him.
Slade hesitated only a second, then caught the door before it closed, and went inside to try to repair the damage he’d done.
He wasn’t very good at this husband thing.
Good thing he didn’t plan to be one for long.
TAYLOR GLANCED AROUND her hotel room and wanted to scream. Those weren’t her things.
They were Slade’s things.
Her blood boiled. How could he have been so stupid as to have announced that they’d married? She’d just wanted to have a quiet quickie divorce. She had not wanted anyone to know. Now everyone knew. Right before Christmas. Ugh.
She threw her bag down on her bed, wincing when she recalled her laptop was inside. She clicked on her phone to see who the latest text was from. Her parents? No doubt they’d hear of her latest “major life mistake” soon enough.
The text was from Nina. Great. Had her friend said anything to Gracie? She prayed not. No way did she want Gracie to know what an idiot she had for a mother.
Married in Vegas to a virtual stranger. Brilliant example she was setting for her impressionable young daughter. Shame on her. No doubt her parents would remind her of that over and over.
I just read that you married Slade Sain! Is that true? Hello, girlfriend, have you been holding out on me? I didn’t know you two were an item and I’m your best friend!
“We need to talk.”
Clutching her phone, Taylor spun at Slade’s words. “You need to get out of my room.”
“This is our room.”
“Get out,” she repeated.
“Taylor.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry I messed up. You’re right that I shouldn’t have said anything. Unfortunately, I did and I can’t take the words back.”
“I didn’t want anyone to know I married you!”
Something akin to hurt flickered across his face. “Not that I want to be married any more than you do, but am I such a loser that you’re ashamed of me?”
Surprised that he sincerely looked offended, Taylor sank onto the foot of the bed and sighed. “This is crazy. I don’t want to argue with you, Slade. I don’t want to say hurtful things. I don’t want you here. I don’t want to be married to you. I don’t want anyone to know. I don’t want to face our colleagues at this dinner tonight, knowing that they’re going to be watching us.”
“That’s a lot of ‘I don’t wants,’” he mused, his voice gentler than before. He knelt down on the floor in front of her. His eyes searched hers. “What is it you do want, Taylor?”
Although he wasn’t touching her, his nearness made her insides tremble. Probably from disgust that she’d married him. “To forget this ever happened and to not be married to you of all people.”
“Of all people? Ouch.”
“I’m sorry if I’m wounding your ego, but don’t pretend that it’s anything more than that,” she pointed out, wishing he’d move away from her. How was she supposed to not look at him when he was right there, kneeling in front of her? “Yes, we had sex together and it was good. But we aren’t in love and we won’t ever be. This was a mistake and what’s worse is that it’s now a public mistake.” Oh, how she hated that anyone knew how big a mistake she’d made. “And above all else I don’t want Gracie to find out.”
Confusion furrowed his brows. “Who’s Gracie?”
She might as well tell him. “My daughter.”
Shock registered on his face and for a moment she thought his knees were going to give way. “You have a daughter?”
“Yes, I have a daughter.” She snorted. Just as well Slade wasn’t the man of her dreams, because his reaction to the news of Gracie would have killed any chance he had.
Face a little blanched, he shook his head. “You don’t have a kid.”
He sounded so confident in his immediate response that Taylor wanted to laugh. Only she wasn’t feeling very amused at the moment. She was feeling crowded with him so close to her and annoyed at his reaction.
“Sure I do.” She narrowed her gaze, hoping he’d take the hint at how much she disliked him. “Perhaps you noticed the stretch marks along my hips last night when we were...” Her cheeks heated. Crazy after the things they’d done the night before that she couldn’t bring herself to say the word sex.
But whereas she was annoyed, his expression remained shocked. “You have a beautiful body, Taylor.” His tone was as gentle as it had been before, but there was a dazed look to his eyes. “And no more stretch marks than other women have with fluctuations in weight of a few pounds.”
He would know.
Ugh. She hated it that her mind went to him with other women. But, then, he did go through women just as fast as Kyle had, so why wouldn’t her mind go there? He was a player. A player she had married and was going to divorce.
“Puh-lease.” She didn’t even attempt to hide her sarcasm. “I’ve given birth. I know my body changes. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but get real.”
“You have a beautiful body, Taylor,” he repeated, so matter-of-fact that something cracked deep inside even if his words only meant he hadn’t really looked at her.
“The body of a woman who has had a baby. If you’d paid attention last night, you’d have realized that.”
He ignored her snap, stood and paced across the room. When he turned to look at her, he didn’t meet her eyes. “When?”
“Gracie is six.”
The skin on his face pulled tight. His jaw worked back and forth in a slow grind. “The guy in medical school?”
She nodded and couldn’t hold in her bitterness. How dared Slade look at her with accusation in his eyes? He had no right to judge her! “Give the man a prize. Of course he’s Gracie’s father. I told you he was the only man I’d ever been with.”
“There are other ways women become mothers, Taylor,” he pointed out, his voice level and patient, even though color stained his cheeks at her outburst. “A strong, successful woman like yourself may have decided to have a child and sought a fertility clinic, for all I know.”
Strong, successful woman? Ha, what she really wanted to do at the moment was curl up into a ball and cry. How strong and successful was that?
“Because, like I’ve said, you don’t know me. This just proves my point.”
His jaw flexed again. “A point I tried to correct on numerous occasions, but you didn’t want to let me know you.”
“Of course I don’t want to let you
