“Ooh,” Harry said. “It’s getting very racy in here.”
I pushed him away, laughing. We heard a car coming up behind us, the headlights shining ahead.
Panicked, Harry grabbed me by both arms and kissed me. He pressed his lips hard against mine, and just as the car passed us, he ran one hand through my hair.
“I think it was just a neighbor,” I said, watching the car’s rear lights as it made its way farther up the canyon.
Harry grabbed my hand. “We could do it, you know.”
“What?”
“We could get married. I mean, as long as we’re gonn
a pretend to do it, we could really do it. It’s not so crazy. After all, I love you. Maybe not the way a husband is supposed to love a wife but enough, I think.”
“Harry.”
“And . . . what I told you yesterday about wanting a wife. I’ve been thinking, and if this works, if people buy it . . . maybe we could raise a family together. Don’t you want to have a family?”
“Yes,” I said. “Eventually, I think I do.”
“We could be great for each other. And we won’t just give up when the bloom falls off the rose, because we already know each other better than that.”
“Harry, I can’t tell if you’re serious.”
“I’m dead serious. At least, I think I am.”
“You want to marry me?”
“I want to be with someone I love. I want to have a companion. I’d like to bring someone home to my family. I don’t want to live alone anymore. And I want a son or a daughter. We could have that together. I can’t give you everything. I know that. But I want to raise a family, and I’d love to raise one with you.”
“Harry, I’m cynical and I’m bossy, and most people would consider me vaguely immoral.”
“You’re strong and resilient and talented. You’re exceptional inside and out.”
He had really thought about this.
“And you? And your . . . proclivities? How does that work?”
“The same as it has with you and Rex. I do what I do. Discreetly, of course. You do what you do.”
“But I don’t want to continue to have affairs my entire life. I want to be with someone I’m in love with. Someone who’s in love with me.”
“Well, that I can’t help you with,” Harry said. “For that one, you have to call her.”
I looked down at my lap, stared at my fingernails.
Would she take me back?
She and John. Me and Harry.
It could actually work. It could work so beautifully.
And if I couldn’t have her, did I want anyone else? I was pretty sure that if I couldn’t have her, all I wanted was a life with Harry.
“OK,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
Another car came up behind us, and Harry grabbed me again. This time, he kissed me slowly, passionately. When a guy jumped out of his car with a camera, Harry pretended, just for a split second, that he didn’t see him and slipped his hand down the top of my dress.