The Marriage Sacrifice Read online

  “Alice, stop, okay. I’ll fix this. I will.” He wasn’t going to screw this up. Sage was like any other woman, and he was going to prove to her that he was the man for her.

  Chapter Two

  Sage slid her hand across the fresh soil, relishing the coolness against the hot summer air. She wasn’t the kind of person who loved summer. Most of the time she was a winter and fall kind of girl, the cooler weather giving her more inspiration and helping her to stay home and write more. The summer heat always had her outdoors, helping others, and not being at her desk for long periods of time. After getting up at four in the morning, she’d been glued to her computer until the words no longer flowed, and then it was off to the retirement home to volunteer. She always worked in between her volunteering jobs. It helped that she could focus for hours at a time without any breaks.

  Brushing her hair off her face, she sat back, looking at the newly planted flower garden.

  “It looks good. You seem to be a woman of many talents,” Dom said.

  She turned to look at her fiancé, surprised to see him with his hands in his pockets, staring at her.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re a hard woman to pin down.”

  “And why exactly would you like to pin me down?” she asked, thinking of a lot of others things they could be doing if he was to pin her down.

  Dom was … more than capable of holding her down any day. No! She couldn’t think of those thoughts or what Dom was capable of in bed. She didn’t want to be another woman in a long line of them who thought about Dom that way. He wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to be with.

  She didn’t want or need any man.

  “Well, pinning you down has a lot of possibilities.” He winked and moved forward. “I wanted us to hang out. Maybe have some lunch together today.”

  “Hang out?”

  “Yeah. This wedding thing is happening, and you can hate me all you want, but I don’t see why we can’t at least be friends.”

  “The fact you don’t even understand why we can’t be friends is one of the reasons why we can’t do the normal stuff engaged couples do.”

  “I know you’re pissed.”

  “This is a little more than pissed.” She stood up, brushing some of the dirt off her apron.

  “Come on, Sage. Give me a chance here. You don’t think I tried to get our engagement ended?”

  She sighed. “Not hard enough. I’ve tried talking to my dad, but he’s always the same. I’m a woman. I need to be taken care of. You promised me you’d handle this. He will listen to you. You don’t want to be married to me, and I certainly don’t want to be married to you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Have you met you?”

  “That’s unfair.”

  “No, that’s life. Come on, Dom, what is really going on here? Why are you here?”

  “I want us to be friends. Is that so hard to believe?”

  “Yes.” He gave her a look to which she relented. “No. It’s not that hard.” She and Dom had never been close, but that didn’t mean he wanted to go out of her way to make her life miserable. “Okay, fine. You don’t want to make my life miserable and I don’t want to make yours. I take it my dad sent you all of the details of where I like to volunteer and hang out?”

  “You know about that?”

  “Kind of hard not to know. I took his PI out for dinner and told him everything. I don’t like to be stalked and to have someone come and know my business.” She shrugged. “Dad thinks doing everything covertly makes him a cool dad.”

  “Well, I’ve got the entire schedule of where you’ll always be.”

  “Yay. So you now know that I like to volunteer at the retirement center.”

  “I’ve got to wonder why. Especially gardening?” Dom asked, pointing at her work.

  “I like gardening. It’s not always easy, but when you get it all right and you see it all in bloom, it looks beautiful. I think everyone deserves to see a little beauty, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  She smiled at him. “Don’t sound so shocked. One day you’ll be in a retirement home and waiting for someone like me or someone else to come and do this. The people here are great. Most of them have had an amazing life, and why not spend time with them? They’re cool, and they make me laugh. I like them.”

  “Do any of them know you’re probably one of the richest women in the city?”

  “They don’t need to know who my parents are. I’m not the rich one, Dom. They are.” She shrugged.

  His watch started to beep. “It’s lunchtime.”

  “You time when lunch is?”

  “I have to. I often forget it, and it is an important meal of the day. Especially when you’re in the office and you’ve got people waiting for food. Tempers are running high. A break for lunch is always a good idea.”

  “When I go corporate, I’ll be sure to remember that.”

  “You do so.”

  She glanced around the garden. Everyone would be sitting down to lunch.

  “Come on.” She reached out, taking his arm and having him follow her. “I’m only working half a day today here.”

  “Do you get paid?”

  “No. I like to volunteer, and today I took care of the garden.” She entered the retirement home, and as she knew, the coast was clear. If she brought in a man, there would be a lot of questions, and she didn’t want to get into the whole reason as to why she wasn’t Dom’s biggest fan right now.

  “Wait here,” she said, entering the staffroom. She put her apron for the laundry, washed her hands, and quickly re-pinned her hair so it was off her red face. Yes, she noticed her face looked red from the sun, but there wasn’t exactly a lot she could do about that.

  Grabbing her bag, she made her way outside to find Dom looking at all the leaflets and stuff.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  “As I’ll ever be. Do you need to tell someone you’re leaving?”

