From This Day Foward: Switched at Marriage Part 4 (8 page)

I thought—I hoped, at least—that she really was proud.

The three of us chatted for a few minutes before we excused ourselves. Carl walked us to the door, inviting me back anytime.

"You impressed him," Kay whispered in my ear when we were out on the sidewalk.

"Yeah. That was the point. He's the one guy who could rat us out."

She nodded. "He won't. Especially now that you're his friend."

We left Kay's apartment building for her favorite café and bakery, hand in hand. I took full advantage of being in public and "acting." Out in the world, I didn't have to act uninterested in her. Mask my feelings. Or any of that other crap that made our private life complicated. I could smile fully, laugh wholly, and let the way I loved her shine in my eyes. It was a damnable situation for an introvert like me.

I was in the best mood of my life. I smiled at absolutely everyone we met. People smiled back with knowing looks, as if they knew I was a member of the club now. Every stoplight we came to was green. The sun was shining.

We got the last table, a two-topper in the prime location by the window, in the crowded bakery. The waitress was cute, friendly, and flirty. She laughed when I joked with her. When our coffee came, my latte had a heart made in the foamy milk on top. My chocolate chip muffin was loaded with chips and bigger than the rest of them in the display case. If I'd been alone, the waitress would have offered me her number.

Several other women in the bakery were eyeing me. The sexual confidence making love to Kayla had given me was astounding. And powerful. These women didn't appear to know who I was, were unaware of how much money I had, yet they wanted me.

Every sense of mine was heightened. My mind sharper than usual. The world was fresh and beautiful. It was sappy. And I'd never admit it to anyone, but Kay had just made my dreams come true.

It was also still true that she didn't love me. Yet. Dex had been right about that. But I was undeterred. I'd just proven we had the kind of earth-shattering chemistry you can't fake. Sex that powerful and awesome was rare and worth holding on to. All of that gave me a bigger start than I'd expected to have at this stage of the game.

Another thing, my random realization, added to my happiness—sex was messy. I couldn't say anything to Kay about it. But knowing what I knew now, unless the fake Kayla had taken time to scrub me down, there was no evidence of sex the next morning. And no evidence of cleanup, either. I could breathe a little easier. Not that I could prove we hadn't had sex. If it ever came to that. But the evidence was stronger and stronger that we hadn't.

Now, while Kay was flushed with the afterglow I'd given her, was the time to implement part two of the plan to keep her in my life.

K
ayla

Justin was simply unbelievable. He was glowing so brightly he was practically radioactive. He'd charmed Carl! It had taken me
months
to get Carl to warm up to me. Then again, I didn't have Justin's computer skills. On the walk to the café, he smiled, waved, and greeted people I'd seen every day for a year and never gotten a second look from. And our waitress, who was totally cute—the guys always noticed her—but usually harried and curt on busy mornings, brought him the best muffin in the case.

I stared at him. "Are you flirting with our waitress? Right in front of me, your adoring wife?"

He shrugged so casually it was almost comical. "Just being friendly. Jealous?"

"Oh, shut up, Mr. Sunshine, Haha I Finally Did the Deed." I sighed and muttered beneath my breath something about sleeping with a guy and turning him into Casanova. "She probably recognizes you and is expecting a huge tip, Mr. Billionaire."

His grin deepened, creasing his beard. "You
are
jealous." He leaned forward. "Don't worry. I'll give
you
a big tip later." He had the audacity to wink at me.

"Not if you keep flirting with everyone in the room, you won't." I lifted an eyebrow to let him know I was serious.

He laughed and took a bite of his muffin. Someone had left a section of the Sunday paper on the windowsill.

Jus picked it up and scanned it while he ate and sipped his coffee. His got a serious look on his face. He flipped the paper onto the table in front of me and pointed to an article, infographic included, about the philanthropic ventures of Seattle's local elite. Several EIEIO members were listed as some of the most generous people in the country, if not the world. The world's most generous man lived in Seattle, after all.

Jus flipped the paper onto the table and tapped it with his finger. "Riggins and I are trying to do something about this."

"You want to put a stop to philanthropy?" I said, deadpan.

He laughed. "Right, smartass. That's it. Death to all philanthropy." He rolled his eyes, which twinkled with amusement.

He was just so happy. I almost wanted to slap some sense in him.

I didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. And maybe, if I was honest, I was a bit annoyed because I realized I was pretty happy, too.

"We want to do our part," he said. "But we're novices at being billionaires. Well, I am. Riggins has a little more experience at being rich." Jus laughed. "I want you to meet him."

"I'd love to meet the mysterious Riggins." Which was absolutely true. I was insanely curious about Riggins. Who, like Lazer, had made the list of Seattle's most eligible rich guys many times over.

"He's not so mysterious. We'll get together with him soon." As Jus glanced at the paper again, a frown creased his forehead.

It could have just been me, but I thought it was exaggerated to impress me. Which was sweet of him.

