Wyatt's Pretend Pledge

by Liz Isaacson

  He got up and came around the bed, sitting next to her and taking her hand in his. That got Mal’s laughter to dry up, because now her heart raced like a champion horse.

  He wore a playful smile on his face, and when their eyes met, showers of sparks cascaded down her back. “What’s so funny about that?”

  “We’re married,” she said. “What am I going to say? No?”

  “You could,” he said. “Do you want to say no?”

  Mal swallowed, the dark depths of his eyes searching hers. She shook her head. “No.”

  “Great.” His eyes dropped to her mouth, rebounding back to hers quickly. “That Japanese place? Sushi?”

  Mal didn’t get sushi and vegetable tempura as often as she’d like, because it was expensive. But Skyler didn’t worry about that.

  “Sure,” she said. “I haven’t been there in forever.”

  Skyler nodded. “Awesome. And uh…never mind.”

  “No, say it,” Mal said.

  “It’s just…we’ve been married for five weeks now.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And I’m fine. I am. I just….” He hung his head. “I’d like to try that kiss again.”

  Mal’s pulse rippled, and an icy excitement spread through her. “You would?”

  “Yeah.” Skyler looked up and met her eyes. Mal didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do.

  So she commanded her mind to stop trying to figure everything out, and she just acted.

  She leaned toward him, and he leaned toward her. In the next moment, Skyler Walker kissed her, and Mal pulled a breath in through her nose.

  This kiss wasn’t as wild, or as uninhibited, as the one they’d shared in her kitchen weeks ago.

  It was just as passionate, and Skyler once again threaded the fingers on one hand through her hair as he kissed her. Mal sure did like that. She liked kissing him.

  She simply liked him.

  “Morning, Momma,” Skyler said an hour later, releasing Mal’s hand as he stepped over to his mother and embraced her. He dwarfed her, just like all of his brothers did too.

  Mal honestly wasn’t sure how Penny Walker had carried any of the Walker men to term, especially twins. She was probably five-foot-four at the most, and Skyler could likely lift her up and throw her as far as he wanted.

  Of course, he did spend a lot of time in the gym on the bottom floor of his apartment building, as he didn’t have a job like most students. He only had four classes, and two of them were throwaways—like floral arrangement and bowling.

  His mother laughed as she hugged her son, and Mal wasn’t surprised when the woman embraced her next. She’d hugged Mal yesterday too, though her shock had kept her at bay for a few minutes.

  “I’ve got pancakes in the oven,” she said, stepping back. She wore a wide smile that didn’t seem fake at all, and she put off a warmth Mal basked in.

  A keen sense of missing her own mother hit her, and she hurried to put a smile on her face too. She was a lot like Skyler in that she put on a mask to hide how she really felt.

  “Smells like bacon,” Skyler said. “Oh, and sausage.”

  “Daddy likes the bacon,” his mother said. “It’s not my favorite.”

  “I’m with you, Momma.” Skyler smiled easily at her and turned as his father came down the hall. “Mornin’, Daddy.”

  They also embraced, and Mal got a hug from the freshly showered Gideon Walker too.

  “What are you two up to for the rest of the holidays?” Momma asked as she gripped a pair of tongs and started pulling the strips of bacon from the pan.

  Mal’s mouth watered, because out of sausage and bacon, she definitely preferred bacon.

  “Just going back to Amarillo,” Skyler said, his voice a touch too casual.

  “You don’t have family, Mal?” Penny asked, glancing over her shoulder.

  Mal suddenly realized how hard it was to lie to the woman, and she didn’t want to fib anyway. So she said, “My family is all down in Mexico, ma’am.”

  “We’ll go see them in a couple of months,” Skyler said.

  Penny didn’t ask any more questions about that, thankfully, but she did say, “How many siblings do you have, Mal?”

  Mal could easily talk about her two sisters and two brothers, and that got them through the setting up of breakfast, the prayer, and getting their food.

