She took a breath. “I’m not really letting myself think about the promise he made about the million dollars in the future. We both signed a prenuptial agreement that his lawyer drew up, and it’s legally binding; we’re both on it and it states right there in black and white that I get a million, but I just can’t let myself think that far in advance. I can’t even imagine how much money that is. It’s just too much. I’m just focusing on the ten thousand that he gave me and that’s it for now.”
“Wow.” Marie stated flatly. “That’s… that’s just unreal.” She sounded as if she couldn’t quite believe it either.
“Yeah.” Regina agreed. “That’s exactly what it is. So, lunch?”
“Sure! Thank you. That sounds great. Actually, unless he already bought you your car, do you want me to come pick you up? I can run you around to do your errands and then we can hang out and get lunch. Does that work?” Marie was thinking ahead. Her car was much more reliable than Regina’s. She often stepped in to help her friend when Regina needed it, especially with a good reliable car.
Regina laughed softly. “Yes, that would be really nice, thank you so much.”
They made their plans and said goodbye, hanging up from their call.
When they were done with all Regina’s errands a couple of hours later, they were seated at a swanky restaurant overlooking Central Park from an elevated floor. Regina had been thrilled to take the check into the bank, and she had been right, the cashier behind the counter looked at her in utter surprise, though she had tried to keep her expression from showing too much amazement at the deposit. It was more in one deposit than Regina made in half a year of working.
They paid Regina’s rent in full and the eviction notice had gone into the trash. They had stopped at various places to pay off some of her other bills, and when they were done with that, she had been more than happy to take her best friend out to the best lunch that either of them had ever enjoyed.
After their order was placed, Regina looked at Marie and her expression grew serious. “I wanted to ask you if you wouldn’t mind being my maid of honor. I know it’s not a real wedding, at least… as far as love goes, but it is a legal wedding, and he said it needs to be a really big one, so I need to find myself a maid of honor and do it all right.”
Marie looked at her with eyes wide in surprise. “Your maid of honor! Well, of course I’d be glad to do that. It’s an honor!” She chuckled at her joke, but then grew a little more serious as she continued speaking. “So, this is a real, legal wedding, and you’re really doing it?”
“Yeah, it’s all above board. The only secretive thing is that I’m not doing it for love, I’m doing it for the money. There’s not really anything wrong with it. It’s just a business arrangement. I thought about this a lot over the last day. Marriages are arranged all over the world. I just get paid for this one, and it’s business.” Regina grinned over the top of her glass of champagne. They were celebrating in high style.
Marie raised an eyebrow and gave her a curious look. “Is it all business? Didn’t you tell me this guy is super-hot? Is there anything else on the books for this real marriage of yours?”
Regina held her hands up and shook her head adamantly. “No, absolutely not. We’re definitely keeping it just platonic business. He is gorgeous, but this isn’t about how either of us look. It’s about him getting his inheritance and me getting paid for being married to him long enough for him to get his inheritance. That’s it.”
Marie shrugged. “Okay, well, I thought it was at least worth checking on. I have to admit, after you told me about him I went and did some research online to find out more about him. He’s beautiful, and he’s got a pretty wild reputation. Did you know that?” She raised one eyebrow suspiciously.
“I did know that; he told me he’s a little bit of a wild card. It’s one of the reasons he has to get married. His dad is making him settle down so he won’t be so crazy. He just wants to go live his life, though, and I can totally appreciate that. I don’t care what he does. I’m not in it for the relationship; I’m in it for the money. I don’t really care what he does.” Regina winked at her friend.
“This is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done.” Marie shook her head slowly in amazement as she watched Regina.
“It is indeed. Now I have to figure out how to make this wedding happen. I don’t know anything about planning some big event like this. He wants a really big wedding. I have no idea how to make that happen.” She felt uncertainty rise up in her at the thought of trying to accomplish it.
Marie waved her hand in the air dismissively. “My family has had huge weddings. It’s what we do. Listen, this is easy; just call a wedding planner. I know a couple of really good ones. Choose the one you like best and let them do all of the work. You only have to do as much as you want to do. They’ll take care of the rest of it. Is the wedding part of your ten-thousand-dollar monthly budget? Did I really just ask you that question? It’s so bizarre!”
“No, the wedding is all on his dime he said, though if I was going to guess, by that he means that it’s all on his father’s dime, but whatever. It’s not coming out of the money that he’s giving to me.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m answering that question. My whole life just changed in a single day, and it’s the strangest thing ever. I don’t know if I’m going to be used to it at all the whole time it’s happening, or even afterward. Everything is so different now. Everything…” She trailed off, sitting in a moment of sheer wonder.
It had happened to her at different intervals that day; she’d be sitting somewhere or standing in an idle moment waiting for something or someone, and her mind would turn to the massive change happening in her small world. It was almost more than she could imagine, but she was doing her best to wrap her mind and herself around it as best she could. It was going to take a while, but she told herself that she could do it, and that it would all be a good, good thing. She promised herself that it would be one of the best decisions that she ever made.
Marie vowed to stand behind her no matter what her decisions were and no matter what happened. She was going to make sure that Regina was alright, or better than. It was her duty as a best friend. Good times and bad, and they both promised each other that they would hold to that vow, and that no matter what happened, they would be there for one another. Regina told Marie that their friendship was the real treasure, and nothing in the world could compare to it.
