Famously Engaged by Robyn Thomas Page B

to grieve alone and in private, your chance to get a bit of sleep this morning.”
    “You’re missing the point.”
    He rested his chin against the crown of her head. “Enlighten me.”
    “You being here means I have someone to hold me when otherwise I’d be all alone.”
    “You’ve got your own football team, Beth.”
    “I’ve known all of those guys for years. They’re like brothers.”
    She thought for a moment. “Not brothers, maybe more like cousins. I have a lot of platonic friends but your arms are the only ones I want around me. I clearly haven’t just met you because I’d need to have been with you for at least six months before I’d consider getting engaged.”
    He snorted but she ignored him, her eyes closing to soak it all up.
    “Fabricating a vague history with you works for me and you ought to be glad. There’s no way you’d be living in my house, meeting my friends, or touching me without it.”
    “So you’re lying to yourself?”
    He withdrew his arms from around her and she felt the brush of his body against hers as he shifted forward. She opened her eyes to address him. “We’re both lying to the world. I’m simply looking for a way to make the lie acceptable. You have what you came for because I’m not going to have a last-minute affair with Brad, and in return I should get what I want.” Her voice cracked.
    “To be distracted for a few days.”
    He engulfed her in his arms again. “And that’s all I am? A welcome distraction?”
    No, but if that’s what you want to hear, I’ll say it. “Yeah, I’m afraid so. Temporary distractions are all we can be, because our lives are completely incompatible and we want different things.”
    His features tightened and she spelled it out. “I want a husband and children and a huge extended family to fill this house with love and laughter and endless celebrations. I know this is temporary, but while it lasts, we have a free pass to sample the fairy tale we’re selling to everyone else. I don’t want to waste it.”
    “I think you need to take a minute.”
    “I can’t take a minute. I can hardly breathe for missing my mother. My home’s always been like a haven to me, but I’m beginning to wonder how much of that feeling came from the
    house and how much from my mother. If you weren’t here…”
    “I am here.” He paused for several beats and she braced
    herself for an intrusive question until he plucked at the fabric draped around her shoulders. “And you’re wearing a tablecloth.”
    She swallowed past the lump in her throat and managed a
    shaky laugh. “I’m wearing it by request. Unfortunately, my fiancé has a few issues. He thinks he’s a rock god, he’s got hair that he’s convinced millions of women adore even though it’s in desperate need of a trim, and he also has a thing for chickens. And…”
    He hugged her closer, his tension mounting as she let the moment stretch. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”
    Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “Just between us, he thinks his hands are glass slippers.”

    …

    Revisiting the glass slipper scenario wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d entered the kitchen, but Beth had changed his priorities. He stepped behind her and slid his hands beneath the tablecloth, trapping her arms by her sides as he filled his hands with her breasts. She pressed forward, her back arched and her breath short.
    “My dress,” she said. “It’s in the way. I think.”
    “You’re not meant to think. If you’re thinking, then I’ll have to stop.”
    Her soft gasp made him smile. “You’d stop?”
    He moved to stand beside her and slid one hand down to rest on her bare knee, skimming one finger over it in a circular motion.
    “Is that what you want?”
    “No.”
    Thank God. He didn’t want to stop. Ever.
    “You stopped.”
    “I’m distracted by possibilities. Be patient.”
    Her breath hitched when he caressed the back of her knee, and he absorbed