  The four of them sat down at the kitchen table, and Mal felt a sense of peace she hadn’t in a long time. She’d always been comfortable with Skyler, and they’d had a good time together in the two years since she’d known him.

  She laughed and smiled, contributed to the conversation by talking about the beaches in Mexico. Penny’s face lit up then, as she loved the beach.

  By the time she and Skyler left the house, Mal almost wished they could stay longer.

  Not really, but almost.

  She threaded her fingers through Skyler’s, let him open the door and help her into the truck, and then while he walked around the front of the vehicle, she slid over on the bench seat so she’d be sitting right next to him.

  He looked at her when he got in beside her, and Mal decided if she was going to be married to this man for at least the next year, she should get to kiss the devilishly handsome cowboy whenever she wanted.

  So she did.

  And while she knew she was his wanna-be wife, he sure did kiss her like maybe, just maybe, they could have a real relationship…someday.

  Sneak Peek! Skyler’s Wanna-Be Wife Chapter Two

  Skyler Walker used to have thirty-five-hundred square feet to himself. Somewhere he could escape the façade he carefully crafted. But within the walls of his own home, he was able to be himself.

  Except Mal lived in the apartment now too. And he wanted her there. It just meant he needed a few minutes to himself in his own bedroom as he tried to figure out how to be the Skyler Walker she’d known and the Real Skyler Walker.

  Honestly, playing both parts was utterly exhausting. Only a few people knew who he really was, and two of them—Micah and Wyatt—had been texting him all morning.

  During breakfast, during the drive home. He’d muted their conversations after telling them he’d be driving for an hour as he and Mal made their way back to Amarillo.

  That hadn’t stopped his brothers from continuing their conversation without him. Normally, he’d be annoyed at the slew of messages he had to wade through. But he needed their support in this moment, and he sat down on the edge of his bed to read through the string.

  Breakfast on Saturday? Wyatt had asked.

  Yes, Micah had said. I’m in. I’m going to lose my mind over Simone.

  And Skyler can tell us about Mal, Wyatt had said. Sorry about Simone, Mike. What’s going on with that?

  They continued to go back and forth, and Micah had finally admitted that he’d been the one to break up with Simone Foster, because she didn’t want anyone to know about their relationship.

  And I’m just not sure why she’s embarrassed of me, Micah had ended with.

  Wyatt, who had literally been well-liked by everyone for his entire life, went on to tell Micah there was nothing about him she could possibly not like.

  Skyler smiled at that. When he wanted to feel good about himself, he could go to Wyatt. His older brother definitely didn’t have a confidence problem.

  “And why should he?” Skyler asked himself. Wyatt had been a cowboy billionaire even before he’d inherited part of Daddy’s money. Everyone in the rodeo scene adored him, and even more-so now that he had his own line of western wear.

  He hadn’t had a failed business. He hadn’t had a girlfriend steal from him and cause the federal authorities to come asking questions about fraud and embezzlement.

  He sighed as his thoughts always seemed to come back to that situation in Dallas. He wondered if there’d ever be a time when he didn’t think about all that had happened there and end up angry.

  Or if he could possibly ever truly feel happy. He’d experien
ced some of it at the homestead at Seven Sons, he knew that. The ranch there seemed to have a dome around it that kept negative things out. And Skyler really liked going there.

  He thought he was the brother wearing the black sheepskin, but at Seven Sons Ranch, everyone just accepted him. After his announcement yesterday before lunch, every single person had come over to hug him and Mal.

  Yes, they’d been shocked. There were definite questions in Jeremiah’s eyes, and Momma’s, and out of all of them, Micah had seemed the most leery.

  But he’d still said congratulations, hugged him and Mal, and not demanded to know the truth.

  He’d have to tell them on Saturday, and the thought didn’t terrify him. Someone should know. Someone who could help him know what to do.

  At school here in Amarillo, Skyler felt like he knew what to do to be liked, to get someone to laugh at something he’d said, to get a woman’s number.

