Page 10 of The Wrong Groom

“I just thought we could have a moment to breathe,” I say. “No cameras. No pressure. Just… a bit of space.”

She nods again, more easily this time. Her expression shifts slightly, still guarded, but less rigid. Her shoulders seem to lower by a fraction. I steal a glance at her as we walk, watching the way the sunlight glints off her copper hair, an almost metallic sheen. It frames her delicate face like a painting, a halo of light around her. I have to force myself to look away.

“I hope the sh-shoot is going well,” she says, stammering a bit. She’s been doing that a lot. I wonder if it’s a nervous habit, if the pressure is getting to her.

“Seems like it is,” I say. “They’re professionals. How do you think it’s going?”

She lets out a tiny breath of a laugh. “I just hope they got some decent shots.”

“I’m sure they did.”

“My parents hired the b-best photographer they could find,” she continues, her voice quieter now. “So if anyone can pull it off⁠—”

I let out a snort of laughter before I can stop myself. “It won’t take an expensive photographer to make these pictures good. Your smile is like sunshine. You’ll light them up all by yourself.”

She ducks her head to hide it, but I can still see the flush of pink that creeps across her cheeks at the compliment. There’s a moment of silence between us as she keeps her gaze fixed on the sand.

Fuck. There you go again, making her uncomfortable. It’s bad enough that Alexis is being pushed into this arranged marriage. I don’t have to make it worse by flustering her. I should be trying to alleviate the pressure, not pile it on.

I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Sorry.”

She frowns. “Sorry? For what?”

“Sorry that there isn’t an easy way out of this,” I tell her, my tone rueful, apologetic. “I tried my best. I’m sure you’ve tried too. I wish things were different.”

There’s a long pause, filled only by the rush of the tides. She looks pensive, her gaze still fixed down and forward.

After a long moment, she lets out a breath, an exhausted sigh that takes me by surprise. It’s too world-weary for someone as young as she is.

“It’s okay,” she says. “I’ve known my marriage would be arranged since I was little. I never expected anything else.”

My brows pinch together involuntarily. That strikes me as incredibly sad. It sounds like she’s never really had a choice.

“That’s… horrible,” I say, before I can stop myself.

“Is it?” She shrugs. “It’s just the way things are. You know it as well as I do.”

“It shouldn’t be.” I stop in my tracks, and she follows suit. Around us, the crashing waves have drowned out everything but our voices.

She hesitates, then lifts her shoulders again in another half-hearted shrug. “There’s no point in feeling sorry for myself.”

Unable to stop myself, I turn to her, reaching out to tilt her chin up. Connecting our gazes—holding eye contact with her. “You should. You deserve to marry someone who could love you.”

There’s a flicker of desperation in the depths of her eyes that sends a rush of guilt through me. She swallows, then speaks, her voice tentative and careful. “And… could you…?”

Fuck, I wish I could disappear into the sand. I feel like a monster, but I don’t want to start this off—whatever this is, whether it’s three years of cohabitation or an even more miserable failure—by lying to her, sowing hopes where there aren’t any.

I need to be honest with her, or this will never work.

So I inhale slowly and shake my head. “No,” I tell her, trying to keep my tone gentle. “I don’t see myself ever falling in love again.”

Chapter 4

Alexis

I’m not entirely sure what I expected.

Well, that’s not true. I expected this. Precisely this.