“Well…”Damn her.“I don’t need help.”
Malaki snaps his eyes up to mine, and my heart leaps. His blue eyes, dreamy and soft, deepen.
I think he could convince me to do anything.
“Yes, you do, Reese.” His tone is grave.
I glance to the diamond on my finger and then back to him.
“And you’re going to take my help,” he demands.
If it were anyone else, like Benedict, I’d recoil at the dominance. But with Malaki, it’s different. It’s sincere, and he’s highly persuasive. Whether it’s regarding an Uber ride, staying at the club to dance with him, or remaining his fake fiancée, I find myself agreeing.
There is so much ease with Malaki. It makes him dangerously convincing and outwardly trustworthy.
I gingerly pull my hand away from his. “And what if I don’t?”
Am I going to go through with this?
Can we pull this off?
“You will,” he says matter of fact.
The ring is like a brand, searing itself with guilt and sin around my finger. “You act like you know me,” I say.
“I know enough.”
I huff.He does not.
His phone goes off, but he ignores it. “I know that if you’re willing to work as hard as you do to provide for your daughterandyour sister on your own, then you’re willing to do almost anything to keep what you’ve built so far.”
His phone goes off again, and this time, he reaches for it.
“I’m coming,” he says into it, hanging up a second later.
I should take the ring off and give it back to him. The diamond sparkles beneath the morning sun, but I pull my gaze away and look into the rearview at Charleigh’s empty car seat.
Give him the ring.
This is crazy.
You can’t.
I barely know him. Sure, he’s willing to act like my fiancé just to help me, but…
He smiles at me, and my stomach dips.
“I’ll see you tomorrow…future Mrs. Young.” He grips the door handle and slips out of my car.
My mouth hangs open with shock as he strides toward the bus with ease, as if he didn’t just leave me with an expensive ring on my finger.
He disappears onto the bus, and I get a text.
It’s an address.
That’s it.
Then another message comes through.
