I nearly fell asleep in the shower. If I wasn't so sweaty, I would've honestly just went to bed, but I didn't want to make James any more uncomfortable than he already was.

As I crawled into bed I wondered whether he regrets marrying me. Sure it was the fastest away to appease the shareholders, but it's far from the only way. I also wondered if this means Eleanor might find a fake husband too. I'm sure plenty of people are also expecting her to get married.

I rolled over and stared at his sleeping face, soft and kissable in the dark, with a strand of curly damp hair connecting his brows and the thickest set of lashes you ever did see. My sigh settled into the quiet room as if it was just part of the rumbling air conditioning in the vents.

On one hand, it was unfair that he wasn't mine to have, but on the other hand, I couldn't have caught a better one by myself. I knew I wasn't actually ugly or anything, but I wasn't conventionally beautiful enough to be anyone's first choice. Therefore, by the time I was twenty-one, I had decided to settle with whoever happened to like me enough to propose. Screw romantic love. All I needed was loyalty and peaceful married life.

Yet here I was, laying next to a husband who will never love me and feeling sorry for myself.

My hand reached out into the space between us, but I stopped it before it reached its destination. What was I trying to do? Touch his face? Stop being creepy, I scolded myself, How would you react if you knew a friend was caressing you in your sleep?

Frustrated, I flung myself to the other side, nearly falling off the bed in the process. I needed to get to sleep before I do something I'll regret, so I finally let my exhausted eyelids droop close as the morning sunlight started piercing through the hotel curtains.