"At Flash, we're trying to do our part to help the local community. All the proceeds from our sample sales go completely to community causes—battered women's shelters and the children's hospital. Volunteers from both organizations help organize the sales and man the cash registers at the events. Once a year, we have a huge sample sale and benefit that's open only to the patients, staff, and patrons of the hospital and domestic violence shelters we support. Our employees take over for the charities' volunteers."

"That's awesome." I took a bite of my filled croissant, getting powdered sugar on my lip and all over my fingers.

"Ophie's in charge of it." Jus made a dusting motion. "You have a little something…"

At the mention of Ophie's name, I sat up straighter, suddenly annoyed by the powdered sugar as I licked it off.

Okay, Ophie
, I thought, feeling a little bit superior, but still unhappy at the thought of her.
I'm the one who made a man out of him. He's got my grin on his face. Why should I fear you?

But I still didn't like the thought of her being in love with him.

Jus was watching me closely. "As the company has grown, so has the event. It's gotten out of hand. And frankly, it's too big a job for Ophie to handle. Especially with all her other job responsibilities."

He took my hand, squeezing it playfully. "I'd like you to be involved with Flash. I've offered before. I was serious about it. Now that we've gone public, it would be awkward for everyone if I hired you now."

"What are you thinking?" I said, trying not to get my hopes up.

"I'd like you to take the sample sales over from Ophie."

"Yes!" I couldn't hold my smile down. "I'm already bored staying home. A billionaire's wife can’t just go out and get any old job. It just doesn't look good. And I've already called in rich at the one I had."

He nodded. "That's what I was thinking." He got an almost shy look on his face. "As a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd be game for taking over the bulk of my charitable obligations."

I frowned, unclear exactly what he was asking. "What do you mean? People are going to want to see
you
at events."

"I'm messing this up." He squeezed my hand. "I was thinking of starting a charitable foundation to oversee my charitable giving. We'd start small. The first task would be deciding which causes and charities to support. Besides the ones Flash already does. You could head it up. Help me get it started. Your first task will be the annual sample sale benefit."

Suddenly all the empty days in front of me were filled with exciting possibilities. My life had meaning. "Yes!" I said before he could change his mind.

He leaned across the table and kissed me. "Thanks, Kay. I really
do
need you."

His words, his tone, and the look in his eyes were so sincere, they hit me with a powerful force. I hadn't ever been needed that badly. And helping others in need would help me deal with the guilt of suddenly, undeservedly, being so filthy rich.

My mind filled with possibilities. Still, I hesitated. "I don't have a lot of experience. I was the philanthropy chair one year at my sorority. But that was it."

"That's okay," he said. "We'll start small. If you need help, we'll hire a manager with experience to guide you and run the day-to-day. Eventually, you'll be more the public face of it."

"What about in a year?" I fiddled with my napkin, tearing little bits of it off, suddenly nervous.

"We'll deal with that when it comes." He took a sip of coffee. "Which brings up another thing. Britt cornered me at the party. She wants a job at Flash. Given the circumstances, what do you think?"

I shrugged. Britt wanted the job so badly. "She'll be hurt if we don't give her a chance."

He nodded. "Yeah. There's no way out. Tell her to send me her résumé. I'll pass it along. I have to go through channels now, but I usually get my way." He paused. "It's going to be harder to keep up our game with her around the office all the time."

"You could always lowball her with your salary offer?" I said, and probably sounded way too hopeful.

"And get a bad rep for being a sweatshop?" He grimaced adorably.

I laughed.

Two attractive women about my age walked toward us, whispering to each other excitedly. They stopped at Justin's elbow.

The bolder one of them spoke. "Excuse us. Sorry to interrupt, but aren't you Justin Green, the owner of Flashionista?"

They were obviously nervous and impressed. And even though I was sitting right there, I was invisible to them as they tittered over him and flirted.

He nodded.

They just started gushing. "We love Flashionista! Over half my wardrobe and the stuff in my apartment is from your website. If it wasn't for Flash, I couldn't afford all the boutique stuff I have…"

On and on. They fell all over him.

Jus smiled, joked with them, was completely at ease and charming. He talked with them way too long, in my opinion. Could it be I was a tiny bit jealous of his attention being diverted?

I sat there mute, with a frozen smile hurting my face, until the waitress saved me by coming by to refill my coffee.

"Oh, sorry! We're taking up too much of your time," the bold one said, falling all over Jus.

"No. It's been great meeting you." Jus pulled his wallet out. "I love all our customers." He pulled two cards out of his wallet and handed one to each girl. "Gift cards. For your next order. To thank you for your loyalty."

The girls squealed happily, gave him flirty waves, and disappeared.

"How much did you give your fangirls?" I sounded grumpier than I meant to.

He shrugged. "Fifty apiece."

"Crap, Jus. Just for stroking your ego?"

He should have been mad. Instead, his smile deepened.

