Chapter 22

Tobias After celebrating my mom’s birthday, I get a late-night phone call to handle a situation at one of my hotels and reluctantly leave Hannah’s side. I had hoped to spend the night with her. Hold her and just… talk about the future?

Is that silly?

She is my wife, but our relationship is fake, so perhaps she wouldn’t like it if I cuddled with her. I could tell her it’s part of our contract, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I want to touch her….

“I thought you had left by now.”

I look up from my laptop and look at Sarah. “No, we have a customer that needs a refund and more because one of our hotel workers didn’t realize their importance… it’s a pain in the ass. They demanded I talk with them as they threatened to change the hotel chain for their company if they weren’t contacted by the CEO themselves…”

“Ouch, that does sound like a pain…” Sarah grimaces and closes the door behind her. It makes me raise an eyebrow, but I don’t ask about the door. She must have something private to tell me.

I look back at my screen. “What do you want, Sarah?”

“Have Daniel spoken to you?” 1 Ah. So that is what this is about… I should have figured. I know what Sarah wants now, but I play dumb anyway. Anything to get under her skin. “About?”

“That I never actually cheated on you,” she whispers in a soft tone, and when I glance up from my screen, her eyes are filled with tears. “I made a huge mistake, Tobias… I wanted your reaction, and it was childish of me, but… maybe you can forgive me?” 1 I scan her face for lies or dishonesty, and I sigh heavily in my seat when I find none. As much as I hate to admit it, Sarah is speaking the truth. She was always a terrible liar. Those tears? They always appear after she admits to having done something terrible.

“Look, Sarah,” I speak in a calm tone. “I can tolerate and work with you in the same place as you, but I won’t take you back.”

“Why not?”

I almost want to laugh. “Are you serious?” I ask in an accusing tone. For a woman so bright, she can be somewhat braindead at times. “I’m a married man-I have a new wife, and I won’t cheat on her.”

As I say those words, I realize two things: the first is that the thought of cheating on Hannah makes me want to throw up in a bucket. The second thing is that I’m now beginning to understand that I’m falling for my fake wife because why else would I be uncomfortable at the thought of sleeping with my ex-wife?

“You actually like her?” Sarah’s voice is filled with disbelief, and her hands are already fingering over the white bands of her bra. I glare at her shoulders, not because I’m turned on, but because I’m pissed off. “If you take off your bra, I will call security and have them drag you out of my office,” I growl.

Sarah snickers. “Oh, we both know you wouldn’t do that, but I like hearing the threat from your lips,” she leans forward and place a manicured hand over mine, then winks at me. “I can play your game and be naughty if you want me to be.”

I freeze in my seat, horrified because her hand is going higher up my arm, squeezing my muscles.

“Oh, Tobias… you’re such a daddy now…”

Something resembling a moan rips up Sarah’s throat, and that’s when some of my control returns. But I didn’t lose it because I’m turned on. I just never thought I would be sexually harassed by my ex-wife.

I pull myself away from her touch, and Sarah’s eyes widen. They are filled with lust, and I can bet two million her underwear is soaked. I can tell she is aroused, but I’m grossed out.

I press the button for security underneath my desk-it needs to be done. I’m married, and since I have a feeling Sarah won’t stop no matter what I tell her, I need a guard to escort her out of my office.

“Tobias…” Sarah says my name in a whiny tone and makes it sound like the most disgusting thing in the universe when she moans. “Why did you stop touching me? You could never keep your hands off me in the past. Come on, don’t you want to touch me?”

Before I know what is going on, Sarah takes off her shirt and loses her bra with it. She is sitting in the chair topless now, wearing only a black skirt and matching high heels.

To be perfectly honest, Sarah is gorgeous, but she isn’t the woman I want. I force my eyes away, and to my relief, I’m not hard at all. I’m thankful that my body agrees with me: cheating is wrong.

Sarah giggles. “Why won’t you look at me, Tobias? Is it because you’re harder for me than you are for your new wife?”

Instead of replying to Sarah, I focus on something on one of my bookshelves. It kind of looks like a phone…?

Shit.

I look back at Sarah, studying her features. Is she filming this? No. I doubt Sarah would do that. She is in love with me, but who else… Daniel? That’s probably it.

I look back at Sarah, who has risen from her seat. She walks over to me, smiling until she stares into my lap. I can only guess why she is frowning: I’m not turned on. Not one bit.

“You’re not… but I thought…”

A sigh escapes my lips. “I’m sorry, but I really do love my new wife,” I look over at the bookshelf, nodding at the phone. “You’re not the one filming this, are you?”

