Keeping You (6 page)

Nash’s jaw clenched, but it looked like he was at least considering what she’d said.

“
What about your daddy?” he finally asked. “What would he think about you marrying that white trash boy he saved you from when you were fifteen?”

Aria’s stomach knotted, the way it always did when she thought about the night she and Nash were caught in the woods. It was a shameful memory, but also a hopelessly sad one. She had been so naively sure that Nash cared about her, and that what they had was going to last.

But then, she seemed to have a knack for misjudging the men in her life.

“
He’s part of the reason I’m in this mess,” Aria said, hardening her heart, knowing she had to do whatever it took to keep Felicity with her, where her baby belonged. “I don’t care what he thinks.”

“
Well, I do,” Nash said, leaning closer, adding beneath his breath. “If we do this, no one knows it’s fake but us. No one. Not even your family.”

Aria’s brows shot up, anxiety and hope skittering along her nerve endings. He was talking terms, which meant there was a chance this crazy thing was actually going to happen.

“
Okay.” Aria nodded. “No one knows but us, not even my family.”

“
When we’re out in public, we act like this is the real deal,” Nash added. “Like we’re crazy about each other.”

“
Instead of just crazy,” Aria said, heart skipping a beat when Nash smiled. She hadn’t seen him smile in years, but he had a killer grin—warm and magnetic and sexy as hell, enough to make a girl weak in the knees even if she hadn’t had four beers.

“
Right,” he said. “Instead of just crazy.” He stepped closer, arm going around her waist, making her flinch and her breath rush out.

“
What are you doing?” she squeaked, pulse racing as he pulled her closer, until she was in intimate contact with every muscled inch of the man Nash Geary had become.

“
Acting like this is the real deal,” Nash murmured in his panty-melting drawl.

“
We’re starting now?” Aria asked as she braced her hands on his chest. “Right now?”

“
Right now,” Nash said, and then he kissed her.

For a second, Aria froze, her mouth motionless against his. Kissing Nash was so completely outside the bounds of how she had expected this trip to the beer tent to go that she couldn’t seem to get her brain and her body on the same page. But then his big hand cupped the back of her head and his mouth angled into more intimate contact with her own and Aria’s mind shut off the way she’d been wishing it would all night, leaving her body to make its own decisions.

And her body knew exactly what to do.

With a soft moan, Aria twined her arms around Nash’s neck, pulling him closer as her lips parted and she welcomed him in, sighing into his mouth as his tongue moved against hers with firm, practiced strokes that shouldn’t have felt familiar, but did.

It felt like she’d kissed him yesterday, not twelve years ago. Her tongue remembered exactly how to dance with his, her fingers remembered that spot at the back of his neck that made his breath catch when she dug her nails into his skin, and her heart remembered how to slam against her ribs like an animal desperate to escape its cage, longing to get closer to the thing it craves. Closer to Nash.

By the time he pulled away, Aria was breathing hard, tingling all over, and aching in places she had almost forgotten were there.

She and Liam had stopped sleeping together around the fourth month of her pregnancy. At first, she had assumed he was worried about the baby, but then she’d found out about the first affair and the last of her lust for her ex had faded away. Even after Felicity was born, and they were still trying to make it work, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to be vulnerable with Liam. No matter how much she craved physical affection, sleeping with her ex hadn’t felt safe anymore, which meant it had been over a year since she’d been with a man.

Over a year.
The realization boggled her mind. How could she have cut off a part of herself so completely for an entire year? At this moment—still pressed close to Nash, with her pulse racing and her body purring and every beat of her heart begging for more, more, more—it was completely unthinkable.

And completely terrifying.

There was no way she was going to be able to live with Nash, day in and day out, while pretending to be in love with him every moment they were in public, without wanting a lot more than kisses for someone else’s benefit. Hell, she already wanted more, was already imagining Nash pushing her back onto his bed, his comforting weight heavy on top of her as they took kissing to the next level, to those places they’d begun to explore as kids, and beyond.