  “It’s not a prison, Dom. I can come and go as I please.”

  “Oh, right. Yes.”

  She couldn’t help but giggle.

  Dom took her hand as they left the main retirement home and were heading toward the gate. She tried to pull away from his touch, but he kept a good hold on her.

  “Don’t think too much into it.”

  “Right. The image.” This was why she had avoided spending time with Dom. Everything had to do with image, of making sure that any cameras watching them would always capture the perfect shot.

  She was never one to work it for the camera, and the mere thought of doing that now didn’t appeal to her, not even a little bit. She held the strap of her bag as they walked down the main street.

  The scent of baked potatoes hit her in the face.

  “How about we eat over there?” she asked. “I’ve got my lunch and if you want, you could eat a baked potato. They can put anything on them. They are so good.”

  “You have lunch?”

  “Yes.” She pulled out her little plastic tub filled with a pasta salad she’d made for herself.

  “I can settle for that.”

  She didn’t want to go into a restaurant or allow herself to be in a room where he could charm her. There were many reasons why she had avoided spending time with Dom, and she wasn’t going to let him know there was a risk of her falling for him.

  For a long time, she had found him attractive. What wasn’t to like about him? He was sexy. His short brown hair always looked like he ran his fingers through it, and it never looked perfect or in place. His brown eyes had this quality about them. She never believed his shallow, bratty, playboy ways. Yet, she’d seen them as clear and in color as they were printed in the glossy magazines.

  She and Dom were chalk and cheese.

  They were way too different, and that kind of difference wouldn’t make a good marriage. They were just wrong for each other.

  It didn’t mean at any point she didn’t … wonder what it would be like to be his wi
fe. She was a full-grown woman and not some virgin who hadn’t been with a man before. Admittedly, her last boyfriend, who she gave her virginity to, hadn’t exactly been adventurous. His idea of a party was doing it with the lights on. She did also have to be fully dressed for this event, and he’d push her panties to one side in order to accomplish that.

  The sex had been awful, but she was forever hopeful that she’d find a man like she wrote about in her books. Someone who was filled with passion. Who would push her against the door and fuck her hard, having her screaming his name and begging for more.

  To her, that sounded like heaven.

  Still, Dom couldn’t be that man because he just couldn’t. This wedding would always be for show, and she couldn’t stand to have a man be with her for only the cameras.

  ****

  Dom had a confession to make. In all of his years he’d never had a baked potato. This was a new experience for him, and glancing over at Sage, watching her get her pasta salad out, he knew he couldn’t suggest just going to a restaurant. To win her over, he had to step out of his comfort zone, and to do that meant doing this.

  Ordering himself a baked potato with all the fixings was a new thing, entirely new. He was hungry though, so he did consider that a good thing.

  Paying for his potato, which came in a cardboard food tray, he thanked them. This meal was a quarter of the cost of a regular lunch for him.

  Walking back to the bench, he saw Sage had crossed her legs and smiled at him.

  “You look completely out of your comfort zone right now.”

  “I am. Is there any way I can convince you to go to a restaurant with me?” he asked.

  “This food is good. How about we share?” She stabbed her fork into her pasta and held it up. “Come on, Dom, be adventurous. Isn’t that why you go jet-setting all around the globe? Looking for that spark of life?”

  “You’re mocking me?”

  “Maybe just a little bit.”

  Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to their beauty. Sage Boyle had always been a pretty girl, always the tomboy and full of life and love. She’d turned into a stunning woman.

  She was curvy and to some, maybe too much. He knew her mother wanted her to diet more, and he’d overheard a couple of their hushed conversations where she wanted her to go in for surgery to have everything sucked out.

  Sage always refused. Apparently, there was only so much ass-kissing she was going to do for her parents.

  “So, what brings you here?” she asked.

  “I thought it was a good thing to spend time with each other. We’re getting married soon.”

  “Don’t remind me.” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Would it be so hard to be married to me? I’m not that bad of a guy.”

  “I don’t know. Will you be able to keep it all in your pants if we do?” she asked.

  “Keep what in my pants?”

  “Your dick.”

  Okay, he was really getting a crash course in blunt Sage.

  “You want to talk about that in the open?”

  She laughed. “Does the dude from the paper worry you?”

  “Dude from the paper?” She was speaking in riddles, and he was struggling to keep up.

  She nodded her head to across the street. “I noticed him watching us back at the retirement home. You didn’t call him?” She grabbed his arm. “Don’t look. You don’t want to make it obvious.”

  “I need to know if I recognize him.”

  “Well, do it casually. We don’t want him to realize we’re onto him.”

  “And that would be a bad thing because?”

  “Then we don’t get to mess around with them.”

  He took a bite of his potato, and he looked off into the press guy’s direction. He spotted him, complete with camera and sticking out like a sore thumb.

