Josie had worked her magic on each and every one of them, and it was fair to say Seth was also completely under her spell.
An hour later, they were back at his place, beers in hand for Josie and Seth, and a glass of chardonnay for Peg. Seth hauled one of his dining chairs out onto the porch to join the women in their rockers and he listened in as the two discussed Peg’s wedding plans. He observed the way Josie mimicked her mother’s excitement, but there was a slight lack of sincerity he picked up on, but only because he was looking for it. Josie wasn’t enthralled with wedding colors, cake flavors, and first dance songs, although she did offer her suggestions when her mother asked for them. It made Seth wonder what Josie’s dream wedding would be, or if she even had one. She was so quick to conjure up their fictitious courthouse wedding that he figured this might’ve been her only option.
Peg’s preoccupation with her upcoming nuptials didn’t leave any space for questions about her daughter’s lack of a real wedding, and that came as a relief to Seth. He, too, would have a hard time lying to this woman. She was kind, warm. Motherly. The many things his own mother wasn’t and for a split second, his heart lagged behind his head when the surge of gratitude over having a mother-in-law like Peg swept through him.
None of this is real.
Seth caught Josie’s gaze across the distance separating them on the porch. Her amber eyes searched out his, eyelids half mast with an uncertain look stamped across her face. “Seth? Would you mind helping me in the kitchen for a second?” She stood from the rocker and collected their empty beer bottles, then moved to the door and nodded her head toward it.
“Sure thing.” He offered Peg another glass of wine and took her empty one by the stem.
“You okay?” Josie spun around and asked immediately once inside the house. She dropped the bottles into the recycling bin under the counter with a clatter and then threaded her arms over her chest.
“I’m fine.”
Her jaw set. “You sure? You seem a little lost in la-la-land out there.”
He had been doing his best to stay present in the conversation but evidently his facial expressions didn’t convey that. Josie read him remarkably well. “Listening to your mom talk about her wedding just made me wonder if those were things you wanted, too. If somehow I took that from you. I know this marriage is fake, but I can’t help feel like I’ve stolen something special from you that you’ll never be able to get back.”
“I think you’re taking all of this a little too seriously.”
“That’s the thing, Josie. I am taking this seriously. I’m serious about you.”
A flash of shock that verged on suspicion crossed over Josie’s face. “Let’s get my mom that chardonnay, shall we?”
He reached for her elbow. “Josie, I know this is all happening so fast, but I think it’s fair to say I’ve completely fallen for you.”
Her breath rushed out in a hot whoosh that sounded like a laugh. “Only because you really don’t know me yet,” she said, head whipping back and forth like it was a phrase she had rehearsed all her life. “All of that will change once you do.”
“I’m sure it will,” Seth said. “But I don’t see my feelings getting anything but stronger.”
“Why do you talk to me like that?” A churning river of emotion swirled in Josie’s fiery gaze. She shoved her hands against his chest like a push and he tried not to stumble back from the unexpected force. “Why do you say these things to me?” Another shove. “Things that give me hope for something that’s never going to happen?”
“Why do you think it won’t happen?”
“Because things don’t work out for me, Seth.”
“That’s a crazy thing to say.”
“Is it?” Her fingers curled into his shirt, nails scraping against the flesh underneath, gripping him there. “Every time I try to do something good, it invariably goes wrong. I gave Brian money and he totaled my car. I pretend to be in a relationship with you and—”
“You haven’t messed anything up here.”
“Not yet, but I will. It will all implode once we’re done playing the game. Your family will hate me. Hell, you might even hate me.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Seth’s tone was unyielding. He clasped onto her hands still pressed to his chest, sensing that if he didn’t hold on, she’d run right out of his life forever.
“It will,” she insisted. “Just wait. You’ll wish you never texted me about those stupid mustangs to begin with. You’ll wish you never met me.”
That harsh comment sat between them, cradled in the crackling energy of their discussion. She didn’t mean that and he knew it.
“Why are you so damn stubborn?” He let go of her hands and found her hips to drag her near, bringing her chest to chest, needing to be as close as possible to get through to her.
“I have to be.”
“Really? You have to be? Why?”
“It’s the only way I know how to protect myself.”
“Let me protect you,” Seth pleaded. He clenched his jaw in frustration at the situation, but not at her. Josie was just being Josie. “Let me. Please.”
Her eyes raked over his face and then the hands twisted in the fabric of his shirt shot up to his jaw. She jerked him down to her and slammed her lips on his in a kiss that was two parts desperation, one-part surrender. Josie wouldn’t give up the fight that easily and Seth knew it. He couldn’t reverse a lifetime of self deprecating talk with one conversation. But dammit, he sure as hell was going to try.
She pressed him against the counter, her body to his. Her mouth was frantic, demanding, this pent up emotion like a rudderless ship tossed about a violent, roiling sea. She couldn’t find her rhythm—she was all lips and tongue and need. Seth liked the loss of control, the way she yelped and breathed in a hot, insistent rush against his equally eager mouth. It was primal and uninhibited and it made him crazy with desire.
He was so wrapped up in the moment he almost didn’t hear the creak of the front door opening on its hinges, but when Peg called out for them, he slammed back into the here and now. Josie shot five steps backward like she’d just been electrocuted.
“I think I’m going to pass on that second glass of wine and just head home for the night.” Peg’s voice carried into the kitchen before she did. Her expression went blank, then composed once she took in the sight of the two, all heaving chests and palpable tension. “Oh. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“No, Mom. I was just about to grab that wine for you. Sorry.”
“No need, Jo. You two get back to whatever it is you were doing.” She gave a slow nod and a wink. “I’ll catch up with you in the next few days. Don’t have to see me out. Night, you two.”
Seth waited until he heard the telltale sound of the door fitting back into place before he dared to speak, and even then his voice came out in an unsure crack. “Why is it that I feel like a teenager who just got caught?”
“Because we did just get caught.”
“But we’re married.” He walked forward and slipped an arm around her middle.