Pretend I'm Yours: A Fake Marriage Romance

by Ella Miles

  I wince. “It’s a long story.”

  “A story you will be giving me every detail of later.”

  I nod.

  “Good.”

  Serena looks behind her where her family is waiting for her.

  “So I’m guessing you’re a no then for celebrating with my family and me?” Serena asks with a smug expression on her face as she crosses her arms.

  I nod, biting my lip.

  She shakes her head and runs over to hug me. Kade drops his arm from my shoulders as she wraps her arms around me.

  “I mean every detail later,” Serena says, winking.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything. You’re my maid of honor after all.”

  Her face lights up, and her grin reaches her eyes. “Damn right, I am,” she says, as she struts away.

  “We should celebrate. What is your favorite restaurant?” Kade asks.

  “I don’t eat out much. I don’t have a favorite restaurant.”

  Kade sighs as he stands next to me, staring, as people continue walking by us. Every person that walks by stares at Kade and then to me with wide-eyes or a glare. They don’t believe we belong together. And we don’t.

  “I have the perfect seafood restaurant to try. Do you like sushi?”

  I stare down at the flowers and diploma I’m still holding. I’m supposed to go to a restaurant to celebrate with family and friends. Except my family is a no-show, and I just turned down my best friend. And I’m marrying a man that I’ve slept with once, and might as well be a complete stranger.

  “I have a better idea,” I reach up, grab his neck, and kiss him on the lips, slipping my tongue into his mouth. Our bodies collide, and I drop the flowers, along with my diploma to the ground.

  He’s not really mine. He’s not really mine. He’s not really mine.

  But when he grabs my face and deepens the kiss, moaning into my mouth, I forget that he’s not mine.

  “I like your idea better; food can wait until after. Your place or mine?”

  I grin.

  “Mine’s closer.”

  I open the door to my apartment with Kade’s lips locked on mine when my leg hits a box that shouldn’t be sitting in the entryway.

  I pause the kiss and stare into my apartment. Boxes are everywhere. Boxes that weren’t here when I left this morning.

  “What?” I can’t speak because I don’t even know what questions to ask.

  I turn to Kade who has a smirk on his face. “You. What did you do?”

  “I hired movers to box everything up. Your lease ends in a few days, and I knew you’d say yes. So I went ahead and had them get started packing so you can move in with me ASAP.”

  I frown. “I’m not moving in with you until we are married.”

  He sighs. “I figured you’d say that. But your stuff is already packed. All of it. You can’t exactly stay here.”

  I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. “I can and I will.”

  He shakes his head. “So stubborn.”

  I hold my ground. I may have signed the papers, but I’m not letting him think he can control me. He can’t. Ever. And he certainly isn’t going to start now.

  “Fine. You can stay here until we get married next week.”

  I grin. “Thanks, but I don’t need your permission.”

  I start walking toward the bedroom as Kade follows me. I stop abruptly and turn to Kade.

  “Wait, how did you get into my apartment without me knowing? How did you get the ring back?” I ask holding up my hand.

  He shrugs.

  “Kade,” I say sternly.

  “I like you being all bossy. I got Serena’s number at the hospital. It happened to come in handy.”

  “She knows?”

  “Not all the details, like about how good I was in bed, but I’m sure you’ll fill her in on that later. But yea, she knows.”

  Pink flushes my cheeks as I think back to Serena’s reaction. “But she said…” I trail off.

  Kade raises an eyebrow at me, smiling.

  “Damn, she’s a good actress,” I mumble.

  I open the door to my bedroom and gasp. My bed frame is in pieces, covered in bubble wrap, while my mattress is sandwiched between my wall and half a dozen boxes.

  I pout. Why can’t I have this one thing? All I want is to have Kade fuck me in my bed to celebrate graduating from college. Why is it so hard for the universe to understand?

  I turn to Kade. “I guess we should have gone to your place.”

