Jett stops perusing my apartment and abruptly turns to face me.
“I think we should get married,” he blurts, as if he’s been working up the courage to say it the whole way over here and now the words have come spilling out with no strategy or tact.
I blink at him a few times, trying to comprehend what he’s said. Jett Landry… wants to get married… to me. The world’s hottest professional skier, and the man every woman wants. The man who never evendatesanyone.
“You said you need a husband, so marry me,” he says when I don’t respond.
“Jett, what are you talking about?” I ask, incredulous.
“I’m saying we fake a marriage, Pops,” Jett answers, like it’s clear as day, and he shouldn’t even have to be explaining it. “People do it all the time, right? Like for immigration and stuff.”
“I think that’s more common in themovies, or in romance novels, not real life,” I roll my eyes. “You don’t want to get married. Not even if it’s fake. You’d be tied down, and everyone knows you don’t like to get tied down.”
Even if he did, I’m not Jett’s type, and I’ll never be his type. Jett and I would be a terrible match, even in a fabricated scenario.
He’s self-assured, which is a nice way of saying he’s arrogant.
I saw him at the skijoring competition, celebrating his victory. I saw how the women fawned over him. You hear a lot from behind the counter serving coffee.
I even caught a snippet of his conversation with the man I assume to be his manager or coach. Whoever he was, he didn’t seem too impressed with Jett’s behaviour. Yet, Jett spoke and carried himself as if nothing could touch him.
Whatever soft, vulnerable side of Jett I saw at Grady’s is gone. So why he thinks I would be believable as his wife is beyond me.
Jett shrugs, and his eyes dart off to the side, like I’ve struck a sensitive spot.
“Turns out, settling down might have its perks.”
I cock my head, my eyebrows twitching together.
“Why?” I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me. I’m not going to agree to anything yet, but I’m interested in understanding his motive.
Jett shrugs and shoves his hands into the kangaroo pocket of his hoody.
“My sponsors are threatening to pull my funding for World’s because of the scandal,” he admits. “It might be a Hail Mary, and I don’t know if it would even work, butmaybe if I have a stable relationship and can fix up my reputation, they might be willing to back me.”
My mouth twists to one side, considering.
“I don’t know.”
“You won’t think about it?” He asks, looking at me with a pleading expression.
Dating in general already makes my palms sweat, and the thought ofmarryingJett is so far out of my comfort zone, it’s in another realm. Even faking a relationship with Jett would be trial by fire.
I was hoping that I might use this opportunity to find someone who was right for me. That I might miraculously meet someone and have the wedding I’ve always wanted. The one I thought I’d never have.
We’d have our friends and family around us at an intimate gathering. I’d walk down the aisle to Moon River, the song my aunt used to sing every morning as we opened the café together. Everyone would be crying because I’ve found someone who loves me exactly as I am.
And it would be real.
But there have been no signs of any Christmas miracles happening this year.
I decide not to mention any of that.
“No one will ever believe us as a couple,” I point out instead.
Jett’s mouth quirks up to one side, and a sparkle forms in his dark iris.
“Not with that attitude, they won’t.”
