I sat next to him, touching his bulging shoulder. “We were in Vegas getting married. That’s what happened, and that’s what we’ll keep saying. You didn’t do anything wrong, Travis. It was an awful thing that happened, but I’m not going to let you go down for this.”

“Abby,” Travis said through his hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

I kissed his shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“That I’d need an alibi.”

My heart began to thump in my chest, banging against my ribcage. “What are you talking about?”

He turned to me with subdued fear in his eyes, already regretting the question he was about to ask. “Tell me the truth.”

I shrugged. “Okay …”

“Did you marry me to keep me out of jail?”

I swallowed. For the first time, I was afraid my famous poker face couldn’t save me. If I admitted to creating his alibi, he wouldn’t believe me that I also married him because I loved him and wanted to be his wife. He wouldn’t believe that the only reason I would agree to be his wife as a freshman in college—just nineteen—was because of that love. I couldn’t tell him the truth, and I didn’t want to start off our marriage with such an enormous lie.

I opened my mouth to speak, not knowing which I would choose until the words came out.

***

Thank you for reading the first installment of Endlessly Beautiful, a fun follow-up to international bestseller Beautiful Disaster! I’ll try to update once a week, and together we can witness the daily life of our favorite newlyweds, Travis and Abby Maddox. Be sure to pick up the final Maddox brother book, Beautiful Burn: A Novel, releasing online at your favorite online retailer in eBook and paperback formats on January 31, 2016!

You can find the original work, Beautiful Disaster and the upcoming Beautiful Burn at the following retailers:

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Preorder Beautiful Burn: A Novel today!

White Lie

:: Abby ::

“Travis,” I began, touching his knee. “I married you because I fell in love. “

“Is that the only reason?” he asked, bracing for whatever excruciating pain my answer would cause.

“No.”

His chest heaved as if all the air had been knocked out of him. An hour before, he was just beginning to accept that our weekend wasn’t just a dream. A month before he would have trashed the apartment. I could see him fighting the urge to lash out, even under the immense pain he was feeling. Seeing that conflict in every tiny twitch of his expression made me love him even more.