“Exactly.”
“Why would I agree?” I peer at him across the table. “I still don’t know what’s in it for me.”
He doesn’t answer right away, and his pause has that lingering balloon of unease growing inside my belly. It pops when he says quietly, softly, “I will pay your debts immediately and completely, Lilah. All of them. Your student loans, personal line of credit, and the cards.” His eyes fall to my lips at my small inhalation. “You will also receive an income for the work you do with Fire Falls Ranch and Resort, as well as a monthly allowance for being my wife. In addition, when our deal is complete, you will walk away with five hundred thousand dollars.”
I can’t breathe. For a moment, I just stare at him. “You really do your homework.”
“I’m a businessman. I wouldn’t be successful if I didn’t know who I was climbing into bed with.”
My eyes snap wide. “I’m not sleeping with you. I mean—if we do this—I won’t sleep with you.”
“It was a figure of speech, Lilah. We will maintainseparate sleeping spaces fit for the nature of our arrangement.”
I’m utterly batshit crazy for considering this—but Iamconsidering this.
The financial disrepair Michael left me in has been a weight tied to my feet that I’m no longer certain I possess the strength to swim with. Briggs is offering to settle my debts. All my debts. He’s offering to clear my name from the threat of blacklist and wipe clean the stain that threatens my future.
I can keep the repercussions of my foolish, too-trusting heart from my parents. I can finally move on from the mess of a man I thought I’d loved. A man I thought loved me. A man who took me for far more than I was worth.
“You know about my debts?” Shame heats my face. I don’t know why I care that this man knows. But I do.
“I run checks on all prospective partners.”
Forget the heat. This man is ice cold.
He watches me bob my head, nibbling on my lip in thought. “How deep did this check dig?”
“Deep enough for me to know you got yourself into enough trouble to need serious cash considering the maxed personal line and cards, all with cash pulled.”
“Ah.” I continue my head bob. He continues to watch. “It didn’t reveal anything more?”
“You filed a police report against a man that doesn’t exist.”
I feel my brows climb. “You know about Michael?”
“I know about your claim, yes.” The way he says that has sick swelling in my belly. It swirls until I feel a little dizzy.
Quietly, I ask, “You don’t believe me?”
“People will say most anything to escape the financial issues of their own doing,” he begins, and just as I’m about to stand up and walk away, he adds, “But I do believe you. It doesn’t fit with your character to lie like that. I have a man looking into Michael Pierce and hisfamily. If, and when I find anything of substance, I will bring it to your attention.”
It’s silly, but I feel my shoulders slump in relief. I shouldn’t care what this man thinks of me. Shouldn’t care what he believes. But the idea of him thinking I’d be so terrible as to get myself into a financial crisis only to blame it on a man who doesn’t exist is—well, it’s too much.
Quietly, shakily, I murmur, “Thank you.”
There’s a beat of silence between us. It’s heavy with the weight of his proposition and the mess of my past. “You’re welcome.”
It’s crazy, ludicrous even. His proposal should have me bolting for the exit and never looking back. But the man is literally the answer to every prayer I’ve prayed since learning of Michael’s betrayal. He’s offering me a quick and tidy sweeping up of the shards of my life—and the reality is I’d be a fool to refuse.
I’m sure some women have a stronger moral compass. I’d put money down on me being one ofthem had he came to me with this insane proposition a year ago, when I believed true love lived outside of fairy tales and marriage meant something.
Being conned forced me to swallow a hard pill of reality that then forced me to face the fact that not all marriages are like Mom and Dad’s. Rarer still are loves like theirs. The kind of love that pulls up the bootstraps and wades through the muck of life together, with a smile.
Love is for the few. The rest of us are left with soured dreams and deals dealt by men like Briggs.
I suck in air and release it on a brave, “I’m in.”
11
