Fake Wife Needed (A Bad Boy Romance)

by Mia Carson

  “I’m paying for it full out. What type of husband do you think I am? Wait there, I’ll go grab Tim.”

  An hour later, Mia drove her new car out of the lot to the penthouse and parked in her newly designated spot beside Max’s Challenger. She revved the engine one final time before shutting it off and climbed out with a sigh.

  “Told you,” Max muttered and held out his hand for hers. “Stephanie’s here. She just texted me a little while ago.”

  “Anything I need to know about her?”

  “You mean is she like my mother? Fuck, no. She’s the sanest one out of the bunch,” he said as they reached the elevator. “You’ll like her, I feel it.”

  “No awkward questions about kids?”

  “No,” Max said and kissed the top of her head. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  They reached the penthouse and Max unlocked the door. The voices of Jeremy and another woman echoed around the room as Max and Mia entered, the first calling out that they were back. “Ah, there he is!” A woman who was essentially a smaller, prettier version of Max leapt up from the couch in the living room and bolted into his arms. “Max!”

  “Hey, sis,” he said as he scooped her into a bear hug. “Damn, it’s good to see you.”

  “Same,” she said and he set her down. She turned to Mia and held out her hand. “And you must be Mia.”

  Mia nodded and went to take Stephanie’s hand, but she tugged her into a hug instead. “Nice to meet you, too,” she said through a laugh. “How was your flight?”

  “Eh, boring. Nothing exciting ever happens on my plane rides. I hate it.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Max muttered. “Takeout good for everyone?”

  “Sounds like a party,” Jeremy called out, raising a beer-filled hand. “Mind if I invite Harry up?”

  “Ah, so the date went well.” Mia joined him on the couch, tucking her legs up under her body after she kicked off her shoes. “Tell me about yours and I’ll tell you about my surprise.”

  Jeremy glanced over the couch, but Max and Stephanie were talking away loudly. “I take it things are progressing nicely for you both?”

  Mia sighed and sank into the cushions, a silly grin on her face. “I’ve never been this happy before, and it’s all because of a man who claims he’s not the hero type.”

  Jeremy patted her leg. “I’m happy for you both. I can tell you for a fact, you’re all he talks about at the office most days. It’s hard to shut him up sometimes, but there’s life in his eyes I haven’t seen in years.” He fiddled with his beer bottle, choking up on his next words. “You might think he saved you, but you saved him, too, Mia. You really did.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder, happy tears burning in her eyes as he wiped at his. Max had opened up to her more and more lately. She’d even heard the story about his ex from his lips last night when they were curled up in each other’s arms, waiting for sleep to take them away. He was still a vulgar man whose mouth made her cheeks flush more times than she could count in a day, but he was so raw and honest, Mia never worried about him lying to her. She liked his bluntness and his possessive attitude, a feeling she returned. She never wanted to be with another man, and the idea of him being with another woman pissed her off.

  Whatever grew between them was only just beginning. She couldn’t wait to see where they would go in the next four years. Keith was nothing more than a faded nightmare now, and that was what he would remain.

  Max glanced down at Mia, sound asleep on his chest, and grinned. He could get used to this and already had. Remembering his days before Mia only reminded him of how unhappy he had been. With her, there were smiles every morning and when he came home from work. She sent him amusing texts throughout the day, along with pictures of her kicking the shit out of that punching bag or working on her poetry and deciding which school to go to. His wife, out of necessity, went from being a woman he could tolerate to his friend, and to the woman he was damn lucky to have by his side.

  “Come on, love,” he whispered. “Time to go to bed.”

  “Hmm? No, I’m awake. Finish the movie,” she mumbled without opening her eyes.

  Stephanie laughed as she stood to fill up the empty popcorn bowl. “I think you missed the ending, but don’t worry, it was the butler.”

  “Damn butler,” Mia said and yawned. “Always the butler.”