“
That was…pretty convincing,” he said, watching her through hooded eyes, looking so damned sexy it was almost impossible to keep from reaching up and pulling him down into another kiss.

But if she did, then Nash would know. He would know that her desire for him wasn’t an act. He would realize that she really wanted him, the balance of power would tip in his direction, and he would have the upper hand for however many months they pretended to be married.

Aria was tired of a man having the upper hand, of waiting and hoping and praying for someone to want her the same way she wanted him and being disappointed again and again. She was tired of feeling like a weak, helpless fool. There was no way she was going to live like that again. She wasn’t going to let herself be trapped under another man’s thumb, especially not Nash Geary’s. He had already broken her heart once; she wasn’t going to give him the chance to do it again.

“
I have a lot of practice faking it,” Aria said, breezily brushing her hair from her face. “My ex wasn’t always the best, especially after dragging into the house after a concert at three in the morning.”

“
Is that right?” Nash’s eyes cooled, the pale green actually seeming to fade a shade or two as he pulled away.

“
Yeah. Whiskey dick,” Aria said, shrugging. “You know how it is.”

“
No, I don’t,” Nash said. “Can’t say I’ve ever been that drunk, or cared so little for the woman I was with to start something I wasn’t prepared to finish.”

Aria clenched her jaw, refusing to let his insult hurt her.

Or to imagine Nash “finishing” what they’d started.

“
Well, you’re a real prince,” Aria said with a smile. “It’s amazing your ex was able to forget all that excellent attention after only six weeks.”

“
Well, she’s a real bitch,” Nash said in a syrupy drawl so sweet it made her teeth ache. “The two of you would probably get along like peas and carrots.”

This time Aria couldn’t keep pain from blooming in her chest.

Who was he to call her a bitch?
He
was the one who had made fun of her when she tried to reach out to him all those years ago. He was the one who had made her feel like a fool for thinking he might be The One, a boy worth giving up her dreams of exotic places and mysterious men for a different kind of dream, a homegrown dream with a boy who made her feel safe and treasured and special in a way she’d never felt before.

But she had never been special to Nash, or it wouldn’t have been so easy for him to throw her away. The way Liam had thrown her away, even after she had given him everything, after she had opened her heart and loved him with every part of her—body and soul.

But all her love wasn’t enough.
She
wasn’t enough.

If she was bitch, she had reason to be. The world had taught her that it was safer to be a bitch, to keep your guard up and your heart under lock and key and never risk being torn apart from the inside out ever again.

“
Fine, I’m a bitch,” she said, staring at Nash’s chest, not wanting him to see the hurt in her eyes. “Do you still want to do this, or not?”

Nash was quiet for a long moment. Aria could feel him staring at her, but she refused to look up, keeping her eyes on his t-shirt until he lifted his beer and drank.

And drank. And drank.

When he slammed the cup back down on the wooden bar, it was empty.

“
Let’s do it,” he said, holding out his hand. Aria took it, gripping his palm firmly as they shook on their Marriage of Insanity.

“
Meet me at the courthouse tomorrow at ten thirty,” Nash said. “That should give us time to get the license and sign up to see the Justice of the Peace. He marries people at noon on Saturdays.”

Aria nodded. “I’ll wear white,” she said with a hard smile.

“
I’ll wear a suit and bring you flowers and do my damnedest to make this work,” Nash said. “But the next time you look at me like I’m scum you scraped off your shoe while we’re in public, this is over.”

“
And the next time you call me a bitch,” Aria said, releasing his hand with one final squeeze, “I’m going to kick you so hard between your cheesy, muscle man, tree trunk legs that your balls with be in your throat for a month.”

Before Nash could respond, she spun on her heel and headed for the exit to the beer tent. She would start putting on her happy face for their audience tomorrow morning. Tonight, she needed to get away from him before she did something she’d live to regret.