  He smirks, and his eyes darken as he walks toward me in his designer jeans and dark buttoned up shirt that reveals the hint of muscles lying beneath his shirt. I eye the growing hardness trapped in his jeans. He still wants me.

  His thumb caresses my face as he kisses me again, harder than he should since we don’t have a place to fuck unless we use Serena’s bed. And I’m not going to deal with her wrath if she found out or came home early.

  “Who says I need a bed to fuck you?”

  I lick my lips, and my pussy aches as he speaks. I’ve had sex once. I’m not an idiot, but we don’t have a bed. Or a couch. Or even a table to have sex on. I don’t know what’s left.

  Kade grabs my hips, and we move backward until my back hits the wall behind me. He grins as his lips find mine again. Tasting and swirling around my tongue, making me lose my mind.

  His hand slips under my dress, pushing it up, and finds my bare ass beneath the thong I’m wearing. His fingers hook the edge of my lace thong and pull them down until they fall to my feet. He watches them hit my ankles, and then I step out of them still wearing my heels.

  “You found some prettier lingerie, huh?” he asks, as he kisses my neck.

  “I didn’t think you were too fond of my plain cotton panties.”

  He gives me a wicked grin. “They were starting to grow on me. And remind me to punish you later for wearing heels again and no brace.”

  His hand slips up my backside again before slapping me on the ass.

  I let out a yelp.

  “My doctor said I don’t need to wear my braces any longer.”

  He eyes me suspiciously. “I doubt that.”

  “It’s true.” I kiss him on the lips and undo his pants to shut him up. I shove them down along with his boxer briefs, and immediately feel his erection in my stomach pressing hard, begging me to enter.

  He spanks me again.

  I gasp.

  “You aren’t going to be able to distract me with sex all the time you know.” He steps back and pulls his shirt off until he’s naked.

  I bite my lip. I may not be able to, but I sure will try.

  He picks up his pants and pulls out a condom. He sheaths himself with the latex before returning to kiss me hard against the wall. He shoves my dress up, grabs my ass, and I impale myself on his cock.

  My hands grab onto his hair as he thrusts inside me, holding me up while fucking me against the wall. He rocks harder and harder inside me, knowing that he doesn’t have to do much to make me come. My moaning gives me away; I’m very close to giving into the desires deep in my belly that are begging to explode out.

  I try to speak. But everything that comes out of my mouth is a mix of a moan, groan, and holy hell pant.

  His eyes sear into mine, as our tongues dance together. He knows what he’s doing to me. But I seem to be doing the same to him.

  He growls, and my body tightens around his cock, I can’t hold on any longer. I come, and it’s like a thousand fireworks go off in my body all at once. Last time, I came because his tongue was on my clit dancing. I came a second time that night, because of how much he stirred my body from the first orgasm.

  But now, he made me come with just his cock, and I never want to come without his cock again.

  He doesn’t lower me immediately after we both come. Nor does he remove his cock. We stay locked, holding on to every last fleeting moment of pleasure. Because even though this is only the second time we’ve fucked, our time together is only for a
year. And our agreement doesn’t mean that we have to have sex for the entire year either. Although, I plan on taking advantage of every day of our year together.

  He nibbles on my lip. “I’m hungry and need a shower. Let’s order food, and then shower together while we wait for the food.”

  “Shower together?” I ask, stupidly.

  He chuckles. “I forget how inexperienced you are when you fuck me like that. But yes, I plan on fucking you every way I can, in every place I can. Shower, kitchen, bedroom, living room, public places, everywhere.”

  He gently lowers me down to my feet. He winks and picks up his jeans to dig out his phone.

  I lean against the wall, smiling like an idiot.

  “Sushi, okay?” Kade asks.

  “Yes,” I say, taking a step forward. But my heels don’t hold me, and I fall in a heap to the floor. My injured wrist catches myself on the floor, and the sharp pain immediately reminds me that although most of the bruises have healed enough to be covered with makeup, my wrist and leg have not.

  Kade is kneeling in front of me in seconds. He gently holds out his hand to me, as I hold my injured wrist tenderly.