  “Usually.” Max cradled her in his arms and told Stephanie he’d be back for another round of beer and popcorn once he tucked Mia in. She curled onto her side as soon as she hit the bed, took his pillow, and breathed in his scent. Max’s gut twisted at the sight, and he dragged the comforter up over her, kissed her on the forehead, and backed out of the room.

  “You know,” Stephanie said quietly when he reappeared and flopped down on the couch, “when I heard you got married, I thought you were full of shit. No way a woman could put up with your shit.”

  “Thanks for that, really,” he said as he flipped through the movies available.

  “But, after being here for a week, I can see that you have indeed managed to steal her heart and vice versa.” Stephanie took the other cushion beside him and set the full bowl of popcorn on the table. “I think it’s safe to say you found your soul mate.”

  Max scrunched his face as he chose an old horror movie classic and hit play. “I’m not sure I would go that far.”

  “Why not? She adores you and I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you look at her.”

  “I’m glad to have your approval.”

  “Max, I’m serious. I’m really happy for you both. Jeremy said she came from a bit of a hard background, but no one can even tell when she’s around you. How did you two meet? I’m not sure I ever heard that part.”

  “How much did Jeremy tell you?” Max snapped as he paused the movie.

  “Not much… no details,” she replied slowly. “Why? What’s wrong?”

  Max went to drink his beer, but it was empty so he stalked to the fridge for more. Stephanie followed and leaned on the counter, eyeing him suspiciously. “Don’t give me that look.”

  “I’d stop if you would just tell me what’s going on.”

  “Nothing is going on. Mia is my wife, we met by a freak accident, and I think… I think I’m falling in love with her.”

  Stephanie’s lip lifted in confusion as her brow wrinkled. “Well, I’d hope so, since you married her. Max, you’re hiding something. Just tell me what’s going on? Please?”

  Growing up, they never hid anything from one another, and it killed him now to keep these secrets. It was Mia’s story so she should be the one to tell Stephanie, but his sister had a right to know the truth about his marriage. “You can’t tell a soul, understand? Not anyone, and if you ever mention this to Mom or Dad, I’ll officially disown you.”

  Stephanie started to laugh, but when he glared at her, she stopped. “Got it. Mum’s the word.”

  He drank half his beer. Setting it between his hands, he told the story of how their parents came to think he was married and his plan to basically buy a wife if need be to get them off his case. He told her about the night at the pub, of stopping that asshole from attacking Mia, and everything since. He told her what Mia had gone through growing up and her time with Keith. He talked until his voice was hoarse and several empty bottles of beer stood between the siblings in his kitchen. Not until his sister came to town did he realize how much he longed to tell her what was going on in his life that no one else could see. Jeremy knew, but Max wanted his sister to know everything, and now, she did.

  “Wow,” she whispered after a long silence. “You know, looking at her with you, I would never have known she went through all that.”

  “You should’ve seen her before,” he murmured, hating those first few days. “That little spit of a woman could barely look me in the eye and flinched all the time. She was terrified, and now, she attacks that punching bag in the gym with a fury. She’s going back to school, taking charge of her life, and I t
hink… never mind.”

  “No, you can’t dump all of this on me and then leave me hanging. You think what?”

  “I already said it once. I think I’m falling in love with this woman.”

  Stephanie grinned, her eyes glittering with awe as she let out a sigh. “Love… I wish I was that lucky.”

  “Lucky? You’re traveling the world, taking some of the most incredible photos in the world. How have you not managed to find some man on some continent to steal your heart?”

  “Dunno, just haven’t found the right one yet, I guess, but you have.” She patted his arm, then lifted her beer in toast. “To you and your wife, Max. I hope it lasts longer than four years.”

  Their bottles clinked together and he drank. “Me too,” he said. “I honestly think it would kill me if she left at the end of all this.”

  “Not gonna happen,” she said with assurance and moseyed back to the couch.

  “How can you be so sure, miss love expert?” he mocked as he joined her.

