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Was it a mental slip that she wanted to tack on the word, unfortunately.
Shit, what was going on with her at the moment?
She really did not find Josh attractive. Well, okay, that was kind of a lie. Any woman with ovaries would find her fake fiancé attractive. It was impossible not to. With that silky hair, stern expression, the panty-melting suits that covered a body every XX chromosome responded to, there was no way any woman could hide from the visceral response he triggered.
The man was a walking catalyst for lust, and the proof of that was in Jess’ wide-eyed glance.
“Purely platonic,” she scoffed. “A guy like him never does anything to be nice.”
“You’d be surprised.” Samantha had never shared the truth of her relationship with Jamie. How could she?
Jessica was so outspoken, and so unafraid of voicing her opinions. If Samantha had told her the truth, she had no doubt Jess would have shown up at their penthouse one day just to ream Jamie a new one.
Considering the precariousness of her relationship with her then-husband, that was something she hadn’t been able to abide by.
Though she knew Jamie’s possessiveness would never have allowed him to let her go, she was well aware that marriages like hers could end badly.
And as his family was very, very rich, and hers wasn’t… well, badly took on another kind of edge.
Her throat felt thick at the thought, because Samantha knew just what a Godsend Jamie’s death had been. A thought that triggered the most guilt she’d ever felt, because what a thing to think!
There was no avoiding the truth though.
In the midst of his cocaine-soaked rages, he’d been unstoppable. When he’d slapped her sober, it had hurt. Enough to whip her head around, to make it feel like it could spin off her damn neck. But when he was high, it had turbocharged everything.
She’d gone from him being careful at the start of their marriage; hiding his nasty work by hitting her torso, grabbing her arms and shaking her so she could wear long sleeves to cover the bruises, but as he’d grown more addicted, that had changed.
She probably had more experience with a makeup brush than some professional make-up artists did; a notion that had any light-heartedness disappearing from her mood. There was no way she could laugh about her past, not when it was so recent. And not when it could have continued just as bad or ended even worse.
Gnawing at her bottom lip, she whispered, “Josh can be nice.”
“How do you know? Whenever he and Jamie hung out, you always complained about Josh. You said he was mean to you.”
She winced. “Mean, that sounds so juvenile. Are we at school or something?”
Jess snorted. “Well, I don’t know, Sam, you’re the one involved in a fake relationship. You tell me.”
Pouting, Samantha retorted, “You’re supposed to be nice to me.”
“Says who?” Jessica demanded, sounding so outraged that Samantha, despite her tumble into her recent history and the downer it
had caused, had to laugh. “If anything, I’m the one who’s supposed to keep you on solid ground!”
“Well, there’s definitely no risk of me taking off on a flight with you around,” Sam groused. “Anyways, you know why I’m doing this. You know I don’t really have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Says you. You know that Frank and Janice live in a whole other sphere to the likes of me and you. If they want custody, then there’s no way any judge is going to back me. They’re going to support their custody plea, and I can’t have that. I won’t have it.”
“You’re rich too,” Jessica countered. “You have no need to rely on a man like Joshua Lewis.”
“Says who? The terms of Erin’s inheritance and trust are very specific. I can’t use any of the money to fight someone in court over his guardianship. I’m allowed to pay for his housing, food, bills, his care, things like that. Not a lawyer to ensure he can stay with me. And can you even imagine the kind of attorney Frank and Janice will hire? It would cost a fortune to fight!”
Jessica pulled a face. “I still don’t like it.”
“You think I do?”
“No, but… I don’t get what’s changed. They were fine with the way things were. What’s happened?”