"You'd better give our waitress at least that," I said, still the grump. "If she hadn't moved them along, we'd be stuck here all day."

O
n Monday
, I finally got a chance to go through that coat of Justin's where the mysterious letter was stashed. And it was…gone! Of course. Foiled again.

The producer of
Northwest Mornings
, a local Seattle morning TV show, called. She wanted to book me for an interview, the blushing new bride gushing over her billionaire groom. As more and more requests for interviews poured in, I began to contemplate getting an administrative or personal assistant for myself. Someone to manage my appointments and screen calls. The media had given us a few days off. A big news story about the current celebs of the moment had eclipsed my story of snagging the billionaire nerd boy. But the media frenzy from that had died down and I was news again.

I agreed to go on their Friday show. Now that I was taking over Justin and Flash's charitable work, I figured it would be a good place to announce it and get a jump on PR. I immediately booked several sessions with the top media coach in the city and began working on my public persona. Which, as far as I could tell, would be adoring wife and dedicated humanitarian. And, of course, fashionista dressed by Flashionista.

In my mind, I was playing out our year together. How soon until stories of our marriage sliding toward the rocks should appear? A few months before the end? A few weeks? What would our breakup look like? Could we part amicably, still friends?

I pushed thoughts of our parting away. There were growing increasingly depressing. Why should I think about them today when they could be pushed off to the distant future of a year?

Despite having fantastic sex together, and Jus adoring me and spoiling me completely and totally, he hadn't said he loved me. Not that I expected him to. I hadn't told him, either. Because I wasn't really in love with him. Not yet. But he was special to me, an intimate friend. And we had so much fun together.

First thing Monday morning, Jus set up a meeting between Ophie and me. She was too busy to meet with me until Wednesday. That was her claim, anyway. I believed she was putting me off in a pure power play. Frustrating. I couldn't publically announce my involvement in the charity sample sale until Ophie had been told and we'd met to discuss details and transitioning it to me.

In the meantime, I played alpha video game tester with Data on my lap. She was a good pup and seemed to enjoy the game, barking when I killed bad guys and made my way through the levels. Bonding with a dog over video games was interesting. It was so Justin to have a nerd dog.

My princess character was beautiful, and rather useless, as she floated along in the background. I made a note to complain to Lazer about that. In the meantime, I struck up an immediate online friendship with several other testers. Several, one in particular, were terrible flirts. But Lazer, despite his offer to play the game with me last Saturday, was never on when I was. And Jus declined to play, preferring to lock himself in his office and work on his Flashionista algorithms.

Wednesday was nearly the longest day of the year. The merch girls at Flash got tired of waiting for an excuse to have a happy hour party to meet me. They planned a nearly shortest night of the year pub party, complete with karaoke, and issued Jus and me an invitation that couldn't be refused. Suddenly my Wednesday was booked—a coffee meeting with Ophie, followed by meetings with the top merch buyers, topped off by a hump day happy hour.

Wednesday afternoon, promptly at two, I met Jus and Ophie at a well-known local bakery near the Flash offices. It was crowded with tourists and office workers from downtown. Jus and Ophie were already there, working at a table in the corner, heads bent together intimately, laughing. It was clear from the familiarity between them they were used to working this way. In informal, date-like settings. At odd hours. I pictured them in the early days of Flash, working late together at the office. Or over candlelit dinners.

She poured Jus another cup of coffee from a small manual immersion brewer on the table. Ophie reached across him and dumped a packet of raw sugar into his cup, along with a splash of cream, like a long-married wife does for her husband. I'd seen my grandma do the same thing for Grandpa. Ophie even stirred the coffee for Jus. She knew, evidently, just how he liked his coffee. And anticipated his needs. I wondered if he was even aware of how she spoiled him.

I pushed down a bubble of jealousy.

Neither of them saw me come in. I got in line to get an iced coffee and one of the bakery's famous scones and watched them. How could Jus be drinking hot coffee on such a gorgeous, warm day? He drank entirely too much coffee, to be honest. And too many energy drinks as well. All that caffeine couldn't be good for him. I laughed at myself. Here I was worrying over him like an old hen. I wasn't his mom. Thank goodness.

When Ophie didn't think anyone was watching, her face shone with love and longing for Jus. He was clearly the sunshine in her day, so warm it scorched the rest of us. When he looked at her, she masked it. As well as she could. It was still a wonder to me that Jus didn't see it. Because as sure as the Seahawks were the city's favorite team, and destined to be Super Bowl champs again soon, everyone else in the bakery could.

I felt the sting of her desire for him as I waited in line. It bordered on obsession. And while that may have been flattering to Jus, it was dangerous to me. And us. And Flash. Not just because of the circumstances and Justin's crazy ID thief marriage we were covering up. Under any circumstance. She would put being close to Jus above Flash. Above everything. Even the law. I suppressed a shudder. And pushed away a premonition of darkness and trouble.