Jerk or not, Nash was her best shot at taking the wind out of Liam’s sails, ensuring his suit against her was dismissed, and retaining full physical and legal custody of her daughter.

For that, she would pretend to be in love with Nash Geary.

For that, she would pretend to be in love with the devil himself.

Chapter Four

For the first few minutes after waking, Nash was certain last night had been a dream.

But then he checked his phone, and saw the text Aria had sent late last night, telling him they would need to bring their birth certificates and two forms of I.D. in order to get the marriage license, and knew it was all real. He had really agreed to marry the first girl who had ever broken his heart, just to keep from looking like a fool in front of the second one.

In the cold light of day, it made about as much sense as cutting off his head to show his dick who was boss.

“
It’s for the baby, too,” he mumbled as he shuffled into the bathroom to start the shower, wincing at the dark circles under his eyes. He hadn’t slept well, and it showed.

Aria’s baby is none of your business. That’s
her
reason for doing this, not yours.
 

The voice of logic was right, but he couldn’t deny a part of him had fallen for Aria’s little girl that night at the March’s BBQ. In a family the size of his, he had spent a
lot
of time around a
lot
of babies, and been smitten with his share, but he had never met a kid as adorable as Felicity March.

Her name fit her perfectly. With her bright red hair sticking out in wild curls, green eyes the same color as her mama’s, and a smile so big and happy you couldn’t help but smile along with her, she was irresistible. A really special kid. She’d made him happy that night—in spite of the fact that Rachael had just moved out, and that Felicity’s mama was one of his least favorite people on the planet—and she was obviously Aria’s world. The way Aria’s face lit up with love every time she looked at her daughter got to him, it got to him enough that, for a little while, he had almost forgotten what a raving B-word Aria could be.

“
Can’t use the B-word or she’s going to damage your balls,” he told his reflection as he spit toothpaste into the sink and reached for the shower door.

He had been talking to himself a lot since Rachael moved out. He would have to stop that once Aria moved in, or she’d think he was crazy.

God.
Aria was moving in. With him.
This afternoon.
 

He was already crazy, no “thinking” needed.

By the time he had showered, shaved, and located his best suit at the back of the closet, Nash had nearly talked himself into calling Aria and telling her the whole thing was off. But then he reminded himself of his third reason for marrying the eldest March sister, and went looking for his birth certificate and two forms of I.D.

He
had
to see the look on Bob March’s face when he realized Nash Geary, the white trash scum Bob had ordered kicked out of art camp twelve years ago, was married to his little princess. That a poor, pitiable Geary—the type who worked at fast food restaurants, not owned a small empire of them—was taking Bob’s daughter and granddaughter home to live with him, and that tonight Aria would be sleeping in Nash’s bed.

And she
would
be sleeping in his bed. Nash wasn’t giving up his comfy mattress. Besides, it was a California King. They could both sleep on it without ever having to touch. The two sides practically had their own time zone.

If she wanted a bed, she would sleep in his bed with him. Otherwise, she could take the couch. The second bedroom was full of his workout equipment—there was no way in hell he was moving that out to the garage to lift weights in the end of summer heat—and the third bedroom would be for Felicity.

Which reminded him…

He picked up his phone, and got Raleigh after the first ring.

“
Where were you last night?” she asked. “I thought I saw you walking toward the beer tent, but then you disappeared.”

“
Something unexpected came up,” he said, getting a little nervous as he realized he would have to lie to his sister about what was really happening. It was part of his bargain with Aria and he hadn’t asked for any exceptions, even for his closest sibling.

“
Was it Rachael and Lee? I saw them making out by the corn dog stand. It was so repulsive I lost my appetite,” Raleigh said, the hint of pity in her voice enough to reaffirm Nash’s resolve.

He was sick of his family feeling sorry for him, and marrying a beautiful woman would certainly help with that, even if she was a girl he’d made a hobby out of hating in high school.