Devoured - Cathryn Fox Page 0,24
by and I want to be in a community in need, know what I mean?”
“I do.”
A woman and her young son, who looks to be about three, stroll down the sidewalk, and I catch the loving way Peyton watches them, her lips curving at the corners. For a girl who doesn’t want a family, or kids—doesn’t believe in Cinderella or Prince Charming—she sure has a longing smile on her face. Maybe that’s why she became a teacher—maybe all the children help fill the hollowed-out holes in her life.
“And you have to be married?”
The small family passes and her chest expands as she takes in a deep breath and lets it out ever so slowly. “Technically the marriage bar has been lifted, but it’s practiced behind the scenes here. I don’t like to deceive anyone, Roman, but I couldn’t take a chance. I’m hoping once they see me in action with the kids, my marital status will no longer matter.”
“I get it, but it’s all ridiculous. It’s the twenty-first century, for Christ’s sake.”
She shrugs. “I know, but this job means everything to me. Which is why—”
“Which is why I’m your husband.” My body stiffens at the words. Wow, why the hell did that come out so easily, sound so right?
“Fake husband,” she corrects.
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“No.”
“I meant to.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Children file into the school and it brings a smile to her face.
“You really like kids, huh?”
She laughs, but it’s forced, and a gust of breeze blows her hair from her shoulders. “When they’re someone else’s kids, I do.”
I nudge her. “I bet you’ll love being an aunt.”
She goes still, her eyes wide with excitement. “Wait, do you know something about Cason and Londyn that I don’t?”
“I hardly think I’d be the first to know. I just mean, I’m sure they’ll have kids at some point.”
Her big smile wraps around me. “I guess I never thought about being an aunt before.” She blinks up at me. “Do any of your sisters have kids?”
“Yeah, and I’m a shitty uncle.”
Her face twists, a dubious smile. “I doubt that.”
“I try to be a good uncle. I really do. But whenever I visit, it’s like the Spanish Inquisition and children are thrust into my arms. I feel like if I touch one, I’ll get infected.”
Her laugh fills my soul with happiness. “Infected. Like they’re a disease?”
“No, maybe the word is addicted, or hooked.” I shake my head. “What I’m trying to say—”
“What you’re trying to say is having kids is the norm, and people can’t understand those like us who are child-free by choice.”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
She laughs and whacks me. “Oh yeah, that’s exactly what you said. But no, I get it, and isn’t that just another thing we have in common?”
I give her a teasing wink. “It’s safe to say we recently discovered quite a few things we have in common,” I say, my cock twitching in remembrance as a sexy pink blush colors her cheeks. Jesus, I want her again. Want to bury my face between her legs and taste her sweetness as I bring her to orgasm. I capture her hand, and without even thinking bring it to my mouth and press a kiss to her fingers. As soon as I do, we find ourselves at the school, the doors swinging open. Peyton turns, and I let our hands drop but continue to hold hers.
“You must be Peyton Harrison,” a gentleman in his late fifties, dressed in a light gray suit, says.
Her smile widens and she takes his outstretched hand. “I am, and you must be Mr. Galea.”
“Please, call me Andrew.”
“It’s so great to finally meet you, Andrew.” She lets go of my hand and waves it toward me, palm up, as she introduces me to the man I can only assume is the principal. “This is my husband, Roman Bianchi.”
Andrew frowns, and I stiffen. I have no idea why I feel like I’m back in grade school getting caught in a lie. Maybe because I am in the middle of a whopper of a lie. But it’s for a greater purpose in an unfair situation, making it justifiable in my mind. Sleeping with Peyton and lying to Cason about it, however, no greater purpose involved there, and not at all justifiable. Then again, I won’t have to lie to his face, because he won’t ask if I’m sleeping with his sister. He trusts me like that. Like Cason, I’m a guy who prides himself on the truth, too. But