I almost tell him but hold back. I’m not sharing my dreams of Broadway with him. “Just a new project.”
“Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t get in the way of wedding planning.”
Here we go. That’s the biggest next step.
“And when is the wedding?”
“Two weeks’ time.”
My fork freezes halfway to my mouth.
Two weeks.
The words hit harder than I expect, and my stomach drops. For a second, the room feels too small, the air too heavy.
I blink. “Two weeks? As in fourteen days from now?”
He nods once, calm as ever.
“That’s… soon,” I manage, though what I really mean iswaytoo soon.
But what did I expect? Of course, the wedding would need to be soon to get the ball rolling.
“We’ll tell people we’ve been dating in secret for a year and now we want to tie the knot.”
“You think people will believe that?” Most people would be quicker to believe I’m pregnant. Though I guess these days, not many people rush to get married for pregnancy anymore.
“They’ll believe it because I keep my private life out of the media.”
“Yet there are so many pictures of you with one woman or another on your arm.” He has to be joking.
A crude smile dances across his lips. “Doing your research on me?”
“The same way you did yours on me.” I quirk a brow.
“Fair enough. But to give you an answer, have you ever seen any reports of me being in any kind of relationship?”
I think for a moment. “Not exactly.”
“Because there are none. Also, the pictures you found would have been from various fundraisers, and there’s nothing recent.”
He’s right. The last picture I found of him with a woman was from very early last year with some Victoria’s Secret model. There’s been nothing since.
Come to think of it, the dates would fit in well with his story of being with me for a year.
“See? I’m right,” he says, catching the flicker of reluctant agreement on my face.
“Why can’t we just get married in private? Does there need to be a story?”
“I wish we could, but there’s always some paparazzi snooping around. Not even I can hide a wedding. Having a story is better. So, with that said…” He pauses and rests his elbows on the table. “We’ll have a number of public appearances before and after the wedding. The one we need to worry about right now is our engagement party.”
God, my head feels light. Like it may slip right off my body. I can’t believe we’re talking about this.
“When is that?”
“Thursday, when I get back from L.A. Sheila will fill you in on the details.” He downs the rest of his coffee.
I remember what he said about his staff last night, so I thought I should ask about Sheila. “Does she know what’s happening? I mean with our arrangement.”
