The following Monday, Jack sat in his office getting ready for a meeting when his Aunt Mabry showed up unannounced. His secretary showed her in, and Jack forced a smile to his face as he greeted her.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Aunt Mabry?” There was a time when Jack would have said those words and meant them. He used to love his Aunt Mabry, but something changed her over recent years and he couldn’t connect with her anymore. She had become obsessed with seeing her only son, Chad, as CEO of the company.
He knew the intent was to hurt him, but he and Chad agreed long ago not to let her come between them. He’d play her games because she was Chad’s mother.
“Jack, darling…” She breezed into the room. “I’ve decided to redo my kitchen and the downstairs floor of my townhouse. Chad has a friend staying with him right now, so I need to stay at your place for a few weeks until my kitchen is completed.”
He had to work to keep from rolling his eyes. He knew perfectly well what she was doing. She wanted to spy on him and Kelly. There was no way she’d be redoing her kitchen if she didn’t want an excuse to stay with him.
And she would normally stay at the Omni downtown or at a spa by the water instead of with him. She had never stayed at his house before, not for a day in his life, even when his mother was alive.
His mind filtered through the excuses he could give her, but when he quickly weighed all of the factors, he decided it was best to let her move in for a bit to get her off their backs.
Besides, if his aunt were around, they’d have to pretend to be husband and wife a lot more often, and he liked pretending where Kelly was concerned. He had to hold back the grin that threatened to show at the thought.
With unexpected enthusiasm, he turned to his aunt. “Sure thing, Aunt Mabry. You’re welcome anytime. When do you need to move in?”
“Right now,” she said with a Cheshire cat grin of her own. “I’ll head over there right now.”
With that announcement, she sailed out of the office as breezily as she had waltzed in. Jack stared after her for a minute before reality dawned on him. He and Kelly didn’t share a room.
Oh, hell. His aunt wouldn’t buy the happily-ever-after marriage if she found out they had separate rooms. He grabbed the phone to try to catch Kelly or Mrs. Poole in time to warn them.
Kelly whipped through the house and up the stairs, calling out as she ran. “Mrs. Poole! We have to move! We have to move!”
Kelly continued yelling as she ran into her room and grabbed drawers full of clothes and piles of hangers with slacks and dresses on them.
Half of the items fell from the hangers and Kelly cursed as she scrambled to pick them up.
Mrs. Poole came up the stairs with a puzzled look on her face. “What on earth are you hollering about?” she said as she tried to enter the room.
She had to jump out of the way as Kelly made a mad dash to the master bedroom.
“We have to move all of my stuff into Jack’s room. His Aunt Mabry is on her way here, and she’s staying with us for a couple of weeks,” Kelly blurted out as she ran back down the hall to gather more of her belongings.
“Oh Lord,” Mrs. Poole rolled her eyes and followed after her.
She grabbed up clothes and toiletries and rushed down the hall to Jack’s room. They repeated the trip half a dozen more times as they transferred everything and set it into place. Mrs. Poole cleared out half of Jack’s dresser and closet and made room for Kelly’s things, while Kelly folded and put her clothing away.
She draped a few things over the chaise in the corner of his room to make it appear as though the two had been living in holy matrimony since day one.
Kelly pulled open the top drawer of the bureau and saw Jack’s boxer briefs folder neatly on one side. She shoved her period panties—the ones that were soft cotton and loose and so far from sexy she could cry—to the back of the drawer. She stacked the few matching lacy sets of panties and bras toward the front.
She never dreamed Jack would be looking at her underwear when she started this.
She looked around the room. Maybe she should just put her underwear in a box in the closet or something so he wouldn’t see it.
“I’ll run these things up to the attic,” Mrs. Poole said, grabbing the heavy clothing she’d taken from the back of Jack’s closet to make room.
Kelly nodded and started shoving the rest of Jack’s things under the bed. He would probably cringe to see her treating his cashmere sweaters like that, but that’s what he got for not putting his fall clothing away when the weather turned warmer. The man had a ridiculous amount of clothing.
Kelly put away the last of her things and took a deep breath as she turned to survey the masculine-looking room.
There was a dark mahogany dresser and matching armoire against the deep green walls. Large windows looked out on the same beautiful waterfront view that her guest room windows had shared. The green lawn stretched past the pool, down to a stone wall. Past the wall was the beach and ocean, a scene she would never get tired of.
She turned back to the room and held her breath when her eyes landed on the king-sized bed in the center.
Until that moment, she’d been too panicked about moving to think this through. It hadn’t occurred to her that she and Jack would now have to share a bed.
Kelly’s smile fell away as she realized that keeping her attraction hidden from her husband just became a lot more difficult.