The Temporary Wife: A Forever Love Story (InterMix)

by Jeannie Moon

  “Stick close and don’t let anything they say get to you. Smile. Just smile.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re better than them, keep that in your head.”

  He heard Meg choke on a nervous laugh. “Right.”

  Pulling her to the side of the room, out of the crowd of people, Jason took her face in his hands, more certain of what he was saying than ever before. “You have always been better than them. Don’t let my family scare it out of you.”

  Meg dropped her eyes, unsure around his family, and he could see that she was still letting all the old intimidation play on her confidence.

  “Meg, don’t let them make you feel like you don’t belong. They are in our home. I’m right here with you.”

  She looked up, her eyes hard, scared. “You’ll stay with me?”

  Jason saw from the look on her face that that was the question that had been weighing on her all this time—would he stay? Would he be there when times got hard, when they were challenged, as they were going to be, by both their families?

  Would he stay?

  He rested his hand on her cheek and made sure her eyes were on his. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  There were a few seconds of quiet, complete quiet, where she kept focused on him. Then, without a word, Meg took the hand he had on her face and held it tight. Then she kissed him.

  Jason didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he exhaled, and Meg beamed at him. It was the sweetest, most beautiful thing he’d seen all day, because it said she believed him. “I had to do something or you were going to pass out.”

  He kissed her again, and only stopped because someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Not saying hello to your family, darling?” His mother looked exquisite, as always, everything as smooth and glistening as a sheet of ice. Jason leaned in and kissed her cheek, never letting go of Meg’s hand.

  “Megan,” his mother said as she reached out and fingered the sleeve of her gown. “You look lovely. What an exquisite dress.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Campbell. We’re so happy you and Mr. Campbell could come.”

  She sniffed in that dismissive way she did with the staff on the estate and glared at Meg. “Not that we’ve ever been invited to anything here, still, it would have been nice if we’d been invited by my son’s wife and not one of his underlings.”

  Jason watched Harper parch at the use of the word underlings at the same time Meg choked out a laugh. It was certainly time Harper got a little dose of her own medicine. She’d been rude, pretentious, and intrusive since the wedding. She was his friend and he cared about her, but Meg was his wife, and Harper needed a reality check. His mother was appeased for the moment and relaxed a little more when one of the waiters brought her a dirty martini.

  She downed half the drink while his father was glad-handing some hedge fund guy. They didn’t relate to each other. Didn’t talk at all, and this was what Jason was afraid of. He didn’t want to be like them.

  But watching Meg, he realized that he could choose not to hurt her. He could choose the way they lived and loved. He could decide.

  “You certainly clean up nicely, Megan, but next time no oversight with us, or I will be annoyed, and you do not want me annoyed.”

  His mother walked away before Jason could respond, and he looked down at Meg, who, for some reason, was smiling.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Fine. She was nicer than I expected.”

  “Nicer?” Jason couldn’t imagine how anything his mother said could have been construed as nice.

  Meg took both his hands and kissed him. “She expected me to call her. To act like a wife. She’s a complete bitch, to be sure, but she’s accepted that I’m in your life.”

  That’s when Jason saw the full scope of his mistake all those years ago. If he’d just stuck by her, if he hadn’t been such a coward, they would have been okay. He didn’t know if they would have stayed together, but he wouldn’t have hurt her so badly, he wouldn’t have abandoned her when she most needed him.

  Meg was the braver of the two of them . . . he saw that now. She was the one willing to take a chance, put her faith in people, and see the good in things even when there didn’t seem to be any.

  Jason looked across the room at his parents, and his father waved him over. The familiar dread that usually hit when he had to deal with them didn’t come this time, and he glanced down and saw that his hands were still tangled with Meg’s. The rings he had given her never left her finger, and he thought about that. Thought what it meant to be tied to someone—to commit. He rarely wore his wedding ring, hadn’t thought it was important, but that was going to change. Right now.

  He grasped Meg’s hand and pulled her back to his bedroom.

  “Impatient?” she asked, the smile on her face saying she was ready if he was.

  “Don’t start; just looking at you makes me hot.” He opened the wooden jewelry box on his dresser and took out his wedding ring, holding it out to her.

  “I don’t understand.” Meg took the ring, looked at it, and frowned. “What do you want me to do with it?”

  He took two steps forward so he was less than an inch away from her, crowding her space, and using all his willpower to keep his hands off her body. Jason offered his left hand. “Put it on me.”

  “What?”

  There was no space between them, no air, just their heat, desire, and this thing they were trying to figure out. Jason didn’t know what it all meant, but for once he wasn’t going to question it or try to make sense of it. He was just going to go with his gut.

  “Put the ring on my finger, Megan.”

  Looking up at him, Meg took his hand and slipped the platinum band on his ring finger. Both of them stood still as statues for what seemed like forever, wondering about the significance of what just happened. Jason leaned in and softly kissed her temple, letting his lips linger there, tasting her skin, and wondering how he was going to let her go when this was all over. Then he wondered why he had to.