  “Gut instinct. That woman wouldn’t fall asleep on top of you like that if she didn’t trust you completely, and the way you two banter? How she smiles at you when you’re not looking? Oh, yeah, she’s not going anywhere, not unless you do something stupid and fuck it up.”

  “Not part of the plan,” he said and hit play on the movie.

  “You ever going to tell Mom and Dad the truth? Like when you hand them their first grandchild? Oh, yeah, by the way, this marriage was totally fake to begin with. Here’s Maxie junior.”

  Max’s blood ran cold and he chewed the inside of his cheek.

  “Max? You just paled worse than the summer you never left the house. What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t mention kids around Mia, please,” he requested quietly. “She can’t have them.”

  “Not ever?” He shook his head. “That’s hard. I’m so sorry.”

  “She is, too, and I don’t want her thinking I resent her for it, which I don’t. Eventually, we’ll adopt or something, if she’s up for it, but it’s a tense subject.”

  Stephanie held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor, won’t say a word.”

  “Three, moron.”

  “What?”

  “It’s three fingers,” he reminded her. “Whatever, let’s just watch the movie.”

  “Still a fascination with Krueger, huh? Never understood that.”

  “You’re just pissed I made you pee the bed that one time,” he smirked.

  Stephanie threw a handful of popcorn at him. “Whatever, and I didn’t. I spilled my water when you leapt out of the closet with that stupid mask on.”

  “If that’s what you want to believe,” he whispered and let his mind be sucked into the movie.

  Mia slept in his bed, right where she belonged and where he hoped she would be every night from here on out. Should he tell her he thought he loved her or should he wait and see if she said it first? Deep emotions like this were new to him, and he had enough issues managing his insatiable hunger for her body to contemplate the idea of loving someone for real this time. He no longer counted the first time. He had been blinded by a woman who was great in bed and gave him what he thought he needed. Mia gave him what he actually needed and more than what he wanted. She was honest, and the fire in her eyes grew every day, and soon it would be a raging inferno. She was going to wait until January and go back to school. She’d told him the other day she thought of going as far as getting her Masters so she could teach.

  Her happiness brought him happiness, and if that wasn’t love, he wasn’t sure what was.

  Stephanie cursed and jumped, throwing popcorn everywhere, and he cackled, loud and long. She stared at him before joining him, both siblings gripping their sides in pain, unable to stop grinning and simply being happy in the moment.

  12

  Darkness met his eyes when he rolled over and opened them. Max frowned in the shadows and stretched his arm out for Mia, but the bed was empty. He sat up, looking for her when retching came from the bathroom.

  “Mia?” he asked as he hurried to get out of bed. When he peeked in the bathroom, she was hunched over the toilet, hugging it tightly, and he rushed to her side. He drew her hair back and rubbed her back as she vomited more before finally stretching her hand up to flush the toilet. “Was it dinner?”

  He helped her sit back on the floor by the tub before he grabbed a washcloth, wetted it, and pressed it gently against her face. She was pale but didn’t feel feverish.

  “Maybe,” she muttered. “You don’t need to see this. Go back to bed.”

  His alarm sounded from the bedroom and he grinned. “No need. Time to get up anyway.” He sat beside her and she rested her cheek against his shoulder. “I’m not flying out today.”

  “No, you have that conference,” she argued. “You’ve been planning it for months. I’ll be fine. I feel better already.”

  He eyed her long and hard, and her fake smile fell as she hugged the toilet again. “That’s it, I’m not leaving,” he grumbled. “I think we should get you to the doctor.”

  She shook her head in between heaves. “I’m not even puking anything up. It’s probably just sinuses or something. I’m fine, promise. And if it is food poisoning, it’ll go away in a day or so.”

  Max refused to budge from her side and held her hand as she rested her head against the wall, staying by the toilet. Stephanie had left two weeks ago, and for the first few days after, everything seemed fine. But the last few days, he’d sensed Mia drawing back from him. She smiled and laughed like normal, but she seemed off. He asked her a few times if she was all right, if it was him, but they would fall into bed together and he would sleep with her curled up close to his body and everything seemed fine again.

