My fingers brush over the wedding ring around my necklace as I sit down next to Adam in our usual study spot — the picnic benches just outside the library. My ring is safely tucked underneath the dress I’m wearing today, but somehow, I feel like I have the words Just Married written all over my forehead. It’s odd to be back on campus just a few days after getting married. It feels like everything has changed, but simultaneously, it’s like nothing has.
“What’d you get up to last weekend?” Adam asks, taking a bite of his apple. He looks at me with an unreadable expression, and I sit up a little straighter. “I was gonna ask you if you wanted to study together, but I couldn’t reach you.”
I smile tightly, silently praying my nerves aren’t obvious. “Not much,” I murmur, looking down as I think back to the wedding on Saturday. “Just studied,” I add, conveniently leaving out the part where all I studied was my husband’s body, in every room of our house.
We played truth or dare as Lex showed me around, and both of our dares continuously became more outrageous. I wasn’t sure what it’d be like to be married, to be alone with Lex like that, but I enjoyed every second of it. When he said he’d try to be a good husband, he really seems to have meant it, going as far as making me coffee in the morning and giving me access to every single thing in his home, including all his tech and the lab of my dreams. Our first weekend together was surprisingly blissful, and it left me feeling happier than I expected.
“I’ve been worried about you, you know? I wasn’t sure how you were coping with the whole Lexington Windsor thing. I know you really liked him, and it can’t be easy to see him photographed with someone else.”
I frown, confused as to what he’s talking about. “You didn’t see?” he murmurs, his expression falling.
I shake my head and take a deep breath, expecting the worst as Adam grabs his phone and pulls up The Herald’s social profile. My brows rise when he shows me a photo that must’ve been taken the day after our wedding, in the parking lot of a well-known fast-food chain — a location The Herald has deemed to be far beneath a Windsor. My heart races as I read the scathing speculative pieces they wrote about Lex and his mysterious girl, which, as it turns out, is me.
The photo is shockingly blurry, and I’m surprised by how much of a tale they managed to spin out of something so simple. Lex had taken me for a drive after showing me all the rarest and most expensive cars in his collection, and the location of all the keys. Halfway through the drive he took me on, in my favorite car of his, my stomach grumbled. He laughed, asking me what I wanted to eat, and I’d pointed at a fast-food chain sign in the distance, saying I’d love some fries.
It was a simple outing, yet somehow, The Herald seems to have turned it into some kind of alleged scandal between my husband and a model I haven’t even heard of — one I definitely don’t look like. It appears they’re praising her for being so down to earth and having junk food mere hours before walking a show, their common sense completely lacking. Who even wrote this?
“This is ridiculous,” I snap. I sigh and lock Adam’s phone with a lot more force than necessary, a hint of unease washing over me. The scrutiny that comes with being near Lex is something I hadn’t expected, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
“What is ridiculous?”
My eyes widen, and Adam’s head snaps up at the sound of Lex’s voice. My husband smiles and joins us on the picnic bench, seating himself next to me. He glances at my textbook and raises a brow. “Surely multivariable linear systems aren’t throwing off two of my star pupils?”
My heart instantly begins to race, and I stare at him wide-eyed, surprised to find him on campus today when I know he isn’t teaching. My class is the only one he took on, after all.
“Professor Windsor,” Adam says, his expression shifting. “We were actually just discussing the article The Herald posted about you and your supermodel fiancée.”
My husband raises a brow when I involuntarily glare at him. “Must be nice, being with a supermodel,” I mutter without thinking, annoyed the media linked him to someone else just a day after we got married. I know the story isn’t true, and I know I literally am the woman in the photo that accompanied the article, but somehow, I’m still a little aggrieved.
Lex smirks, his eyes darkening when he recognizes the look on my face for what it is — jealousy. He reaches for my notebook and adds a couple of things here and there, correcting some of my summaries. “I saw that article,” he murmurs, sounding unfazed. “I almost wish they captured my wife properly that day, because she looked ridiculously beautiful.”
He looks up at Adam as his right hand slips underneath the table. He places it on my thigh, just under the hem of my dress, and heat rushes to my cheeks. I look down at my notebook, my heart racing wildly as I try to behave naturally.
“I didn’t know this about her until we got married and started living together, but she gets super cranky the second she’s hungry,” Lex says, his thumb drawing circles on my bare skin, slowly inching higher. “Her face just transforms the second she bites down on a French fry, though. It made my whole day to see her smile like that.”
“Your wife?” Adam repeats, his eyes snapping to my face for a moment, before he turns back to Lex. “So, it’s official, then? You’re married?”
Lex chuckles and squeezes my thigh, his pinky brushing over the lace between my legs. “I couldn’t make it any more official if I tried,” he says, his gaze moving to his left hand, draped over my notebook. The wedding ring he refuses to take off catches the sun just right, and he grins. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I’m surprised The Herald hasn’t noticed Lex’s wedding ring yet, especially considering how much he loves touching it. “She’s a lucky girl,” I mutter, unable to focus on anything but the feel of his hand on my skin. He doesn’t seem remotely scared of getting caught, but my heart is pounding wildly. I bite down on my lip when he curls his fingers, dragging them over my panties. My breath hitches when he grins, realizing I’m rapidly getting wet for him, and I look away, scared my cheeks are rosy.
“The lucky one is me,” he says, his tone husky. He moves his hand and squeezes my thigh one more time before pulling away and closing my notebook. He pushes it back toward me with a knowing smile on his face. “I have to run. I have a meeting a couple of towns over, and I’ll have to grab my helicopter and fly in for it if I want a shot at having dinner with my wife.”
Adam frowns. “That’s a lot of effort just so you can have dinner with her.” He glances at me, a hint of pity in his eyes, and I lower my head, feeling more and more guilty by the second. I’m going to have to find a way to tell him before Lex gives our secret away, but I’m scared of how he’d respond if I told him about the reasons behind our marriage.
Lex rises to his feet, our eyes locking for a moment. He smiles so sweetly that my heart skips a beat. “It’s not much effort at all. Even with my helicopter, I probably won’t make it home in time, and I hate that I can’t even promise my wife that I’ll have dinner with her. You have no idea what lengths I went to today just to catch a glimpse of her.”
I look up at him and smile, my heart skipping a beat. So that’s why he’s on campus today, because he doesn’t think he’ll get home before I fall asleep. All week, he hasn’t made it home before I’ve fallen asleep, but I know he’s trying to give me as much of his time as he can, and that’s enough. “I’m sure she appreciates how hard you’re trying,” I tell him. “And if it were me, I’d appreciate the few moments you do give her.”
His expression softens, and he nods, his gaze lingering for a moment before he walks away. It isn’t until he disappears from view that I reopen my notebook and find a message scribbled at the bottom of the page.
Jealousy looks good on you, Mrs. Windsor. See me after class tomorrow for extra credit. You deserve it for showing me such a pretty sight.
