In Name Only: Best Friend Bride (In Name Only) / One Night Stand Bride (In Name Only) / Contract Bride (In Name Only). Kat Cantrell
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started speaking Klingon. The impulses of the heart? That was the exact opposite of the impression he’d wanted to convey. Sure, he’d hoped to convince everyone that they were a couple, but only so that no one’s suspicions were aroused. Solid and unbreakable would be more to his liking when describing his marriage, not impulsive and certainly not because he’d fallen madly in love.
This was the worst sort of twist. Never would he have thought he’d be expected to sell his marriage as a love match. Was that something that he and Viv were going to have to practice, too? His stomach twisted itself inside out. How the hell was he supposed to know what love looked like?
Regardless of the curveball, it was the confirmation Jonas had been looking for. Grandfather was on board with Viv, and Jonas had cleared the first hurdle after receiving that ominous text message the other day. “I’m glad you understand. I’ve been seeing Viv for almost a year and I simply couldn’t imagine marrying anyone else.”
That much at least was true, albeit a careful hedge about the nature of his intentions toward Viv during that year. And thankfully they’d become good enough friends that he felt comfortable asking her to help him avoid exactly what he’d suspected Grandfather had in mind. Apparently throwing Sun in his path had been an attempt to get Jonas to Korea more often, if not permanently. It was counter to Jonas’s long-term strategy, the one he still hadn’t brought to Grandfather because the merger hadn’t happened yet. Once Park Industries and Kim Electronics became one, they could leverage the foothold Jonas had already built in America by moving the headquarters to North Carolina, yet keep manufacturing in Korea under the Park branch.
It was also the opportune time to pass the reins, naming Jonas the CEO of the entire operation. The dominoes were in much better position now, thanks to the huge bullet Viv had helped him dodge without upsetting anyone. It was...everything.
Grandfather chatted for a few more minutes about his plans while in the US, including a request for a tour of the Kim Building, and then asked Jonas to introduce him to Viv.
He found her in the kitchen writing down her cupcake recipe for his mother.
“You got her secret recipe already, Mom?” Jonas asked with a laugh. “I guess I don’t have to ask whether everyone is getting along.”
His mother patted his arm. “You obviously underestimate how much your wife cares for you. I didn’t even have to ask twice.”
Viv blushed and it was so pretty on her, he couldn’t tear his gaze from her face all at once, even though he was speaking to his mom. “On the contrary, I’m quite aware of how incredibly lucky I am that Viv married me.”
“You didn’t have to ask me that twice either,” Viv pointed out. “Apparently I lack the ability to say no to anyone with the name Kim.”
An excellent point that he really wished she hadn’t brought up on the heels of his discovery of how much he enjoyed it when she called him Mr. Kim. All at once, a dozen suggestions designed to get her to say yes over and over sprang to his lips. But with his mom’s keen-eyed gaze cutting between the two of them, he needed to get himself under control immediately.
“Come and say hi to my grandfather,” he said instead, and she nodded eagerly.
She was far too good to him. For the first time, it bothered him. What was she getting out of this farce? Some advice about how to run her business? That had seemed inadequate before they’d gotten married. Now? It was nearly insulting how little he was doing for her.
She had to have another reason for being here. And all at once, he wanted to know what it was.
Ten minutes into dinner, Jonas figured out his grandfather’s angle. The wily old man was trying to drive him insane with doubt about pulling off this ruse, especially now that he had impulses of the heart echoing through his head. Jonas was almost dizzy from trying to track all the verbal land mines that might or might not be strewn through random conversational openers.
Even “pass the butter” had implications. Grandfather hated butter.
And if Grandfather failed at putting Jonas in the loony bin, Viv was doing her part to finish the job, sitting next to him looking fresh and beautiful as she reminded him on a second-by-second basis that she was well within touching distance. Not just easily accessible. But available to be touched. It was expected. Would a loving husband sling his arm across the back of her chair? Seemed reasonable.
But the moment he did it as he waited for his mom to serve the kimchi stew she’d made in honor of Grandfather’s visit, Viv settled into the crook of his elbow, which had not been his intent at all. She fit so well, he couldn’t help but let his arm relax so that it fully embraced her and somehow his fingers ended up doing this little dance down her bare arm, testing whether the silkiness felt as good all the way down as it did near her shoulder.
It did.
“...don’t you think, Jonas?”
Blinking, Jonas tore his attention away from his wife’s skin and focused on his dad. “Sure. I definitely think so.”
“That’s great,” Brian said with a nod and a wink. “It wasn’t a stretch to think you’d be on board.”
Fantastic. What in the world had he just agreed to that had his father winking, of all things? Jonas pulled his arm from around Viv’s shoulders. At this point, it seemed like everyone was convinced they were a couple and all the touching had done nothing but distract him.
Viv leaned in, her hand resting on his thigh. It was dangerously close to being in his lap. One small shift would do it, and his muscles strained to repeat the experience. But before he could sort her intention, she murmured in his ear, “We’re playing Uno later. As a team. You’ll have to teach me.”
Card games with a hard-on. That sounded like the opposite of fun. But at least he knew what he’d absently agreed to, and shot Viv a grateful smile. Her return smile did all sorts of things that it shouldn’t have, not the least of which was give him the sense that they were coconspirators. They were in this farce together and he appreciated that more than he could say. At least they could laugh about this later. Or something.
Grandfather was watching him closely as he spooned up a bite of stew, and Jonas braced for the next round of insanity. Sure enough, Grandfather cleared his throat.
“Will you and your bride be starting a family soon?”
Not this again and from his grandfather, too? Obviously Jonas’s mother had a vested interest in the answer strictly because she wanted babies to spoil, but Grandfather wasn’t asking for anything close to that reason. It was all part of the test.
“Not soon,” he hedged because family was important to the Kims. It was a source of frustration for both his parents and his grandparents that they’d only had one child apiece, and Jonas imagined they’d all be thrilled if he said Viv wanted a dozen. “Viv owns a bakery and it’s doing very well. She’d like to focus on her career for a while.”
Yes. That was the reason they weren’t having kids right away. Why had he been racking his brain over that? Except now he was thinking about the conversation where he had to tell everyone that while he cared about Viv, they were better as friends, so the marriage was over. While it soothed his sense of honor that it was the truth, he’d never considered that the annulment would upset his family.
“We’re having her cupcakes for dessert,” his mother threw in with a beaming smile. “They look scrumptious.”
Perfect segue and took some heat off a subject that Jonas suddenly did not want to contemplate. “The lemon are my favorite. One bite and that was when I decided I couldn’t let Viv get away.”
The adoring glance she shot him thumped him in the gut. The little secret smile playing about her lips worked in tandem, spreading tendrils of heat through him in ways that should be uncomfortable at a