Page 29 of My Husband Problem

“Oh for fuck’s sake. This is all your own fault.”

“Iris—” I start. She’s the only one who talks to me like this.

Well, other than Astrid.

“You know how I feel about this,” Iris says. “But I’ll say it again. You have not given this a fair chance. You’ve been leaving her alone.”

“Because that’s what she wants.”

“You didn’t even stay for Christmas at your family’s home! You came home to work!”

“I made that up.”

“I knew it! Why?” Iris asks.

“Because she snuck out and slept somewhere else!” I push back. “I wanted her to have a nice Christmas with her family. I’ve spent so many without mine, it wasn’t fair to ruin hers.”

“Oh my God,” Iris mutters.

“I was trying to benice!”

“There are a lot of ways you could have beenniceand made hercomfortablein yourbedroom, Declan.”

My mind immediately starts flipping through ideas, and my body responds. But I shut it down a second later, scowling. “Knock it off. Our first fucking kiss was yesterday.”

“That’sentirelyyour own fault,” Iris says. “It’s not like you’re a virgin or have never dated. You’ve had gorgeous girlfriends from all over the Northwest US, not to mention the two from Europe and the three from Asia,” Iris says. “No onewouldbelieve that you don’t know how to make a woman want to share your bed if you wanted to.”

I grit my teeth. I’ve been doing everything I can to respect my clearly skittish wife. She’s ten years younger than me and, if the media is to be trusted, has hadfarfewer romantic partners than I have. I’ve held back because… fuck, I don’t want to scare her.

“We didn’t get married because we’re in love or wildly attracted to each other,” I remind Iris.

She snorts. “You got married because you decided to use your grandfather’s wacko marriage pact as an excuse to get the woman of your dreams. Maybe the ‘in love’ and ‘attracted’ thing seems one-sided, but it’s not like you’re a troll. I really think she could get on board with fucking you, Declan.”

“Jesus Christ, Iris,” I mutter.

She laughs.

Iris is theonlyperson who knows that I think my grandfather’s insistence on the arranged marriage between our family and the Olsens is nuts. Of course, I could have said no. I could have put a stop to the whole thing for both families. But for years, my brother and Astrid’s sister seemed fine with the idea. Not that I’d asked them. But it had been the plan, and everyone had been going along with it.

Then, suddenly, they hadn’t.

And when Iris told me Cian and Astrid were considering getting married…I couldn’t let that happen.

So yes, my grandfather’s eccentricity was a way to have Astrid.

I’m notproudof it. I was in an out-of-character, panicked, sleep-deprived, worried-about-my-grandfather, nervous-about-seeing-my-family-again-after-so-long state. I saw Astrid and used the excuse I was most sure would work.

And it did.

But I am crazy about her, and I do want her.

“Anyway,” Iris goes on. “I know you think she wants an annulment, and maybe it’s what she thinks she wants, but neither of you reallyknow. Because you haven't shown that woman what it’s really like to be married to you. I don’t thinkyouknow what it’s like to be married to you. You’ve never even thought about being married. Then suddenly you had a wife. And you panicked. You had hearts in your eyes while also being afraid she’d bolt, and you started just giving her everything you thought she wanted. But now…” Iris pauses. “This is great. You’re there on her turf and she can’t run away. There’s no stupidly enormous penthouse or freaking castle with a million extra rooms for her to hide in.” Iris sounds positively delighted as she says, “This is the best thing that could’ve happened.” She pauses, then says firmly, “Be that woman’s husband, Declan. Show her that she wants to be married to you.”

My heart kicks hard against my ribs. I take a breath and blow it out. “Do you think I can do that? In a week?”

I am very rarely vulnerable, and I always hate it, even when it is with Iris, whom I trust implicitly.

“Do I think that you could be an amazing husband in general? No,” Iris says in the affectionately blunt way that she has when dealing with me. “But do I think you can be an amazing husband to Astrid Olsen? Absolutely. You’ll do anything for her.”