“And how, pray tell, did you meet this woman?Because last time I checked, Harley still had her talons dug so deep in your heart, you wouldn’t even fuck anyone else.”
Jace cringed.He’d trusted this woman with his image, his career.She’d been professional, but wasthislingering beneath the surface the whole time?
“I almost ran her over with the hot rod you sent me.So, I guess I should be thanking you for bringing her into my life and helping me forget all about Harley.”He was playing with fire now, but he couldn’t stop.She’d crossed the line a few minutes ago, and bordered on belligerent now.“How’d you hear?”he asked, curious, but no longer concerned.
“The goddamn internet.It was picked up on every major gossip site.You had the audacity to tell a florist in bumfuck Montana, but didn’t think about telling me?Are you happy?Because you’re finished, Jace.”
“I don’t know by what standard you think I’m finished, not when some B-list celebrity will do something far more asinine in the next five minutes and erase this from the history books altogether.”
“I’m on the next flight up.Don’t do anything stupid before I get there.”The phone clicked off, and as calmly as he could, Jace placed it on the seat next to him.His hands shook, but, luckily, he had a firm grip on the steering wheel to forcibly regain his composure.
What the hell was Cammie thinking with that approach?Sure, from an agent’s perspective, what he and Aurelie were about to do was a career-changer.But screaming obscenities at him?That shit was below the belt.Christ, what was he going to do now?
“Are you okay?”Aurelie asked him.He stilled, as if a weighted blanket had landed square across his chest and abdomen.For whatever reason, both the sound of her voice and the feeling of her hand bridging the gap between them, landing firmly on his thigh, made it so that yes, he was okay.
“I am.I’m glad you’re here.”He was, too.
“Did she mean what she said?That your career is finished?”
“So you heard all that, huh?Nah.She’s been a great agent, but this is probably just throwing her for a loop.What you and I are doing is actually none of her business.”
“But youareher business.Her only business.We don’t have to do this, you know.”
Jace’s heart sank into his stomach.Aurelie was right, but on the other hand, something deep in his chest said that if he were faced with the loss of his career or giving up Aurelie, he’d trade in acting without a second thought.This partnership, even if unconventional, was the right thing for him, right now, just like ranching was.He knew it.
He pulled the car over to the side of the road, glancing at the sleeping infant in the center of the bench seat with a smile tugging not just at the corners of his lips, but at his heartstrings as well.He faced Aurelie, taking her hands in his.
“But I want to.I am not sure what life has in store for us as individuals, but I can’t wait to have you beside me while we figure out our dreams and what comes next.Real relationship or not, I promise you this: I won’t ever let you think I regret this.I’m damn sure I met you for a reason.”
Jace ran the heel of his palm along Aurelie’s cheek, drying the tears that spilled over her full lashes onto her cheekbones.
“Those sound like pretty good vows for this fake marriage, Jace.Maybe you aren’t the worst actor there is.”
He laughed.
Okay, so she could give as well as she took.“Fair enough.Words are just words until I prove them to you.Got it.”He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it, grazing his lips so lightly over her soft skin it was as if he was kissing silk.
Putting the car back in drive, he drove them to the courthouse, running around to Aurelie’s door to let her out.When her hand touched his, sparks ignited between them, so much so that his hand warmed in hers as if actual flames closed the millimeters between their skin.
Everything felt right when he touched her, a phenomenon he couldn’t wrap his head around.He didn’t believe in fate or any of that nonsense, but he did feel like this woman was sent his way for a reason.
Whatever that was, he couldn’t see just yet.
Reaching as quietly as he could, Jace unlatched the car seat from its base and retrieved a lightly snoring Maddie.With his other hand latched in Aurelie’s, his arms were full, but that was nothing compared to his heart.
He’d had to work at everything he had, sometimes twice as hard as those he was up against.But none of that mattered anymore.He was holding the hand of the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, about to make her his wife, and he was backhome, a word that no longer felt like a four-letter curse.As they walked through the doors to Banberry City Hall, Jace squeezed Aurelie’s hand.
Something in the deepest part of his chest told him to be careful, to not get too excited, because this could all be taken from him as easily as it had been given.That a piece of paper might not be enough to save her or to keep his heart at bay.The danger her father and Isaac Puckman presented was still so ambiguous, so unknown, they were ghost-like shapes in his imagination.He’d sworn not to fall for anyone, lest they be taken from him, and he’d somehow agreed to marry—fake or not—a woman who posed the greatest of all risks of loss.
Swallowing hard, he shoved the thought into the pit of his stomach.He’d promised himself he wouldn’t ever let anything come between him and the rest of his life.Nothing.
Not even a woman as alluring as Aurelie.
Now, if he could just get his racing heart to understand that directive, maybe this fake marriage could be the start of him figuring out what to do next.
If it doesn’t kill us first.
Yeah, he thought.That, too.
