“Before would be better for me.”
I flinch. “So I need to pull a wedding together and babyproof this penthouse in sixteen days?”
“Less than that since itstartsin sixteen days. You know, if you still want to go through with it.” He looks over at me. “And what do you mean by babyproof?”
“You know, make it safe for a baby that will soon be mobile. Are we telling anyone about it or keeping it under wraps?” I ask.
“I’ll probably admit the truth to my brother Madden. And you can tell my sister and anyone you want that you can trust. I’ll have my lawyer draw up an NDA for friends and family to sign, plus our prenup and contract.”
“Contract?” I ask.
“Yeah. You’ll be paid for your time, of course.” He returns his gaze out the window and takes a sip from the glass.
“Stop.” I roll my eyes. “It’s not like I’m not benefitting from it.”
“Fine. Then I’ll increase your pay for your work with Jack,” he says, and his words have a finality to them like I shouldn’t argue.
“Can you really pay a stepmother for being a nanny?”
“I can paymy wifefor whatever I want to pay her for,” he snaps, andwhoa, hearing those words—my wife—out of his mouth does something to me.
Something dark and deep down low.
I can’t help my little gasp, not at the words or the fact that he snapped at me, but at my body’s visceral reaction to it all. An ache throbs tightly between my legs, and I have this suddenneedpulsing through me.
I tear my gaze away from his profile as I think through his statement. I’m going to behis wife.
I didn’t think in terms of that when I agreed to this. I didn’t really think about those words when I signed up forSpeed to the Altareither. But for some reason, they’re really affecting me today.
Maybe because they’re out of Dex’s mouth, and it was unexpected.
“Okay. I’ll get started on plans,” I say.
“Or we just…I don’t know. We can just get our license and get it done. No plans.” He shrugs. “Just a contract.”
Again, that’s not exactly what I imagined for my wedding.
But I also didn’t imagine the groom sayingI don’twhen it came time to make our vows. I didn’t imagine the princess dress and the tiara in my hair and the jewels ending in heartbreak as I ran from the groom.
So maybe this is the way to go about things with Dex. It’s fake anyway, right? What difference does it make how we get there?
I finally nod. “Okay. Fine. Just a contract.”
He presses his lips together and takes another sip from his glass. “Great. I’ll have my lawyer draw it up, and as soon as it’s done, we get married.”
I press my lips together and nod as I feel a bit of sadness pull over me.
Because when I imagined my future, I never thought I’d agree to marry my best friend’s hot older brother, and I really never thought I’d be agreeing to a fake marriage.
CHAPTER 13: Ainsley Riggs
City Hall
I’m not looking forward to this phone call, but somehow having Dex in the same room with me while the baby naps is giving me the vibes I need to make the call.
“Hey Ains!” Ivy answers. She plows forward before I get to talk. “I have to leave in like four minutes but saw your call come in.”
Okay, good. She doesn’t have a lot of time, so we’ll make this quick.
