“So, the proposal,” I prompted.
“Yes.” He was tense. “I propose to give you this house and land and its contents, worth eight million. It also comes with a trust for another five million. Per the rules of the trust, some of this money may be used to renovate and make repairs. The rest will generate interest that will assist in maintenance and upkeep of the property.”
I looked at the paperwork. “I’ll have to have a lawyer look this over before I sign, but yes, I think that’s a fair trade for the watch.”
“I don’t want the watch,” he said abruptly.
“What do you want then? I don’t have anything else that’s worth this much money. Are you just dangling this estate in front of me?” I was starting to sound screechy and not at all like the in-control boss babe I wanted to be.
“No,” Blade said. “I’m giving this to you as a gesture of apology.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said quietly. I turned my head away from him. “I mean, you lost the contract. I lost the house. Fair is fair.”
“But you can have it,” Blade insisted. “I know you wanted the estate. If you’re worried because the Svensson estate is down the street, and I’ll be living in Harrogate, I assure you I’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you want. I won’t turn into Nathan. I care about you. I just want you to be happy and live your dreams.”
I smiled slightly. “I don’t know. Yes, I had the dream of running a wedding venue, but then part of me…” I shrugged. “Part of me was really looking forward to sharing it with you. But I guess we kind of nuked that opportunity,” I said unhappily. “I’ve never had a real relationship. They were always a way to stick it to my awful family. I cut them off, by the way. Not sure if you heard, but I figured you’d be proud of me…or maybe not. See that’s the thing. For so long, my whole experience with relationships has been layers of half-truths, lies, and deception, maybe even to myself.”
Blade’s gray eyes were intense across the table that separated us. I hugged my midsection, feeling self-conscious in my fake wedding dress.
“To make it even more pathetic, I think that a part of me wished every one of my fake relationships would lead to something more, something real. Unfortunately, I became way too involved with this one.”
Blade came around the table and took my hands.
“You have had a real relationship. You had one with me. It was all real, every bit of it. Falling in love with you, needing you, wanting you in my life—if it wasn’t real, then I guess there’s something wrong with both of us.” He smiled sadly, searching my eyes.
“I love you, Avery. I want you to be happy, more than I care about my own fulfillment. If it will make you happy, I am fully prepared to disappear out of your life forever. I’ll be the best fake ex you’ve ever had. I promise. And when you marry some other guy who’s better than me and doesn’t lie to you, I won’t crash your wedding. I’ll just send you a tasteful gift, like a two-hundred-fifty-dollar trash can.”
I giggled. “How about we skip the trash can,” I said.
Blade caressed my face. “If you’d give me another chance, I’d like to have a real relationship with you.”
“I think I’d like a real relationship with you too,” I told him. “I love you, and what would make me happy is to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Blade bent down and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he lifted me. All the tension loosened from my body as he held me in his arms, taking his time as he kissed me, making me remember him and fall in love with him all over again.
“This is the dress I was going to wear at the reception,” I whispered to Blade when he released me.
Blade lifted my arm and twirled me around. “You look stunning,” he said.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “You say that about anything I put on.”
“Because it’s true,” he said. “Remember, we said no lying.”
“Right. No lying except that if I tell you to not let me eat an entire chocolate cake by myself, I am just going to warn you that that is probably a lie, and if you take it away from me, I can’t promise I won’t stab you with a fork.”
He bent down and kissed me again. “Duly noted.”
I grabbed his hand. “Let’s go look at my house!” I said gleefully.
“Why don’t we start outside,” Blade suggested, “while we still have the light.”
“Sounds like a plan!” I said as we walked back through the house. “I always envisioned setting up the altar at the end of the back lawn, and then the bride appears on the terrace, and everyone looks up and goes, ‘Wow!’ when they see her.”
Blade moved aside the heavy drapes covering the French doors while I waited impatiently. I was itching to tell Shirley and Edward. They were going to flip out!
Blade finally unlocked the doors, and I walked out, squinting into the afternoon sun.
Someone who sounded suspiciously like Edward called out, “Nice house, Avery!”
