Small Town Girls Don't Marry Their Back-Ups - Carol Moncado Page 0,47
make it any easier to accept my part of it.”
He rolled back to his side and kissed her cheek. “I think it’s probably best if I sleep in one of the other rooms for a while. I’ll tell the cameras tomorrow it’s because I haven’t been sleeping well, and I don’t want my tossing and turning to keep you up.”
Madi closed her eyes, not looking at him as she nodded. “Makes sense.”
Wyatt didn’t let go of her hand as he sat up, slumping on the edge of the bed. “It’s not that I don’t want to stay here with you. I do. I think it’s probably better for both of us that I don’t until after the cameras are gone.”
“You know there will be rumors if you do. A night or two would be one thing, but for the next two weeks, including on the trip? Everyone watching will think there’s trouble in paradise.”
He didn’t look at her. “We’ll figure it out, but for tonight, I think it’s best.”
With that, he brought her hand up and kissed her fingers. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She didn’t say anything, but he could feel her eyes on him as he walked out the door.
He wasn’t looking forward to the producer’s questions in the morning, but at least they’d already left for the night. Someone would probably fast forward through the footage to see if anything happened then ask him why he hadn’t slept in the same room as his wife.
Once he’d flopped on another bed, rather than focus on what was to come or what had nearly taken place between them, Wyatt tried to think through what Madi had said about impostor syndrome and how it wasn’t, couldn’t be, all his fault.
It took a while, but eventually he fell asleep, though he wouldn’t have to lie about tossing and turning.
He was up before Madi. At least he’d been wearing athletic shorts and carrying a tank top when he left their room. Because some of the floors were cool this time of year, he also wore socks, at least until he actually went to bed.
With all of that, heading straight for a workout without bothering Madi was fairly simple. He didn’t love the tank top, but after the pictures popped up online and the memes and everything else, he wore it for his own peace of mind, and Madi’s. Wyatt knew he was in great shape. As a professional athlete, he had to be. Given that, he should have expected there to be mass ogling, but it caught him off-guard.
He could ignore the women, for the most part.
It wasn’t fair to Madi that she had to.
So he wore a shirt when he was in camera range. At least the trip to Ravenzario was in the winter. Despite its Mediterranean locale, the weather would be too cold to swim.
He’d always thought most of the Med would be warm enough year-round. Instead, Madi had informed him otherwise. He’d done a lot of swimming the last time he was there - but the pool had been heated, and it was spring.
About the time he finished his workout, he heard the production team arrive. He waved at them as he took a swig out of his water bottle and slipped into the master bedroom.
“They’re here?” Madi’s grumpy voice came from under a pile of covers.
“Yep. Bright and early.” He took another drink from his water bottle.
The thick comforter shifted and Madi peeked out. “You’ve already worked out, haven’t you?”
Wyatt couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll get another work out in later, sleepy head.”
“I’m a night owl, not a sleepy head,” she groused.
He appreciated she’d been trying her best to go to bed at what he considered a reasonable hour, just so they could go to bed together. Normally, or so he understood, she did her best writing after ten at night and often went to bed around two, then slept until at least ten or eleven.
But Madi, for all her claim to want to be out of the public eye, understood the optics of that. He sensed she wasn’t doing well with it, but he appreciated the effort. It would be a challenge to adjust once the cameras were out of their faces.
“Are you awake?” he asked her.
“No.” The comforter went back up over her head.
“Then right now, you’re a sleepy head.” He sat on the bed next to her and pulled the bedding away from her face. “It’s time to rise and shine.”