Sarah freezes up, and I can see the terror on her face, which tells me what I need to know: she is not the one filming this. She looks distraught, probably because whoever placed the phone in the bookcase has seen her trying to seduce me.

“No, I haven’t-” Sarah closes her mouth when she sees the phone, and I press the button underneath my desk again to signal to my guard that he is no longer needed.

“So you didn’t place that phone there?” I ask.

Instead of replying, Sarah walks over to my bookshelf and takes out the phone with sullen eyes. She stares at the screen, wet her lips, and looks utterly pissed off when she faces me.

“The phone belongs to your assistant,” Sarah says and clicks on the screen, probably to stop it from recording. She then walks over to me, handing me the phone. “It’s no longer recording… but… I suggest you ask your assistant what trick she tried to pull.”

With that, Sarah grabs her bra and hastily puts it on. Her breathing and the anger on her face suggest she is upset. And when she looks at me, there is hurt in her eyes.

“Do you really love her?” Sarah asks. “Your new wife.”

My lips curl by the corners. I can’t tell Sarah the truth and say I don’t know yet. It can’t be revealed that I married Hannah out of revenge rather than love, but… I can tell her part of the truth.

“I care for her more than I thought possible.” It’s the truth. I never expected myself to care this much for Hannah.

Sarah gives me a bitter smile, but at least she doesn’t cry, rage at me, or do something else stupid. She considers my words and then licks her lips without seeming bothered by her red lipstick.

“If that woman hurts you. I’m going to be hurting her back, Tobias. After what I put you through, you deserve someone… better. Someone who cherishes you from the beginning.”

My ex-wife’s words surprise me, and I’m left staring after her as she walks out of my office. That confidence she just showed me and that fierceness is precisely why I fell in love with Sarah in the first place…

A wave of conflicting emotions bubbles up within me, but I mash them down with the sheer force of my mind. Sarah had her chance to stand right by me, and she messed it up-I should be focusing on trying to charm Hannah into liking me.

With that in mind, I continue working. I make a few phone calls and send some letters. The hours pass by quickly, and I pack my laptop into my bag when it’s lunchtime.

I can finally go home to Hannah, and since I’ve packed everything I need into my bag, I won’t have to come back here later.

I leave my office with a smile and drive home. I’m exhausted from working the entire night, but it will be worth it when I get to eat lunch with Hannah. She told me earlier that she had no plans today.

The thought of spending my day with Hannah makes me smile. I’m excited… until I notice an unfamiliar car parked outside my mansion. I park next to it, trying to figure out who it could belong to.

A friend of Hannah?

It must be a friend. I shove the worries out of my head and enter the building. My hands quickly remove my shoes, and that’s when I hear it, laughing from the kitchen.

I freeze in my spot. It sounds like Hannah, but there are two more voices: another woman’s laughter and some guy I can’t recognize. Two other college students? That’s probably the case, yet when I waltz into the kitchen, I can’t fight the jealousy which overwhelms me.

The guy inside the kitchen is good-looking, and his eyes are on Hannah while all three are sitting around the kitchen table. I’m reasonably certain they are working on some presentation. Hannah mentioned something like that, but this guy? He is looking at my wife with fuck-me eyes!

“Oh, you’re home!” Hannah beams at me, and some anger vanishes, but only until I realize the guy is glowering at me.

I glare back at him and mutter. “Yeah… I’m finally done with work,” I walk over to the coffee machine and press a button. I’m deathly tired, but I don’t trust this guy. “You guys working on a project?”

“Mhm,” Hannah says, and then she looks at her friends. “This is Jenna and Xavier. They are taking the same bachelor’s degree as me. And guys, this is my husband, Tobias Ford.”

“Nice to meet you guys.” I shake hands with the gothic girl Jenna first, and then I look at Xavier. He has glasses, but he is built, and I glare at him when I give him my paw.

Xavier stands up and glares back at me as we shake hands. It fills me with sick satisfaction when I realize I’m taller. I have no clue why it should matter, but it does.

“Its nice to finally meet you, Tobias,” Jenna says.

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet the man Hannah married,” Xavier says, but all I hear is this: I’m your fucking rival in love, and I will try to steal your wife. And it’s all I need to take a seat by the table. I don’t trust Xavier, but Hannah narrows her eyes at me.

“Uh, no offense, but you can leave now.”

I smile at Hannah. “I think I will stay.”

She repeatedly blinks at me and seems to take a deep breath before standing up from her seat. I look at her with raised eyebrows as she storms to my side. Her eyes are burning, and when she pulls me away from the kitchen, I shoot Xavier a satisfied smile.

Hannah is obviously leading me away to kiss me, right? That’s why her eyes are filled with so much passion.