I pulled away from Austin’s grip and continued to walk away from him. I wasn’t about to find myself married. I spun on my heel to face him, and almost ran right into his thick, broad chest. My hands went up on instinct to brace myself.
“Yes?”
I looked up at the smug look on Austin’s face. I wanted to swipe it off with my mouth... No. Fuck. Not my mouth. I wanted to erase it with my hands.
I think.
“I think this seems similar to what you told me happened with your ex-wife.”
“No. I wanted to marry her because I thought I was in love.”
“Ouch,” I bit back.
“No. No. Not like that.” He sighed. “This would be a very mutually agreed-upon arrangement between two consenting and sober adults.”
I blinked at him, turning the words over in my head. Marriage. With Austin. Not for love, but as some kind of... arrangement. My brain scrambled to line it up with the rules I’d been living by since I got here.
It would get both Jacob and my mom off my case about wanting to go back to Georgia. He had a valid point, but to go to an extreme like getting married? Everything in my life had been planned meticulously. This wouldn’t have fallen into anyone’s plan.
“Getting married wouldn’t happen to be on your bucket list, would it?” Austin said with a smirk.
I shook my head and huffed out a small laugh. “No. It isn’t.”
I turned and kept walking, Austin matching my stride to keep up with me. “This is an absurd idea. You have to know it.”
“Oh. It’s the weirdest.”
“But at least I understand why you asked me about health insurance after we kissed yesterday.”
“Which brings me to my initial point,” Austin said, keeping pace with me as I walked toward my house.
I still wasn’t sure if I was on board with this plan, but one thing was certain—if I agreed, he’d have to move in with me. There was no way I was giving up my new place.
“And that is?” I asked.
“We can’t date each other anymore. We’ll just be roommates—nothing more.”
That, I could get behind. If we were going to fake a marriage, mixing in real feelings would only complicate things when it inevitably ended.
“I agree,” I said.
He let out a long sigh, clearly relieved. I mulled it over in my head. Was I really considering this? Marrying Austin would definitely get my mom off my back. Jacob would be absolutely livid. This was wild—so out of character for me. This wasn’t normal, was it? I was always structured, always planning. Everything in my life had a place and a timeline. I had lesson plans, life plans I didn’t necessarily want, and a path back home that involved getting married the way my mom wanted. This was everything I shouldn’t be doing. This was everything Ishouldn’tbe doing.
My bucket list was my attempt to break free from the rigid control my mom had always had over my life, to try new things and release the reins a little. I’d promised myself I’d follow the list.
I glanced over at Austin, his face a mixture of nerves as we kept walking, and I realized something: For the first time, I felt excited about not knowing exactly what would happen next.
I broke the silence. “If I do this, I have one condition.”
“Name it,” he quickly responded.
We stopped in front of my house, and I held out my hand. “You’re moving in with me.”
Austin looked up, and his mouth dropped open. “Oh shit, Ms. Honey. You live here?” He walked up to the fence, pushing open the wooden gate.
“Well, I guess we live here?”
17
