To Catch a Husband. Laura Altom Marie

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СКАЧАТЬ him, he’d felt the same. He’d loved her. For the first time ever, he’d known what it was like to be willing to die for someone.

      He’d been pulled off the case. Then, over a candlelit frozen lasagna dinner at his apartment, asked her to marry him. With an excited squeal, she’d accepted.

      Adam had expected trouble from her family—he was far from her social standing—but to the contrary, her dad had been a self-made man, working two jobs to get through law school, and he’d adored Adam. He’d also loved the fact that Adam wasn’t one of Angela’s typical spoiled frat boys. Despite ever-increasing death threats, Angela’s mother had launched plans for a wedding fit for royalty. She’d been warned it wasn’t safe. But she’d said a life lived in fear wasn’t worth living. Adam had admired the hell out of her moxie, yet he’d worried.

      The size of the family’s security detail doubled.

      Still, Adam worried.

      Worried to the point that Angela had moved in with him, because he believed with his entire being no one could keep her as safe as him. After all, no one else could have comprehended loving her as he had.

      But in the end, the security hadn’t been enough.

      His love? That hadn’t done squat.

      On a blustery Tuesday afternoon, hustling to interview a wedding consultant, Angela had been shot outside Adam’s apartment door. He’d been right beside her. Two other marshals had flanked her. Four other marshals had covered the stairwell and parking area. The coward-ass sniper had shot through them all. Hit Angela straight through her heart. She was supposed to have been wearing a vest, but had whined it made her look fat. Yeah, well, there in his arms, she’d looked dead. And there wasn’t a damned thing—

      Swallowing hard, willing himself to breathe, Adam squeezed his eyes shut.

      He’d let her down. Yeah, she should’ve worn the vest, but he should’ve insisted. Made a game out of putting it on her himself.

      Should’ve. Would’ve. Could’ve.

      He could second-guess himself till the end of time, but the end result would still be the same. For all practical purposes, he’d killed the woman he’d loved. And now he would pay the consequences—for the rest of his freakin’ life.

      Sure, on the outside, he came across as a happy-go-lucky guy, but inside, he knew damned well he was damaged goods. Which was why it was so important for him to keep things right between him and Bug. He didn’t deserve another chance at love, but surely even screw-ups like him deserved a best friend.

      Which was exactly what Bug had become.

      He caught up with her in the parking garage just as she was about to climb into her company-issued black SUV. “You’re fast,” he said.

      “Why are you here?”

      “My car’s parked next to yours.”

      “And that’s it?”

      He sighed, wiped his face with his hands. “We’re together every Sunday, right?”

      “Usually. But what does that have to do with why you followed me?”

      “I didn’t follow you,” he said. “I just pointed out I was parked next to you.”

      “Okay. Great. See you tomorrow.” She opened her door and climbed in behind the wheel.

      “Wait.”

      She sighed. “Adam, I’m really tired. It’s been a long day.”

      “Yeah, I know. But yesterday, having to watch football without you—or your Velveeta dip—now that was a long day.”

      Lips pressed tight, she rolled her eyes.

      “Seriously, with both my brothers married and most of the other guys I know either in a serious relationship or rooting for another team, Sunday afternoon I realized just how alone I really am. The game was a blow-out, so I turned off the TV and went for a long walk. Thought about a lot of stuff. About how maybe instead of constantly grieving Angela’s death, I should celebrate her life. But what I can’t figure is how I’m supposed to do that if I have to be out wasting my time with women I don’t even like.”

      “Adam,” Charity said. “I’m really tired. Where are you going with this?”

      “Where am I going?” He laughed. “Bug, don’t you see? When I’m with you, losing Angela doesn’t hurt half as much. But when I’m not with you, I feel…” He looked away. “I’m bad at this. Really bad.”

      “How do you feel, Adam? Tell me.” Please. God knew she felt for Angela. Her too brief shining life. But were Adam to be granted the miracle of one more talk with her, Charity felt certain the woman would’ve told him to get on with things. To have a life. As he was, he just sort of wandered, not really living. Not really dying. Just being. If Angela had loved Adam even half as much as he’d loved her, she would never have wished this limbo on him. Worse yet, as much as Charity loved Adam, his limbo was now her own. “Tell me, Adam. How do you feel?”

      “Okay…” He scratched his stubbled chin. “Raw. Guess that about sums it up. Is that how you are? You know, about all that baby stuff you brought up the other night?”

      She didn’t answer.

      “Bug?”

      “That’s not my name.”

      “Sorry. Charity. Is that what’s going on with you?” He stood in front of her, one hand holding the suit jacket he’d had to wear in court over his shoulder, the other tucked into the pocket of his dark slacks. He’d locked his beautiful brown gaze with hers, and though Charity wanted to look away, she couldn’t. “Well?”

      “Yeah,” she said. “That’s exactly how I feel—not that there’s a lot I can do about it.”

      “Want me to fix you up with someone?”

      She shook her head. “How about you? I heard one of the clerks in Judge Baker’s office just got divorced.”

      “Nah. Too much baggage. What I was really hoping is we could just hang out. You know, so things go back to the way they were.”

      “How’s that going to help either of us?”

      “I don’t know,” he said, breaking his stare, with his free hand, thumping her open door’s window. “Sorry I ever even brought it up.”

      So was she. Because no matter how insulted she was that he obviously didn’t think of her as a woman, she couldn’t get past the idiotic craving she had to go along with his plan. But why help scam his psychiatrist? How would that help Adam? And what about her? How would it feel to only pretend to be his date, knowing she didn’t have a shot at being the real thing? Better yet, follow her original plan to remain just friends? Maybe even sever that tie in favor of finding someone else to declare her best friend? Like a woman who might actually understand some of what she was going through?

      “Wanna go with the rest of the gang to Ziggy’s?” he asked.

      Yes. СКАЧАТЬ