Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
My soon-to-be ex-husband.
Shane Faris is taller than I remember. Scruffier. More attractive than ever. Figures.
Sporting a sinful smirk that tells me he hears “Yes” too much, he returns the divorce papers I sent him—still unsigned—and makes a request of his own.
One more night, for old times' sake.
He’s partied his way through time zones, collecting ink on his skin to commemorate events I wasn’t a part of. While I struggled to earn my degrees, Shane chased fame and made memories without me.
It’s time to move on.
So why does his presence cause my heart to kick up a beat and my cheeks to blush when he sends me a wink? I can’t resist him. And he is my husband, after all, if only for a few more days.
When one night becomes two lines on a pregnancy test, we must decide whether this is a second chance worth taking together.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
Catalina “Cate” Farin
Ten minutes . . .
I lower my phone to the desk in front of me, but this wait is keeping me on the edge of my seat. Staring at a “Top Mortgage Broker of the Year” award framed on the wall, I drag my sweating palms down the front of my jeans. Sage green is supposed to be calming, but I grow more anxious the longer I’m stuck staring at these walls.
Is this deal going to fall apart at the last minute?
Has a red flag popped up on my credit report?
Are the owners backing out of the sale?
I covered my bases, but I still worry that I missed some detail. Stop. Nothing was missed. Not an I was left undotted or T missing its cross. Just like getting into college, earning my master’s degree, and pursuing a career in medicine in a new city on my own, I have this. Like I always do.
But I’m glad I wore my hair in a ponytail off my neck, or I’d be sweating.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Cate,” Ross says, his eyes glued to the paper in his hand as he walks back into the office.
“No worries.” I shouldn’t have wasted my energy stressing. Now he’s back and—why is his brow hanging heavy off his forehead? “Is everything okay?”
He sits behind his desk and glides forward with a tap of the papers to align them on the hardwood surface. “Everything looks to be in order except for one piece.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Though I shouldn’t, I let concern twist my stomach into knots. Buying my first home was a huge step, especially as I was building my career from the ground up. Five years of saving every other penny for the earnest money and down payment, leaving just enough to spend on a good time every now and again, has paid off today. “Hope I’m not about to lose this house,” I joke, which isn’t the least bit funny.
Although he has the courtesy to smile, his gaze bounces from my left hand to my eyes. “Your husband’s financials weren’t in the file.”
“Sorry, come again?” I lean in because, surely, I misheard. “What do you mean by husband?”
Chuckling, he sets down the paperwork and leans back in his chair so casually that I find the briefest of comfort in the posture, like everything will work out. “I would have requested the reports sooner, but I didn’t realize you were married since your husband was never mentioned. Do you happen to have his financials in order so we can submit them?”
I have a solid grasp of the English language, but I can’t seem to understand what he’s saying. In a show of trying to prove my singlehood, I rest my ringless left hand on the desk between us. “Bring what with me? I only brought the check for the down payment, as instructed. Everything else was attached in the email, which you said you received.”
“It was all there except your husband’s assets, bank statements—”
“My husband? You keep saying that like one will appear.” I laugh, but I’ve lost the humor in this situation. “If I have a husband, this is news to me. Obviously, there’s been a mix-up, and I don’t want to lose the house that I had to outbid eight others to win. Can’t we just update that document and finish the closing?”
“Unfortunately, we’re going to need all the same information you submitted from him as well to close this deal.”
“There is no husband,” I say as panic takes over. “No husband’s assets or bank accounts, no rings, and no exchange of vows.” I take a breath, trying to calm the frustration that’s tipping over on this poor guy. “Ross, there’s been a mistake. Can we correct it and move forward?”
“I can’t until I have all the paperwork. If you had mentioned your husband sooner, we—”
“I don’t have a husband,” I snap, popping to my feet. “One never existed. I’ve never been engaged, married, nor have I been divorced. No man of importance has been in my life for a long time. I don’t know how to make this clearer.”
I don’t think he blinks for a good twenty awkward seconds, and then he huffs under his breath and picks up the paperwork again to study. “We use state and local records, but I can verify this online.” His voice is even despite basically calling me a liar.
I hold my tongue and sit back down, a little embarrassed by my outburst, but still annoyed that this got so royally screwed up that I’m proclaiming to a practical stranger that no guy has ever wanted to put a ring on my finger.
Ross starts tapping quickly across the keys with his gaze directed on the monitor while I sit tight, my entire future feeling a lot like it’s wrapped up in his research. I tuck my hair behind my right ear and take another breath, this time slower to let it settle the turmoil inside me.