Marriage: Impossible (Voretti Family Book 1) by Ava Blackstone Page A

small silver band cupped in the palm of her hand. Her wedding ring.
    Adrenaline charged though his veins. His pulse kicked up, and his vision narrowed, centering on her. On that ring he had to get back on her finger.
    He dropped to the cushion next to her. “Why aren’t you wearing your ring?”
    But he already knew. We need to talk .
    She was leaving him.
    She looked at the ring, not at him. “It didn’t feel right on my finger.”
    He tried to summon that selfless part of him that had been so set on a divorce, but it had disappeared somewhere between the Nevada - California border. “Yeah, it’s probably made out of some cheap crap that’ll turn your finger green. I’ll buy you a real ring. Whatever you want.”
    She finally looked at him. “I don’t need a new ring. I need to tell you something. And it’s really hard, so please let me finish.”
    The soldier in him shouted in protest. No way would he go down without a fight. He’d kiss her. Take her to bed. Anything to keep the words he couldn’t take from coming out of her mouth.
    He pulled her to him—
    “No, Sean! I lied to you!”
    Surprise loosened his grip.
    “We aren’t married. I pulled you into the chapel because security was coming after us, and the horrible little man who worked there wouldn’t let us stay unless I paid for a wedding package. And, I guess he didn’t want me to dispute the credit card charge, because he insisted we take these rings. He jammed yours on your finger, and I couldn’t get it off.”
    Sean heard every word, but they fell into a disorganized jumble inside his head. “So, what? You decided to let me think we were married? Because, honey, I love a joke as much as the next guy, but that’s…”
    “I didn’t…I only….” She cleared her throat. “You were talking about cliff diving and….”
    The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention, like a sniper was using him for target practice. “And what?”
    “I didn’t want anything to happen to you. You’d been so different since you came back from Iraq, with all your cave diving and big-wave surfing and heli-skiing. I guess, when Ty told me you were going cliff diving, I was afraid…”
    “Hold up. When Ty told you?” A rushing in his ears overwhelmed him, like he was free-falling from thirty thousand feet. “You came to Reno because of me?”
    It took her forever to meet his gaze, but once she did there was no mistaking the answer. It was right there in her eyes.
    He jumped off the couch. “You came to Reno as my goddamned babysitter?”
    “Sean.” She reached toward him.
    Every muscle in his body ached for her. She was his lifeline. He could survive anything if she was by his side.
    But she wasn’t his. Not for real. The sooner he got that through his head the better.
    He forced his hand back down to his side.
      “Come on,” she said. “It wasn’t like that.”
    “Then what was it like?”
    Silence
    Let it go , said the voice of reason inside his head, but his ego drowned it out. “Tell me. What was it like?”
    “It… I was only trying to…”
    “Okay. I’ll give it a shot. You thought I was so fucked up that you pretended we were married to save me from myself.”
    “I’m so sorry. I made a mistake.”
    “Damn straight. You should’ve picked a babysitting strategy where you wouldn’t have had to give it up.”
    He was such an idiot. Because last night, under the forgiving darkness, he’d actually thought they had a chance. That, with her at his side, he could become a better man.
    The harsh morning light revealed that for the bullshit it was. He was broken. Beyond repair. Of course Keri didn’t think he was worthy of her. He’d been her charity case from the beginning.
    “Wait! At least give me a chance to apologize.”
    “Don’t bother. I’m not gonna jump off any cliffs or try surfing Mavericks. You don’t have to pretend anymore.”
    “I’m not pretending, you big idiot! I love you.”
    He was so pathetic.