Her Reluctant Husband by Erica Marselas (summer beach reads txt) 📗

selling the house, June.” Okay, not the first thing I wanted to say to her, but it’s an attention grabber.

She glares at me, throwing her towel down on the bench. “So, you’re going to force me to stay with you even though we have a way out?” she seethes.

“That’s not what I’m doing, June.”

“You know what, Alex? I can’t talk to you right now.” She scoffs and spins around, marching away to her office.

I go to follow her, but Annabelle and the other friend whose name I can’t remember step in front of me crossing their arms playing bodyguards. “Come on, I just need to talk to her. Five minutes. I’ll behave. I told Ms. Gandy I would.” I give them both a sugary sweet smile.

“Don’t you dare make her cry anymore.” Annabelle raises her fist to me.

I smirk and raise my hands in defense. “I promise to try not to, killer. It’s the last thing I want to do.”

Annabelle looks to her friend and nods. They both step aside, and here I thought, I was going to have to put up a fight. I start moving to the back office when I’m summoned back.

“You’re going to need this.” Annabelle hands me a key. “I bet she locked herself in there.”

“Thanks.”

I first knock on the door and I’m yelled at to go away. “I’m not going. We’ve wasted enough time.” I use the key Annabelle gave me and unlock the office.

June stands in the corner, snarling at me as I step through the threshold. “I’m going to give those two so much grief for letting you through.”

“I believe you, June,” I tell her as I close the door behind me. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it yesterday when you needed to hear it, but I do. I was just fucking overwhelmed by everything you hit me with.”

“That’s nice.” She falls into her chair and flips open her laptop.

“Come on, June.”

“Did Ms. Gandy actually tell you what Bookings was offering? It’s more money and the house stays Alex,” she huffs.

“She did, but it’s not what I want to do. It’s our house.”

“This is the loophole you always wanted, Alex. You can have my share of the sale too. Figure it my apology for backing out, but I can’t do it.”

“No. I want the house with you. I want this marriage with you.”

She shakes her head. “You do understand, Ms. Gandy can sell it for us.”

“I don’t think she will.” I cross my arms and June narrows her eyes at me. Ms. Gandy and I talked for a while. She wants us to work it out, but I know if in the end we can’t, if I pushed June too far away, I’ll let the house go, but I won’t go down without a fucking fight.

“I can’t do it.” She wraps her arms around herself. “Like I understand now why you stayed away. That house is tainted. There are ghosts everywhere and now we’ve made new ones. Every wall is filled with memories, I just want to forget.”

I pull out a chair and scoot in next to her. I want to reach out and touch her, but I know she will end up rejecting it.

“I get what you’re saying, June, but we just need to finally make it our own. Liz loved her memories, but she would want us to make our own. She did this for us. Her crazy harebrained idea was so we would confess everything and heal.”

“Maybe it wasn’t really about healing together.” She circles her finger around her keyboard.

“I know you don’t believe that. I know I fucked up yesterday. Hell, I’ve been fucking up for years. What happened in that bathroom was inexcusable, but you have to know I wouldn’t have hurt you like he did.”

“But you wanted revenge. How is that any different?”

“Because I stopped. I saw your pain and you said no, and I stopped, June,” I say forcefully. “I just wanted you to be willing. Do what I thought you did all those years ago. Like I told you in the bathroom, it was like everything was playing out like it was told to me years ago. First, I caught you laughing with Raf. Do you know how long it took me to make you laugh?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not allowed to laugh with other people?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“If you didn’t come in like an asshole, I would have told you I’ve known Raf for months. His niece Lilly-Ann is in my class, and he picks her up once in a while. We were laughing because he was making some crazy pitches about how I should advertise, and for the private bathroom, honestly, I just needed a moment and didn’t want a chance to run into Whitney.” She takes a deep steady breath and pushes off her desk. My eyes close and I feel more like an asshole. “But the fact you even thought I would hook up with him at your company picnic, forget our last month together, just tells me everything about you.”

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, you weren’t. Because you let Whitney get to you. Your mind isn’t your own Alex.”

“I went to go prove her wrong…and then Raf came out being cocky, saying how amazing you were, and you were touching up your lipstick like Deacon told me.” I bow my head, all the words bitter on my tongue, and no matter how much I say it, it doesn’t make my fuck up excusable. I listened to someone else that wasn’t me. I take her hand. She’s cold and clammy, as I state my plea. “But I wouldn’t have hurt you. I’m not him. I’ll never be him.”

“I don’t care. You still listened.” She snatches her hand back. “She got in your head. Just