Victoria and Sienna take over. They take Remy into Victoria’s walk-in closet and tell me to go away and come back in an hour.
I never adapted well to taking orders even as a child. My mom would take one look at my school report and mutter under her breath that the teachers should know better than to try molding me into a one-size-fits-all student.
I brew coffee.
I sit on the floor and stack magnetic tiles with their daughter Holly until she complains that I’m doing it all wrong because the door doesn’t go at the bottom of the house, it goes at the top.
I watch Caleb scoop her into his arms and carry her through to her bedroom, blowing raspberries against her tummy and making her squeal with laughter. That will be me one day, I think. Me and Bash. And it scares the life out of me. What if we get it wrong? Reading story books at bedtime is one thing, but raising your kids to be decent human beings is quite another.
Before I can spin circles around myself with what ifs and maybes, voices reach me from the hallway. My heart thuds inside my chest. It’s Remy, I remind myself. The woman I fell for when I saw her getting accosted on the casino floor. The woman whose body I could recreate with my eyes closed. The woman who is carrying our babies.
So, why am I acting like a teenager rocking up on a first date?
Then, Remy is standing in front of me wearing a sapphire-blue dress that looks as if it has been poured over her, accentuatingthe swell of her breasts and hips, and turning her gray eyes to the color of the ocean on a summer’s day. Her hair is draped over her shoulders in soft honey-blonde waves.
She smiles at me tentatively as Sienna and Victoria stand back.
“Is it too much?” she asks. “I can change into something a bit more casual.”
“No.” I shake my head without fully comprehending what I’m saying no to. “It’s… You look perfect.”
She lowers her gaze, and I sense the doubts creeping in.
I go to her and take her hand. “Remy, you don’t need me to tell you this, but I’m going to say it anyway. You’re beautiful. You could wear a sack, and you would still be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“We already told her this,” Victoria says from somewhere close behind.
“What are you worried about? Talk to me.”
She licks her lips and swallows. “That people will know I’m a fraud.”
“I told her that she’s looking at the biggest fraud right here,” Victoria adds. “Fake fiancée. Fake bride-to-be. But none of it matters.”
“No one could ever mistake you for a fraud.” I squeeze her hand. “Because you’re true to yourself.”
I touch her left breast right above her heart and realize that I now have to adjust my pants. Her nipples harden through the soft fabric, and I can’t resist. I brush one with my knuckle, and her lips part.
“Is that a chat-up line?” Remy murmurs.
“Did it work?”
“Okay, time for us to leave.” Sienna sidesteps around us and winks at Remy as she heads toward the elevator.
Victoria retreats discreetly to her daughter’s bedroom.
“We could always postpone the Titan.” I pull Remy against me.
She smiles. “Save it for later, Mr. Bigshot. If we’re doing this, I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
“Everything, huh? Could take some time.”
“I’m not in any hurry.” Remy slides her hand into mine, and nothing has ever felt more natural.
18
REMY
“Good evening, Mr. Murray.”The Titan’s concierge is equal measures respect and awe. His expression doesn’t falter as it slides from Cash to me and back again, but I sense that he has committed me to memory for future reference. “Ma’am.”