  “We should get back,” she said, holding his hand and keeping him close. “People will wonder what happened to us.”

  “Let them wonder.” He took his time nipping her skin as he worked his way down her jaw to her neck, kissing the spot right where her pulse beat rapidly. God, she was beautiful. Everything about her was soft, warm, and completely female. Jason couldn’t get enough of her, much the same way he wanted her constantly when he was eighteen. As he was taking sips of her lips, Meg’s hands came to his face. When he opened his eyes, she was looking at him with all her heart.

  “My girl, you’ve always been my girl.”

  “What?”

  Jason snapped out of the daze he’d been in, drunk on her scent and feel, and wondered what the hell he’d said. “I—what—did I say something stupid?”

  She giggled. “No, you said something about the boat, I think.”

  “You two should be putting on this show for company.”

  His brother, Josh, leaned into the door frame, drink in hand and shit-ass grin on his face. Meg stiffened in Jason’s arms. Josh had mastered the art of making people uncomfortable. It’s how he kept things in his control.

  “Get lost, Josh.”

  “What, and miss all this? I hope your prenup is ironclad, or she’s going to take you for everything.”

  Jason had his hands on Meg’s shoulders. Her back was to Josh, and she was staring at the studs in Jason’s shirt, not moving, barely breathing. “Why don’t you go back to the party?” he said in her ear. “I’ll be out as soon as my brother and I come to an understanding.”

  Meg looked up and locked eyes with him. She was upset, that was obvious, but there was a sprinkle of doubt in there, the worry that his brother’s words would destroy what they had started to rebuild.

  She stepped away and walked to the door, glancing back only once. Josh grinned and shook his head. The snide, snotty kid he used to be hadn’t changed, he’d just gotten tal
ler.

  “A bunch of us are taking bets on how long it takes for her to get pregnant to get a bigger piece of the pie.” Josh had mastered the arrogant son-of-a-bitch attitude that served him so well in business, but he wasn’t amoral and Jason had to wonder if Josh’s bravado was covering for something else.

  “There are worse things than her being pregnant.” That he felt that way, that he’d changed that much, made Jason feel like he wasn’t such a lost cause after all. If Meg told him she was pregnant tomorrow, he’d be thrilled.

  Josh came all the way into the room and looked around. “Why aren’t you staying in the master?”

  Jason couldn’t say a word for fear of giving up their secret. Which was a nonissue now that he fully intended to stay with her tonight and every night if she’d let him.

  “I am,” he lied, knowing it wouldn’t be a lie for long. “We redecorated, so that’s why my stuff is in here.”

  “I’m not buying it,” Josh said.

  “Believe what you want.”

  “She’s using you, Jay. She wants money or power. Something.”

  “It’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”

  “I can’t figure this all out, but I will. There’s something not right about you two. It’s too perfect.”

  “Maybe you should let me worry about Meg and you keep Molly’s money safe. I’m happy. She makes me happy. It’s nice to see a marriage doesn’t have to be toxic like Mom and Dad’s.”

  “There’s no such thing as a happy marriage, brother. There are advantageous marriages, profitable ones, and necessary ones, but not happy. Which one is yours?”

  ***

  Meg took a sip of her wine and bit into the scallop wrapped in bacon. It was succulent, flavorful, and while she’d had something like this before, the version being served here was nothing like the kind found in the frozen food section of the local discount club.

  Harper slithered up beside her, and Meg looked around for something else to eat. If she was eating, she wasn’t talking. But if she was eating, she wouldn’t fit into a size two like the Harpy. Damn calories.

  Why did Harper have to be so gorgeous? The woman was tall, dark-haired, and looked like she stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad, wearing her black evening gown like it was made for her. Meg loved her own dress, but she knew Harper wore the clothes better, fit into the whole charity benefit scene better—Harper belonged here, sipping champagne and eating canapés.

  Meg felt like she should be at the local bar having a beer and some wings, especially after the way Josh looked at her.

  “Your dress is gorgeous,” Harper said. “It’s so hard to wear couture when you’re short.”

  Meg glanced over and hated Harper in all her tall, gorgeous, Ivy League perfection, but she wasn’t going to let her get off a shot without returning fire. If she wanted to make this a middle school fight, that was fine. “I’m sure you’re right,” Meg said. “I had such a hard time finding dresses to fit my body. Everything is designed for women who are tall, skinny, and flat-chested.” Glancing up and down Harper’s body, Meg shrugged. “I bet everything fits you perfectly.”

  Harper turned her head and snarled. Literally snarled at Meg. “He’s not going to stay with you, you know. You don’t belong in his world, you didn’t when you were in high school and you don’t now.”

  “Maybe not, but you know what? I had a life before I married Jason, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll have a life again without him. You, on the other hand, depend on him for your life. Don’t depend on a man for your life, Harper. It’ll end badly.”

  Meg saw Jason on the other side of the living room, and she started to move toward him, needing to be with him.

  “Are you telling me I should get a life?” Harper’s voice was incredulous.

  Meg looked long and hard at the woman. She was a picture of elegance, but she didn’t have anything that was her own, and Meg suddenly felt sorrier for her than she did for herself.