  “Let me see,” he says sternly.

  I hold out my wrist that is red and inflamed. He takes it in his hand eyeing it carefully with concern on his face before he kisses it carefully.

  “I’ll go get some ice and see if I can find any painkillers,” he says.

  He leaves me sitting naked on the carpet of my bedroom as he heads to the kitchen.

  “This changes nothing! We are still having shower sex!” I holler after him.

  I hear him chuckle. “Only if you wear your brace,” he hollers back as I listen to him open the freezer and scrape out some ice.

  “Fine!” I shout back. My wrist hurts, and I’ll do anything for another opportunity to have sex with Kade. We are going to need some boundaries if this is how I feel after only the second time fucking. Maybe the more we do it, the less effect it will have on me.

  I try moving my wrist, but it burns to move it at all, so instead, I lie it carefully on my knee. I kick off my heels that I never plan on wearing again. They are the damn reason I keep falling. I wait patiently for Kade to return.

  I don’t know if it’s the pain in my wrist, or if Kade is really slow at getting ice that makes the time move by so slowly.

  “Kade, I only need a small bag of ice. Not an iceberg large enough to sink the Titanic,” I shout.

  Nothing.

  I sigh. Did he just leave?

  I use my good arm to push myself up into a standing position. Fuck, my ankle hurts too. I should put some ice on it as well. I grab Kade’s shirt and slip it on, before walking to the kitchen where Kade is.

  He doesn’t look at me when I enter.

  “What are you doing?” I ask. He’s standing in my kitchen holding a bag of ice.

  “I need to go,” he says.

  He walks to me and hands me the bag of ice. Then continues back to my bedroom. I take a deep breath, trying not to be upset. We aren’t dating; of course, he can go and not tell me why. He doesn’t need a reason. We are a fake relationship. This isn’t real. We have sex and pretend we are together. That’s all this is.

  But the tears threatening my eyes say I want this to be more.

  Dammit.

  I can’t be feeling this way already. I blink back the tears and put the ice on my wrist.

  Kade reappears from my bedroom moments later in his jeans. He walks over to me, and I think he’s going to give me an explanation or at least say he’s sorry.

  “I’m going to need my shirt,” Kade says.

  “Oh,” is all that leaves my mouth. I quickly remove the shirt until I’m standing naked in front of him, and he’s fully dressed.

  And then, he walks out my front door without a goodbye, a kiss on the cheek, or any words at all.

  I hate him.

  Good.

  That’s what I wanted. To know that he can live up to his bad boy reputation and be just as bad to me as everyone else. It will stop me from feeling special. And will help me remember that after the year is up, I’ll return to being nothing to him.

  I head to the shower. I don’t want to smell like him and be reminded of him all night. So I shower and put on a shirt and sweatpants that I find at the top of one of the boxes labeled clothing. I spend a few minutes digging my bathroom items out of boxes, and then I grab the ice I left in the freezer before my shower. I head to Serena’s bed to ice my ankle and wrist. I guess I’m sleeping in her bed with her for the next few nights. Good thing she has a king-sized bed.

  I’ll spend the night icing my sore body and watching horror movies to distract myself from being pissed at Kade for walking out without an explanation.

  A knock on the door stops me in my tracks. Did Kade decide to come back?

  I walk to the door carefully, so I don’t fall and injure myself again. I open the door.

  “Delivery for a Miss Day,” the man says, dressed in jeans and a dark shirt.

  “I’m sorry, but I didn’t order anything.”

  He holds out the bag to me. “It’s already been paid for by a Mr. King who said to tell you he is incredibly sorry and to give you this note.”

  I take the note and the bag from him before going back inside. I place the bag on my kitchen counter and read the note.

  Larkyn,

  I’m sorry I left without a goodbye or explanation. I’m not used to being accountable to another person. A family emergency came up that I need to take care of. So sorry to cut our night short. I’ll make up the shower sex to you soon. Promise. Stop being stubborn and ice your ankle and wrist. And wear your braces. I’ll punish you if you don’t.