  But with a marriage to Mal…he had no idea what he was doing.

  Saturday breakfast is fine, he said. Here? Or are you going to make me drive to Three Rivers?

  Three Rivers, Wyatt said. You’re not doing anything anyway.

  Ditto Wyatt, Micah responded. Amarillo doesn’t have anything good for breakfast.

  Skyler scoffed, because that was so false. But he smiled, didn’t argue, and said, Fine. Breakfast at ten on Saturday. No women.

  No women, Micah said.

  Wyatt took slightly longer to confirm the female-free breakfast date, but he did a few minutes later.

  Skyler showered and changed his clothes, as he’d been wearing the same set for over twenty-four hours now. When he finally opened his bedroom door and went down the hall to the kitchen, he felt like he could face Mal again.

  He sure did like kissing her, and seeing her sitting on the couch in the living room, lifting a mug to her lips, actually made his heart lighten and start tap-dancing.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” he said, bending over the back of the couch and placing a kiss on Mal’s cheek.

  “Hey.” She sounded surprised, and Skyler wanted to kick himself in the teeth. She looked at him, but he turned and went into the kitchen too.

  “Why do you do that?” she asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Pretend.”

  “I’m not pretending.” But he kept his face turned away from her as heat rushed into it. Embarrassed heat. He poured himself a cup of coffee, stirred in sugar and cream, aware that Mal had gotten up from the couch and approached him.

  “You’ve literally never said, ‘Hey, pretty girl,’ to me,” she said, frowning.

  “You didn’t like it.” He nodded and stirred his coffee. “Got it.”

  “It’s not that I didn’t like it,” Mal said, sighing. “Okay, look, we’ve got to talk.”

  Talking. One of Skyler’s least favorite things to do.

  “Okay,” he said anyway.

  “I think we rushed into this marriage thing, because of my court hearing.” She groaned as she sat on the barstool at the kitchen peninsula. “I’ve got a charley horse.”

  “Want me to rub it out?”

  “Would you?” She looked at him with a hopeful look on her face, and Skyler smiled. A real smile. One that brought true happiness to his soul.

  “Sure, get that lotion you like.” He held up one hand. “Wait. I’ll get it. Can you get back to the couch?”

  “Yeah.”

  Skyler went into the bathroom she used and found the lotion labeled Energy. Skyler could admit he enjoyed the citrus smell of it, with a hint of lavender.

  Fine, maybe that was what the bottle said. But it smelled good.

  He sat on the ottoman in front of Mal, and she lifted her foot into his lap. He’d rubbed out her charley horses in the past, but there was something sensual about the action this time. He kept his eyes down as he put lotion in his hand and started massaging it into her calf.

  “Can I keep talking?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said.

  “So I know we had a hurry-up marriage. But we’ve been living together for five weeks, and I feel like I know you less than I did when we were just friends.”

  Skyler didn’t know what to say. She was probably right, because he’d retreated inside his tortoise shell the moment they’d said, “I do.”

  There had been no honeymoon. They’d been married on a Thursday, and he’d helped her pack and move everything she owned on Saturday.

  He’d put her name on the lease. He’d printed all the forms she needed to fill out to get a new driver’s license, a new social security card, and a new passport. He’d put his name on her bank account, doing anything he could to make it look like he and Mal had started to merge their lives. That their marriage was real.

  He’d read a lot online, and it seemed like everything would be examined, from all angles, and he wanted to leave no stone untouched.

  Why?

  He’d asked himself that question a million times. And the truth was, he didn’t know, other than helping Mal felt like the right thing to do.

  “So I think we should establish a few rules,” Mal said.

  “Okay,” Skyler said.

  “Inside these walls, we are who we are. We’re honest with each other in all things. Anything we’re worried about, we get to say. Anything we don’t like about the other, we can talk about.”

  She flicked her foot, and Skyler looked up. “Skyler, you don’t have to pretend with me.”

