Lauren Asher

'The worst mistake you could have made was underestimating me.'

'I don’t deserve you.'

'Then become the man who does.'

I take a sip of my drinks to wash away the bitter taste of weakness from my mouth. "Kiss her again and I'll enjoy ripping your tongue from your throat."

He holds up his hands. "The only reason I told you about our kiss is so that you can stop thinking I want to make a move on her. I'm not interested in her like thate. Trust me."

"Because the kiss was terrible," I repeat back in a voice erased of any emotion.

"Because she was never meant to be mine in the first place."

Damn right she wasn't. Fake marriage or not, Iris is destined to be with one man and only one man.

Me

"Stop it."

"What?"

"Stop being so...understanding. It's weirding me out." An irritated Declan I can work with. A nice Declan who doesn't mind me falling asleep on the job and missing deadlines? That kind of unpredictability gives me crippling anxiety.

His jaws ticks. "Let's go. I don't have time for your shit."

Now that reply makes me smile. "Ahh. There's the big, grumpy man I know and like."

"One day that mouth is going to get you in trouble."

Years ago, when Iris asked me about my favourite color, I told her I dodn't have one. Naturally, given her frequents bouts of insanity, she adopted one for me. It's becomes a running jokes on her end where every gift-giving occasion includes something green, as if oversaturating me with the color will make me like it.

It doesn't. If anything, it always reminds me of her.

He avoids my gaze as he assesses his menu. "That's our thing."

The way he says it makes my body buzz. "If you had it your way, everything would be our thingso that you never had to share me with anyone else, you territorial caveman."

"I'm glad you finally understand. I took you long enough."

My next sentence comes out ragged. "What are you doing?"

"Helping my wife."

My throat bobs. "You're growing a bit too comfortable with that nickname for my liking."

"I use it to remind you of your place."

"And what's that?"

"Mine."

"Stop fighting and give me ten minutes."

"You don’t deserve ten seconds, let alone ten minutes of my time."

"How about ten words then?"

I laugh. "I’d like to see you try."

"l am falling in love with you, Iris Elizabeth Kane."

"Call my lawyer when we land."

Iris looks up from her tablet. "What for?"

"I'm in the mood to make people miserable."

"Can it still be considered a mood if it's a constant state of being?"

His upper lip curls with a look of disgust. "Don't do that."

My brows tug together. "Do what?"

"Downplay your experience because someone else had it harder than you."