  —Kade

  Dammit.

  One note and a container of sushi and I like him again. I can’t even go one night without hating him. My heart doesn’t stand a chance at not falling in love during this next year.

  10

  Kade

  I’m getting married to the perfect woman. Not because I love her or want a normal marriage with her, but because she is exactly what I need to make my problems go away. Women will stop hitting on me and trying to trap me by getting pregnant. And after we get divorced, women will realize that Larkyn got almost nothing in the divorce. One million is nothing to these women. They will realize I’m not worth the effort. It’s a brilliant plan.

  Now I have to stand at the end of the aisle with Axel, my best friend, and hope Larkyn actually walks down the aisle and marries me, instead of making me look like a fool by not showing up. She’s signed the contract, and the money will be deposited in her account the second she says ‘I do,’ but it’s still a lot to ask of her.

  I’ve barely seen Larkyn this week. The handful of times I’ve seen her were when we were meeting to decide which cake or flowers we were going to use. Or when we met with the overly ambitious wedding planner, I hired to get the wedding planned in less than a week at the five-star hotel I’m currently standing in. I’ll give it to our wedding planner and Serena; together they made a great team and somehow came in under the budget I gave them, while giving me everything I wanted.

  Larkyn didn’t have an opinion about any of the details. I was afraid I was even going to have to pick out her wedding dress for her. Luckily, I didn’t, so I have no idea what she is going to look like walking toward me. For all I know, she will be in jeans and a tank top.

  I haven’t had time to fully explain to Larkyn since I walked out on her. She’s still pissed; she has a right to be. But I’ll spend this week making it up to her, because I don’t plan on leaving her side after we say our vows.

  If I play my cards right, I’ll get her to work for me as my assistant so she can go with me everywhere. I grin, liking that idea too much. I would never get any work done with her so near, driving my cock mad, stopping to fuck her every time we were alone. But I won’t be getting any work done without her.

  Sebastian shifts in his seat in the front
row, and my grin drops. He’s under strict instructions to not fuck up today. I don’t know whether to thank him for running over Larkyn or to kill him. He’s the reason I’m getting married right now. But he’s also the reason Larkyn’s pissed at me and might back out. I had to fix another one of his fucking problems the night I walked out on her, just like I always do. He’s got one year to get his shit together; after that, I’m done helping him.

  The music changes, and I turn my attention down the long aisle lined with flowers. The doors open, and Serena starts walking in a lavender dress. It’s a good sign seeing her smiling and winking at me. Her hair is swept to the side in defined dark curls.

  When she gets to me, I ask, “Is Larkyn here? How is she?”

  She smiles. “Look for yourself.”

  I swivel my head as the main doors close, then reopen with a new song. Larkyn is standing there, on the arm of her father.

  I exhale for the first time in minutes. Her father came and is walking her down the aisle. He better have after the lecture I gave him. But I don’t give a damn about him right now.

  All I can focus on is the goddess floating toward me. Larkyn isn’t wearing a giant expensive dress. It’s a simple, understated dress. Spaghetti straps hug her shoulders, lace covers the bodice, and chevron fabric hangs down from her chest. Compared to everything else in the room, she looks simple. There is no way she spent much money on the dress. But she looks even more stunning because she isn’t over the top. She’s just herself. Hair down and curled. No veil, only a few white flowers in her hair. And flat shoes.

  I grin. At least she listened to one of my requests. I won’t have to worry about her falling and injuring herself every second of the reception.

  Larkyn and her father stop a foot from me. He gives me a stern look before holding out his daughter’s hand to me. I take it, without giving a shit about the man who has treated his daughter like crap for the last twenty years.

  “You look like an angel. So beautiful,” I croak out, my voice breaking because it’s so dry from gaping at her.

  She blushes. “I used my own money to buy the dress. I wanted something that was mine to wear. I hope it’s enough.”