  “I guess I am.”

  Chapter 17

  The limo left the museum, and before the driver made the turn to cross Central Park, Meg’s head had dropped onto Jason’s shoulder and she’d settled in to sleep.

  It had been an amazing night. Meg had been amazing.

  Aside from being so beautiful that everyone in the room stopped to stare at her, it seemed she made a decision to stop letting others define her. The insecurity about what people thought about her profession, the worry about not being from money, all of it vanished. He wasn’t sure exactly what changed, but something had, and the woman who emerged was one he never wanted to lose. Never.

  The high point of the night came when the director of the charity congratulated Jason on his marriage. When he asked about Meg, who was talking to a hot A-list actress that minute, Jason mentioned she was a teacher.

  That was all it took. Within minutes she was holding court with the director of the arts charity, the head of children’s programs at the museum, and a couple of benefactors who wanted her opinion about programs, arts education, learning styles, and anything else that had to do with kids. She was no longer “just a teacher.”

  Something that had come up was a pilot program they wanted to test in her district, but every student would need access to a tablet. The schools were a mixed bag of students, from upper middle class to the homeless. Meg loved each and every one of them, and on some days he thought she loved the neediest ones the most.

  To pilot the program in all the elementary schools, they would need about two thousand iPads. It would cost a million bucks, and because of budget cuts, the district didn’t have the money.

  But Jason did.

  Meg stirred and snuggled closer.

  He had an idea and wanted to talk to her about it. “Are you awake?”

  “Mmm-hmmm. Just resting my eyes.”

  “I want to ask you something.”

  “Okay.”

  “How would I go about donating iPads to your school?”

  Meg sat up and looked him square in the face. “What? Why?”

  “All the elementary schools, actually. I want to outfit every classroom with a cart of thirty tablets. That’s enough, right?”

  “Oh, my God. Jason, are you serious?”

  “Yeah. The kids need them, so why not? The teachers could do some great work with them, and you could do that pilot program with the museum.”

  “It’s going to cost millions.” She was still gazing at him, her face saying she didn’t quite believe him.

  “About a million and a half, with carts and cases for two thousand tablets.” He stroked her cheek with his index finger, marveling at the softness of her skin. “I should probably up the amount, though. I’ll need to set up in-service training for the teachers, and I should make sure each of them has their own iPad. Do your classrooms have interactive whiteboards? I didn’t look when I was there last week.”

  She nodded, and then a smile bloomed and Jason’s heart filled. He made her happy. That’s all he wanted—to make her happy.

  Meg tossed her arms around his neck and kissed him. “It’s so generous. I don’t know what to say, how to thank you.”

  “It’s only money, Meg. What you do with it is the important thing.”

  She leaned in and kissed him again, and Jason knew right then that while letting her go was the right thing to do when the marriage was over, the collateral damage that he’d thought would be only on her side was going to be on his as well. Maybe more so, because when she and Molly left, the light would leave his life. Meg, on the other hand, would take that light wherever she went.

  This wasn’t about the agreement anymore. He loved her and he couldn’t let her go without completely losing himself.

  “I’ll get all the details about the purchase on Monday. Find out who I have to talk to in order to get this moving. If it looks like it’s going to get bogged down in red tape, I need to know right away.”

  She nodded. “I love it when you get all CEO on me.”

>   He felt himself grin and get very, very hard. “Yeah?”

  “Uh-huh. I like a man who’s in charge.”

  Jason ran his hands over her shoulders and saw her eyes spark. That was all he needed. Dropping the privacy glass, he addressed the chauffeur. “Take a ride around the city. At least an hour.”

  He put up the glass and turned to her. Meg was sitting back in the seat, her legs crossed and the fingers of her left hand playing with her hair. Her wedding rings glinted in the light, and he’d never seen any woman more desirable, more gorgeous, than his wife.

  Jason always thought great sex was about variety, that having different women brought excitement to the bedroom. Now he knew, gazing at the bombshell he was married to, that excitement came from getting to know everything about one partner, about finding out what made one woman, and only one woman, beg you to take her to bed.

  He had that chance with Meg. Sitting next to her, he leaned over and kissed her. Her mouth opened for him immediately, and his tongue invaded the sweet space. There was warmth and wetness, and she gave, just gave everything without question. Their tongues tangled and the taste of her became part of him. Everything about her, her softness, her scent, her taste, became part of him.

  Reaching down, he slipped his hand under her gown and ran it slowly up her leg, stopping at the soft globe of her ass. Holy God, she felt so good. So soft, so smooth. Moving his hand between her legs, he fingered the scrap of material and found her warm center, and that’s when Jason almost broke, thinking about taking her right in the backseat of the car.

  But he knew that wasn’t what this was about. This ride in the limo was wanton and reckless, and maybe a little dirty. It was about fun, and teasing each other to distraction. Of course, the way she arched against his hand when he touched her, and the way her tongue played over her lips, this could get a lot dirty. But it wasn’t only about sex—it was about trust.