  Being real was something he longed for, and all he could do was nod.

  “We’re messy, and sometimes we stink.” She smiled at him. “I mean, I can only imagine what your running shoes smell like, and it’s not good. And that’s okay.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “You don’t have to go hide in your bedroom.”

  Skyler’s heart jumped over itself. “Sometimes I need some time to myself after something stressful.”

  “Fair enough.” She gave him another soft smile, and she really was beautiful with her big, brown eyes, all that dark hair, and her olive skin. “But you don’t have to then come out and be fake with me.”

  “What if I think you’re pretty?” Skyler kept his hands moving along her calf, up and down and around. Mal was pretty—more than pretty. Beautiful.

  “Do you?”

  “Yes.” He looked at her. “I might be out of my mind here, Mal. But I really like you. I fought against a relationship with you for a long time, because well, just because.”

  “You’re thirty-five,” she said. “You’ve had girlfriends before.”

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “And I’m not really interested in love and marriage.” In fact, he pretty much thought they were both fake. Unattainable.

  “Oh.”

  “I mean, I wasn’t,” he said. “So I never asked you out. I never let myself do more than think you were beautiful and run with you and text you.”

  “Do you think you could change how you feel about love and marriage?”

  Skyler wanted to. His whole soul ached to be able to feel normally about women again. Maybe with Mal….

  He could only nod.

  “Okay,” she said. “For full disclosure, I’ve had a crush on you for months now, even before you offered to solve my problems and support me through this.” She ducked her head and tucked her hair, and a powerful satisfaction moved through Skyler.

  “Thanks for telling me,” he said. “I like you too, in case you haven’t figured that out.”

  “I figured.” She grinned at him. “When you asked me out while we were lying in bed this morning.”

  He chuckled. “There’s so much about this that’s awkward, isn’t there?”

  “Not if we don’t want it to be.” She leaned forward. “And Sky, I don’t want it to be.”

  “Me either,” he said, still massaging her calf. “I’m going to breakfast with my brothers on Saturday.”

  “Oh? What are you going to tell them?”

  “The truth,” he said.
“I think they could help me.”

  A panicked look marched across her face. “Skyler, I don’t think that’s wise. You said the immigration agents would interview family and friends.”

  His morals began to battle. He didn’t want his brothers to have to lie for him. He didn’t want to lie to them.

  “I think we need all the love and support we can get,” he said, trying to search for the right thing to do. Maybe his gut would tell him. But Skyler knew it wasn’t his gut that talked to him. His momma would be downright mortified if she knew he’d given God’s glory to his gut.

  Skyler was mortified at that too.

  He dropped his eyes back to her slender leg, trying to work through how he felt. It was impossible. Not something he could do in a few minutes.

  “I don’t think that’s wise,” she said, gently pulling her foot back. “My leg feels much better. Thank you, Sky.”

  He lifted his eyes to hers. “I like it when you call me Sky.”

  Mal slid forward and touched her lips to his in a sweet kiss. “Just think about Saturday, okay? You’re smart, and I trust you.”

  Skyler nodded. “Thank you, Mal.” He hadn’t felt very trustworthy since Shayla had stolen from him, skipped town, and left him to deal with the authorities on his own.

  Bumbling, and shocked, and unsure of what to say, Skyler had narrowly escaped getting arrested. He’d been questioned multiple times, and the FBI agent he’d spoken to the most had given him a card and said, “Answer if I call, Mister Walker.”

  Theron Oaks hadn’t called, thank the Lord above. In that moment, Skyler realized he needed to do a lot more thanking of the Lord above. And talking to Him. Pleading with Him. Finding out what God wanted him to do. Because if God wanted him to do something, Skyler knew the Lord would provide a way.

  And he should enlist Mal in his endeavors.

  “So,” he said. “Let’s talk about religion.”

  “Religion?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Because I have a feeling we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  SKYLER’S WANNA-BE WIFE is coming soon! Preorder it now!