Page 29 of Line Change

My eyes dart to my closed office door before settling on the man opposite me. “What’s been going on? We live together, and I haven’t seen you in over a week.”

He bows his head, linking his fingers together. “I know. I’m sorry. I needed space.”

“When you said that, I thought you meant for a day, maybe two. I didn’t want to run you out of your own home,” I whisper.

His shoulders slump. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

My throat feels tight, but I force myself to say, “Maybe I should move out.” I twirl the ring on my thumb. I don’t want to go, but maybe it’s for the best. “It’s not fair to you that I’m there in your space.”

“I want you there.”

I swallow roughly, watching him. “Are you sure?”

“I am.”

“You’ll tell me if you change your mind?”

“Of course.” We watch each other for a few beats before he gestures to the papers on my desk. “What was going on when I came in?”

“These are copies of my grandmother’s will. She left me a large sum of money and a small hotel chain that I had no idea she owned, nor do I know why she left them to me, of all people, when she clearly disapproved of my choices. Or at least that’s what she told me the last time I saw her and she yelled at me, but anyway …” Grandmother, why leave all of this to me and not your son? This is a question I’ll never know the answer to, unfortunately.

“That’s awesome?”

I don’t miss the way his voice rises at the end, that he’s phrasing it like a question. I hold the papers out to him.

“You sure?”

“Yep, read it.” I shake the papers, and he finally takes them. His eyes get wider the more he reads.

“This is …”

I bark out a laugh. “Ludicrous?”

I lean back in my chair, staring at the ceiling, my hand absentmindedly coming to my stomach that has been getting a tiny bit bigger with each passing day.

Anastasia was right. Grandmother was out of her fucking mind at the end. Or it was her way of getting what she wanted.

“I have to be married by the time I’m thirty-eight, which is in about sixteen months. Not exactly much time to meet a man, date, fall in love, and get married. If I don’t, my father gets it all.”

“I’ll do it.”

I blink. Did I just? Did he? I straighten, unsure if I heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll do it,” he repeats, and since I’m watching him, I see his mouth move, so I know I didn’t imagine his words.

I stack the papers and shove them back into the envelope as I gather my thoughts. “You’re not even questioning why being married is a stipulation of my inheritance? Or the fact that I stand to inherit that much money?” I raise my eyebrows. “And a business.”

He leans forward, resting his elbows on my desk. “No, I don’t need to know. I trust you, and I trust that if there’s anything you want to tell me, you will whenever you’re ready. And if you don’t want to.” He shrugs. “That’s fine too.”

“I-I-” I stare at him for a few seconds. “What’s in it for you?”

He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Let me introduce you to my mum as my girlfriend. I may have told her I have one, which is a lie by the way, and now she keeps asking when she’s going to get to meet her.” He cringes.

I snort before clasping my hand over my mouth. Shit, that was probably insensitive.

“I know. I know. It’s crazy. I shouldn’t have lied.” He looks up at me. “But she was always asking. Worrying about me being lonely. I got tired of hearing it. Figured since she was in England and I was here, there was no way she’d ever find out I was lying. Except now, every time I talk to her, she brings it up.”

“Let me get this straight. You’ll marry me so I can claim my inheritance if I let you introduce me as your girlfriend to your family?”