Accidentally Married to the Billionaire 2(31)

Maybe the part about not boning his secretary hadn’t been in the vows explicitly, but it was definitely implied as far as Marj was concerned.

She couldn’t get her mind around it…the incontrovertible fact that Brandon Cates, her husband no less, had been dicking around with her. He had been doing exactly what Luke did only worse and better…he was better in the sack and worse on her heart. If Luke had made her so cynical she could never have a healthy relationship without waiting for the other shoe to drop, then Brandon had damn near killed her, and that was all there was to it. She might as well go sit in a corner, rocking herself and eating peanut brittle until she grew chin hairs and had to go get some cats to live with her.

What could she do? She could go sit at their home, at his home and wait for him to come tell her that it wasn’t what it looked like, which is obviously what everyone who’s cheating has said every time they got caught. She could go have a bath and cry and think of pathetic ways to win him back. Or she could go have a drink and maybe feel better about herself.

Marj whipped out her phone and reactivated her Tinder profile. He could have his fun, so could she. It wasn’t like they were in a real relationship. It wouldn’t be cheating. Because they were never really a couple. They were nothing more than business acquaintances that were attracted to one another.

Her friend Beth called, and Marj spilled about how her and her new hubby had gotten into a spat. Beth listened and was supportive. Marj was careful not to let out any details about the fake marriage, so Beth just thought it was one of those fights couples have.

“Wanna come out with me and the girls?” she asked. “Carla and Delli have been asking about you, and Tracy misses you like crazy.”

Marj sighed. “No, it’s best I stay here. I don’t want Brandon mad when I get back.”

“And you care, why?”

She pondered. “You’re right. Let’s go out.”

Marj put on leather leggings, over-the-knee boots with a sharp silver heel, a formfitting tank and a loose, drapey blouse over it, sheer enough that the black tank was visible through the soft pink of the fabric. A long silver chain draped around her neck inside the collar, trailing down her chest and disappearing under the tank top’s low neckline. She left her hair down loose, a riot of curls. Plummy gloss made her full lips alluring but not too made up, not intimidating like her favorite Ruby Woo had rendered them. She took a clutch purse, leaving her doomed white panties behind on the nightstand.

She told the cook to cancel that special dinner she’d ordered to share with Brandon at midnight…the picnic by the fireplace that she had planned. So much for romance and reconnecting. So much for everything.

At the club, she met up with the girls. They danced and threw back a few shots.

“So that’s what I told my boyfriend,” Tina said. “I think deep, deep, deep down, maybe I’m a really shallow person.”

Marj burst out in laughter. “Deep down and shallow contradict each other. It’s one of those, uh, what’s it called?”

A sexy man approached and smiled at Marj. “Oxymoron,” he said.

Marj smiled. “Yeah, that’s it! Like ‘happily married.’”

Beth spit out her drink and laughed. “Hey, that’s mine!”

“Okay, then mine can be…” She stared into the sexy guy’s green eyes. “Beautiful disaster.”

And she wasn’t kidding. The man was beautiful. And a disaster for her marriage if she kept looking at him like that.

“How about sweet misery, true lies, or bittersweet?” he said.

Marj lifted her finger. “Those are good ones.”

They started talking. But he was vain. As in he kept talking about how well-endowed he was, making the other girls blush. He looked pretty ordinary, his wrists even a little on the slender side. She cursed herself for looking at his wrists because they reminded her of Brandon’s thick, strong wrists and arms, and the thickness they promised, the fullness and skill he’d delivered.

Her face hot, she made herself laugh at whatever he was saying. She closed her plummy lips around the straw of her Pepsi. She’d had enough to drink and wanted to stay responsible. She was buzzing and didn’t need more alcohol. He asked for her number, and she brushed him off. He was way more interested in himself than he was in her.

And what Marj needed right now was attention. She needed flattery and flirtation and someone who couldn’t take his eyes off her for a second. Not some dismal guy who was probably trying to catch his own reflection in a teaspoon.

She unbuttoned the blouse a little further, touched up her gloss and started talking to the next guy who came over. He insisted she needed a ‘real’ drink. He bought her one of those tall, violet colored cocktails that tasted like berries. His friends joined them at the table, and Beth really liked the muscular Spanish guy with long, wavy hair.