  “I’m supposed to be gone for a week,” he reminded her.

  “So if it lasts longer than a day, I promise I’ll go to the doctor’s,” she said.

  “Jeremy owes me a favor. I’m going to have him stay with you.”

  “No, don’t do that. You’ll just get him sick if it’s the flu or something,” she argued. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

  He kissed the top of her head with an aggravated sigh. “Don’t I know it. I’m still calling him.”

  “If I don’t want you watching me puke, I definitely don’t want him to.”

  Puffing out his cheeks in an effort not to scold her, he held her hands and kissed her knuckles. “It’s either Jeremy comes and watches you or I don’t go at all. Do it for me, please?”

  She pursed her lips together but finally gave in. “You’re going to call me every day, aren’t you?”

  He kissed her forehead with a grin. “Twice, if I can manage it. I wish you would change your mind and just come with me.”

  “Eh, California doesn’t really suit me. Besides, I plan on spending quite a bit of time catching up on some reading, and that journal is almost filled up. I need to get my poems sorted and decide which ones I want to submit.”

  His chest swelling with pride, Max helped her walk to the bed before he flipped on the bedroom light and ducked into the closet. “Then I guess I’ll be bringing you a new journal from LA.”

  “And a t-shirt.”

  He poked his head out as he slipped into his black slacks. “A t-shirt, like a cheesy tourist t-shirt? You’re above that, I thought.”

  “Just think of it,” she said as she dragged her toes up her bare calf, resting back on her elbows. “That t-shirt on this body and not a stitch on underneath. It’ll be like the night at the pub when I lost my panties. I’m sure you recall how well that night went.”

  He did indeed and forgot he was supposed to be getting dressed as he stalked towards the bed. He’d just reached her when her face slackened and she bolted for the bathroom again. “That’s it! I’m not leaving, not now.” He picked up his cell, ready to tell Jeremy to cancel his flight, when the retching stopped and Mia appeared in the doorway, holding the washcloth to her face.

  “Don’t you dare. S
pouses get sick.”

  “Yeah, and good husbands stay behind to take care of them.”

  “It’s a big meeting, you said so yourself,” she argued, hiding her face behind the cloth. “If I get worse, I promise I will call you right away, okay?”

  He ground his teeth but fell under the sway of those stormy eyes, dragging him into the whirlwind of emotions he could no longer ignore. “If you don’t, I’ll find out.” Reluctantly, he finished dressing, watching her as she lay in bed, propped up, and fiddling with the remote for the bedroom TV. Reruns of Bones popped up, and she settled back against the pillows. “I’ll land around eleven,” he told her as he smoothed her hair back from pale face. “Want anything before I go?”

  “My legs still work just fine,” she assured him. “But thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. This is what I do,” he said roughly. “Jeremy will swing by later today once he finishes at the office. It’s Monday, so he might be a bit late.”

  “Go, before you miss your flight,” she said and gave him a gentle shove. “I’ll be right here when you get back and healthy as a horse.”

  Max picked up his suitcase near the bedroom door and she blew him a kiss. “Weird, isn’t it?”

  “A bit, yeah. I got so used to this—to us.”

  “Just a week,” he reassured himself more than her. The pang in his gut said he shouldn’t leave. He was not a clingy man, but the idea of being away from Mia for so many nights gnawed at him. He wouldn’t fly back until next Monday night. He opened his mouth and the words ‘I love you’ almost slipped out before he caught himself. Instead, he smiled and forced his feet to move before he stayed and drove her crazy.

  Only a week. What could possibly happen in a week?

  “I think you need to go to the doctor,” Jeremy called to her through the bedroom door on Wednesday morning.

  “I’m fine,” she argued, flushing the toilet and collapsing against the wall.

  “Bullshit. If Max finds out you’re lying through your teeth to him, he’s going to be pissed.”