  “Don’t recognize him.”

  “He must have followed you though.”

  “Why me?”

  “I’m the boring one.”

  “The boring one?”

  “Yep. The press doesn’t get any juicy gossip out of me. I don’t drink and party. I’m a good girl.”

  “What about the steamy romances you write?” he asked.

  “They don’t know. I keep that part of my life private.” She shrugged. “They need stories that sell newspapers and magazines. A girl helping out at the homeless shelter, I’m too good. They want someone taking drugs, partying, hurting people close to them. That kind of thing.”

  “Is that why you don’t worry about just being yourself?”

  “Pretty much. I also try to avoid all of that excess negativity. It’s not good for anyone. So that’s why I am like this. He’ll get bored.”

  “Unless we give him something to write about,” he said, resting his hand on her knee, stroking her.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  Did she hesitate? Was there a catch in her voice? He stared into her face, and yes, it was a little red, but that didn’t mean anything. It was hot out, and she’d been red while working.

  Sage had never showed any indication that she was attracted to him. If she was, this would make his job so much easier.

  “How about I kiss you?” He leaned in close so she didn’t mistake any of his words.

  “And how would that give him anything?”

  “One, he’d have all the juicy gossip he needs, plus pictures, and we can finish our lunch job well done.”

  “You think that’s going to be enough?”

  “Why not? No one else has seen us together or watched us kiss. I think it’ll be a pretty good moment. We get what we want, and he gets what he wants.”

  “I don’t like feeding people lies.”

  “Is it a lie? If I kiss you is that so much of a problem? I’m going to have to kiss you to seal the deal.”

  “Dom, this is what I’m talking about. You shouldn’t have to—”

  He’d heard enough. There was only so much bullshit he could take, and right now, with her plump, fuck-me lips, he couldn’t wait another minute. Claiming her mouth, he finally kissed her.

  This wasn’t a little peck on the lips either. He kissed her hard, feeling a response in his cock as it thickened. He didn’t touch her in any other way, but he had taken her by surprise, which he considered a plus because she actually kissed him right back.

  Her plump lips were soft, and as he deepened the kiss, he wished he’d taken her to a room so he could do a lot more than kiss. He wanted to touch her. To put his hands on her body, to feel those tits pressed against his chest. He wanted to hold her as well.

  Where had all these desires come from? He’d never once been the kind of guy to feel like this, to be overcome with need for her.

  Sage pulled away first, but he wanted to keep on kissing her.

  She licked her lips and smiled at him.

  “Erm, I think he’s gone.”

  A quick glance over to where the guy was, and sure enough, he wasn’t there. It was the first time he wished one of the press would have stuck around.

  “Shame,” he said.

  “Shame?”

  “I was liking that kiss.”

  She chuckled. “It was some kiss. You really wanted to put on a show.”

  He watched her take another forkful of food.

  “I wasn’t putting on a show. I wanted to kiss you.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Oh. You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “I seem to be surprising myself.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “I don’t know.” He took another bite of his baked potato. “This is actually really good.”

  “I know. If I don’t have time to make myself lunch, I usually come here. I like being out in the open.”

  “What do you do in the winter?” he asked.

  “I eat at the home. I pack soup, or I eat whatever they have o
n offer. It’s all good.” She smiled, and he was totally drawn into it.

  He’d never given himself time to think of Sage as an actual person. She was his fiancée, but she’d not even registered as someone he wanted.

  After that kiss, there was a whole list of possibilities.

  You’ve got to get your head in the game.

  This isn’t about sex.

  This is about so much more.

  Your company. Her company. She wouldn’t understand, and the only way to get her to, is to get her to fall in love with you.

  “What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Not a whole lot. It’s night, so I do whatever I need to back at my place.”

  “How about I take you out to dinner?” he asked.

  “You want to take me out to dinner?”

  “I’m not a good cook, as otherwise I’d offer that. I know you’re not a big fan of restaurants.”

  “How about I cook?” she asked. “I don’t have anything else to do. I’ve got food in my fridge that needs using, and I hate wasting anything. I could cook us something and even give you some leftovers for work tomorrow?”

  “It sounds very domesticated.”

  “It’s not a date.” She spoke fast.

  “I know. We’re just two friends who are getting married and will one day have to hang out a lot. Why not start now? This lunch wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  “No.”

  “What was that?”

  “No, it wasn’t that bad, and you know it. Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to do something with me?” she asked.

  “Besides dinner tonight?”

  “I’m still cooking you dinner tonight, but I’ve got a thing tomorrow. Would you like to come?”

  “Do I get to find out what this thing is?”

  “No.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I’ve got to go on blind faith?”

  “Yes. Can you do that?” she asked.

  “I think I can manage it, unless we’re killing someone?”

  “No death, no nothing. I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Do you own anything other than a suit?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. You’re going to need it, and I advise you don’t wear anything too fancy.”