The Marriage Contract, Natasha Black [thriller books to read .TXT] 📗

that looked like an attempt to smile that still somehow was sad. She looked away.

“Alright then,” she said. “I’m game if you are. I think we can handle that test. We’ve been doing great with Hannah and Jordan, I think we can snowball a few other people, too.”

“I think so.”

“It helps that you are a really great kisser,” she said, and I stopped cold. A smile stretched across my lips.

“Really?”

“Yes,” she said. “Makes faking things a lot easier. Now, cheer up. You look gloomy today. I’m going to go get a water and join Hannah on the porch. Want to come?”

“No, thanks,” I said. “I’m going to help clean the kitchen so we can both get out of here on time.”

“Suit yourself,” she said, hopping off the desk. She opened the door, and Jordan was walking by. He saw us and waved. “Going on break, babe,” she said as she approached the door. Then she leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. It took everything I had not to pull her right back into the office and rip her clothes off. Instead, she left me, and I stood in the doorway, more confused than ever.

16

Chloe

I was terrified. I was trying not to be, or at least not to act like it, but my nerves were all over the place. Getting dressed was an exercise in my own patience and anxiety as I tossed outfit after outfit onto the bed, cycling through them until I found one that I felt was cute but not too exposing, fun but not too whimsical. It took forever.

For his part, Matt was patient, bringing me coffee and being the judge as I modeled everything and immediately rejected anything he said. Hannah was with Jordan, getting ready herself, and the nanny was with Claire, so he helped me pack some things up while I debated various outfits, and when I finally picked one, we were ready to roll. Only an hour late.

Jordan, Hannah, and Claire had already left, taking their own car to head to Astoria. It wasn’t like Matt didn’t know where to go. He didn’t seem rushed, though, nor did he seem like he was particularly nervous. While I knew it was his mother, the fact that we were creating this entire ruse and trying to pretend seemed like it would be more of a stressor for him. But he seemed unbothered, and as we got into the car and on the road, I tried to distract myself by babbling about anything and everything that came to mind.

“Are you okay?” he asked, interrupting me in the middle of a rant about the various names of cities that I thought sounded too similar to sexual innuendo.

“I’m just nervous. Like, super nervous.”

“Don’t worry,” Matt said, “it’s going to be great. You are going to be great.”

“I hope so,” I said. “I just don’t want to make a bad impression and ruin everything.”

“You won’t,” he said, grinning. “She’s going to love you.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why? What about me could she like? I’m a spoiled rich girl from LA who impulsively moved to Portland and immediately shacked up with the first guy who caught my eye.”

“I caught your eye, eh?” There was something in the tone of his voice that was more than a joke.

“Of course you did. Have you looking in a mirror lately?”

Matt made an acknowledging sound but didn’t say anything else. I fell into my own silence, trying to occupy my mind by watching the scenery. Eventually, Matt turned up the radio, and we fell into a more comfortable quiet as the eighties’ music filled with me with a bit more bubblegum optimism than I thought might be healthy. Maybe it would be okay.

Astoria, it turned out, was a small town. At least compared to Portland, it was tiny. Compared to LA, it was like a speck of dust. But it was cute, and I kept my eyes open to take it all in as we left the highway and pulled into town. Matt pointed out a few sights before turning down a busier street. I followed his point to look out my side of the car and had to do a double-take. It looked exactly like the bar in Portland, only a little smaller.

“No way,” I said. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Matt said. “Mom only lives a few streets down. I just thought you’d like to see that before we got there.”

“It’s amazing. It looks just like our bar!”

Matt grinned and continued down the street, eventually turning in to a neighborhood. A couple more turns and he pulled up to a lovely house. There were cars filling the driveway, so he parked on the street nearby and shut off the engine. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“We’re here,” he said. “You’re going to be fine.”

I nodded and grasped the door handle.

“Let’s do this… honey.”

Matt smiled wide and hopped out of the car, swinging around to hold the door open for me and shut it when I was out. I reached out and took his hand, and we made our way down the sidewalk toward the house. I caught our reflection in the glass door on the front and was struck by how good we looked together. I leaned my head against his arm for a moment, if nothing other than to just see what it looked like, and the wooden door inside opened.

“Matthew!” the woman on the inside said, then turned to me. “And you must be Chloe!”

Before I could speak, I was wrapped in a hug from the tiny woman with such powerful arms I could barely breathe. I was smothered by her, and it was an incredibly moving moment. My own mother never hugged me like that. There was a force to that hug, a claim in it. She was protecting me and offering to continue to protect me with that embrace. The smell of the lavender perfume and lingering scent of cut onions and roasted meat filled