks to my mom was that women took forever to get ready, and no amount of threatening could make them hurry up.  I needed her to look good so I wasn’t barging in unless there was an emergency.
    Her attitude lately had been unnerving.  She had often been smiling and humming softly when she didn’t think I was around.  I noticed, though, and it pissed me off.  I wanted to know what in the hell had put her in such a good mood.  Part of me was upset that she was in a good mood in the first place.  What right did she have to be happy?  She should be miserable every day of her life.  Another part of me liked to listen to her sing under her breath, yet I hated myself for liking it.  And a final part of me wasn’t too keen on the fact that some outside influence had made her so carefree.  It was my right and my right alone to do that to her.
    I shouldn’t have been surprised by her response to my demand given her demeanor of late, but when I heard her sing out, “Coming,” like I had been some date waiting to take her out, I could feel my jaw hang slightly open.  It fell to the floor the minute she opened the door.
    I had seen plenty of beautiful women dressed to the nines in expensive dresses with professional hair and makeup.  I had been with most of those women and always appreciated the arm candy purpose they served as well as the bedroom skills they always seemed to possess.  Nothing, none of those women from my past, could have prepared me for the sight before me.  The zipper at the front of my pants was straining, my arousal was probably evident in space, but Paige didn’t seem to notice.  Her bright eyes shined with an enthusiasm that I had never seen on her before.  It made the deep blue hue shimmer.  She had light makeup on, but