That stopped my attempt to end the call.
“He was asking all about you and Reyna. I told him all the things I was supposed to know about this marriage of yours. But I'm not sure he bought it. In fact, I don't know why he called me because he knows I'm loyal to you."
Fuck. Maybe that's why he called me. "I just passed over a call from him."
"Good. If you answered, he would wonder why you are picking up a business call on your honeymoon. Where's Reyna?"
I glanced up toward the beach where Reyna was walking toward the water. The one-piece might have covered more skin, but it didn't stop my dick from taking notice. "She's on the beach."
"Put your swim trunks on and go to the beach. Look sandy and sun-kissed and well-sated from sex, and then take a picture and send it to me. After that, take her somewhere else where you can look blissfully happy in your new marriage."
I hadn't realized how bossy Amelia could be. I wondered if she was like this with her social media clients. Did she call up the celebrity chef she represented and order him to bake a soufflé and take a picture? She probably didn't have to because after all, they hired her to take care of their social media.
"I will see about taking a few pictures and sending them to you to post on the company website."
"Good. Have Reyna post on her social media account too. It’s pretty dormant, but maybe it will help support your cause.”
"I'll let her know.” I thanked God that I avoided social media for myself or she’d be asking me to post stuff there as well.
"And if George or anyone else from the board or company calls, you ignore them. In fact, maybe you should change your voicemail message and your email autoresponder to say you're on your honeymoon."
Good Christ. This was so fucking irritating, and at the same time, I knew she was right. Both she and Reyna were trying to do exactly what I wanted to do. I was the one going through this crazy arrangement with the parking brake on. I couldn't be sure why except for it seemed like a lot of silly work when there were more important things to be done. But if this fake marriage was going to do what I intended it to do, I needed to ensure that the board believed in it. That meant I needed to do all the silly things.
Amelia was quiet for a moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. "Listen, James, if you don't want to do this, it might be too late to put the brakes on now, but we could try. But if you want to continue it, you need to go all-in. You need to look and act like a man who's in love. We need evidence that Reyna is the one for you and you'd be willing to give up everything for her."
Acting like I’d give up everything seemed a little drastic, but I understood what she was saying. "I get it.”
“Good.”
“Listen, I need to set up a home office for Reyna. Can you help with that?”
“You’re firing her?”
“No. Not exactly. I just figure the board will have a problem with her continuing to work for me, so she’ll do work from home.”
“Who’ll help you at the office? I doubt Mrs. Curtis will come back.”
She wasn’t wrong. “I figured I’d move someone over from one of the other departments.”
“Sounds like you have it figured out.”
“I do.” I was glad she didn’t come up with a reason that my plan wouldn’t work.
“Good. Now get me some pictures.”
When I hung up, I reluctantly went inside and put on my swimming trunks.Just take a few pictures, James. But good Christ, how was I going to be that close to her when she was wearing a swimsuit that didn’t hide her spectacular assets and not give in to the overwhelming need to touch her? Then again, maybe I could snap a picture of my erection. Would that satisfy the board into thinking I was into my wife?
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Reyna
I’d been resolved that I would spend my honeymoon alone, except maybe for dinners, but James surprised me when he showed up at the beach in his swim trunks. My first thought was with a chest like he had, why was he always hiding it under staid white shirts? I’d had sex with him, but this was the first time I'd seen his sculpted, firm chest. I practically had to sit on my hands to keep from running them over the hard planes of his pecs down to the washboard abs.
I’d asked him what had changed that had him out here with me, and he told me that Amelia had called him and in fact, a board member had tried to call him as well. I tried not to be disappointed that he wasn't joining me on the beach to spend time with me. This was all for show, which was brought home to me when he asked me to take a few candid shots and a couple of selfies, all of which were sent to Amelia.
Later that afternoon at dinner, we took another selfie of us enjoying our wine, and later, one while on an evening stroll on the beach as the sun was setting.
The pictures were nice, but I wasn't sure we completely sold the happy couple image. We both smiled, but I didn't see the connection between us. I guess we had to hope that the board wasn't very astute when it came to recognizing love in people's eyes because I didn’t see any between us. I didn’t even see the snap, crackle of chemistry. I suppose he got what he wanted from me and the itch was gone.