“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay,” she repeated. “I’ll do it. We’ll do it. But I’m setting some ground rules.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” Theo grinned, and for a moment, she saw the boy he had been instead of the businessman he was.
“First, Jack stays in the school until he graduates,” Nina said. “Once he’s enrolled, I don’t have to take him out, even when ourruse is over. I’ll use the money you said you’ll give me to keep up his tuition.”
“Agreed.”
“Second, we tell Jack that you’re a family friend. He doesn’t have to call youDador anything like that.”
“Fine,” Theo said. He seemed almost amused.
“Third, we don’t keep this up for longer than six months. Even if you haven’t landed your contract by then, we stop.”
“Okay.” Theo paused. “Is that it?”
Nina’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Yes.”
“I have a few conditions, too. First, we sign an agreement to make this official — that way, you can be sure you’ll get your money in the end. Second, you and Jack move in with me while we’re doing this. That’s important for the school registration and may end up being important for my business with Ackley, too. Third, you can’t tell anyone that this is fake. Not your friends. Not your family. We’ll both tell everyone that we’ve been dating secretly for a year or so and agreed to make this official now. We didn’t do so sooner because we didn’t want to confuse Jack.”
“Fine,” Nina said. She didn’t love the thought of lying to everyone, nor did she like the idea of moving in with Theo. But she was in for a penny, in for a pound, as her grandmother always said. This was the right thing for Jack. It would mean a secure roof over his head and a good education. Nina could swallow her own reservations to make things right for her son.
It was what she’d always done. She’d put aside a promising career for him and never thought twice about it. She’d pinched pennies and worked through exhaustion to give him everythingshe could. She’d avoided dating so she wouldn’t confuse him — or herself. And Nina had never minded any of it.
So, if the right thing now was living with a billionaire for a few months and letting her child go to a fancy private school, Nina could do that too. His house was probably so large that they’d never see him, if his office was anything to go by.
“Excellent. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a contract for you to sign.”
“Won’t that go against your plan to not tell anyone that this is fake?” Nina asked.
“Don’t worry. The lawyers know all my secrets.” Theo winked. Just then, Jack came running out of the bathroom. He skidded to a stop by Nina and nuzzled into her side.
“Thanks, supervillain.”
“Anytime.” Theo bent down to Jack’s level. “And you can call me Theo.”
“Is that your supervillain name?”
Theo chuckled. “Sure. But it’s also just my real name. I promise, I’m not really a supervillain.”
“O-kay,” Jack said, stretching out the word as though he didn’t really believe it. Nina ruffled his hair fondly, and he looked up at her. “Can we go to the park now?”
Nina glanced at Theo. “I think we’re good to go, right?”
“Yes. I’ll send a car over tomorrow to pick you up. Does five o’clock work?”
Nina nodded. “I’ll text you my address.”
“And I’ll have the contract waiting for you when you arrive.” Theo held out a hand. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Um… sure.” Nina took his hand and shook it. “I suppose so.”
He gave her a business card with his full name and contact information, and she made sure he had her name and number. Then Nina left, hand in hand with Jack.
Her head was spinning as they rode the elevator down. Had she really just agreed to move in with, and pretend to be married to, a man she’d just met?