Chapter7
Ryder stood outside of Taylor’s front door, his hands in his pockets as he tried to work out what he was doing in his mind. He couldn’t believe that he had gone through with Taylor’s crazy idea, but he had, and like it or not, he had to make it work. He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to do that alone.
He drew in a deep breath and knocked sharply on door. Moments later, Taylor opened the door and gave him a nod and a smile as he stepped backward to vacate the space in the doorway. “Come in, brother! What are you up to?”
Ryder walked in and Taylor closed the door behind him. “I actually came to talk with you about something kind of important.” Ryder walked through the large foyer of Taylor’s home and into his entertainment room and bar.
Taylor followed him and when Ryder walked behind the bar and looked over at Taylor, he lifted his chin a little with a smile. “Pour me one too, please.” Ryder and Taylor drank together often enough at Taylor’s house that Ryder had become accustomed to getting his own drinks when he wanted them.
“If we’re drinking this early in the morning, then I know it’s serious.” Taylor gave him a smile, but it was clear that he was masking his concern. “What’s s bad enough to have bourbon for breakfast?”
Ryder looked up at Taylor seriously. “Your crazy idea.” He handed a double shot of bourbon to Taylor and poured one for himself.
Taylor frowned slightly. “Which crazy idea was that?”
With a short laugh, Ryder nodded. “Good question. You do come up with no end of them, don�
��t you!” he shook his head a little as he looked down into his glass and drew a deep breath. Raising his eyes again to meet those of his best friend, he spoke clearly.
“The crazy idea in which I get married to a hot cocktail waitress in order to trick my father into giving me my inheritance.” He closed his mouth then and waited for Taylor to respond.
Taylor blinked in surprise. “OH… yeah, that idea. I forgot about that idea. We were drinking. She was hot. I was making a point more than anything else. I just think that you could marry anyone and pay them to do it, and you could get your inheritance. It’s just a perk if you get to marry a hot cocktail waitress just to piss your dad off.” He laughed and lifted his glass, taking a long pull off of the drink before setting it back down. He grinned and looked curiously at Ryder.
“Why… are you going to find someone to get married to as a business proposition?” Taylor lifted one brow interestedly. “Did you actually con someone into marrying your crazy ass?”
“Yeah, actually. I thought I’d marry the hot cocktail waitress.” Ryder answered him.
Taylor frowned. “You already asked her and she told you off. She said she couldn’t be bought and she left you, brother. I think you might be barking up the wrong tree going after her.”
“I went back and talked with her again and we worked it out. She said yes. We’re getting married. I need to ask you to be my best man.” Ryder told him in one quick shot. Taylor’s mouth fell open.
“You’re marrying the hot cocktail waitress? The one from the strip club?” He asked incredulously.
Ryder nodded. “Yeah, I am. That’s the one. Her name is Regina.”
Taylor laughed out loud, long and hard. “That’s awesome! I don’t know how you pulled that off, but it’s amazing! Do it! Marry that girl. She was a hottie!”
“Yeah, she is.” Ryder agreed, thinking about how it might be to have her in his bed every night. “She was all for it once we got it worked out.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Taylor reached his hand out to shake Ryder’s hand. “Well, congratulations brother. I’m glad for you, I guess. I can’t get over it… only you would go back to a woman who told you off and get her to marry you.”
Ryder shrugged. “Well, I think she did it for the money and only the money, but we’ll see. I mean, we’re going to be faking it while we’re tied in a knot together, so we might as well be making it, right?” He laughed at his little joke and then swallowed half of the liquor in his glass before growing somewhat serious again.
“Really though, I need you to be my best man. This was all your idea in the first place, and I wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you, so what do you say? Will you be my best man?”
“Yeah, definitely! I’m definitely in.” Taylor nodded and chuckled a bit more. “Wow. I can’t believe it… you’re getting married.”
“Hey now, don’t get too far off the beaten path here; I’m getting married so that I can get my inheritance and then I’m getting divorced. This is all going to be over in no time at all, so don’t forget that please.” Ryder pointed out in a cautious tone.
“You got it, bro.” Taylor answered as he finished up his drink. “God, your old man is going to be so pissed at you.”
Ryder smiled and nodded his head. “Yes, he is, and that pleases me to no end.”
“You sure this could get physical with her?” Taylor asked, eyeing Ryder.
Ryder nodded. “Oh yeah. Think about it. She’s going to be in my bed every night. If I have to be married, at least I’ll have a hot woman in my sheets whenever I want her; someone who turns me on. She definitely turns me on.”
“You’re one lucky bastard.” Taylor said with a shake of his head and a half smile. Then he looked up at his best friend with a slightly more serious expression. “So, on a personal note, and you don’t have to tell me this, but why are you so bent on marrying someone your father will hate? Why don’t you marry someone you like, or someone your father at least likes?”
A dark expression shadowed Ryder’s face. He glowered down at the bar top before speaking in a low tone. “My father loves his business, he loves his reputation, and he really loves his money, but he doesn’t love his family. I’m just doing this to get a rise out of him. I’m just doing it to piss him off. I just want to see him care about something other than the money. Just once. Even if it’s only his anger about the whole thing. It would be a nice change.”
He lifted his glass of bourbon and tossed it back, swallowing all of the contents of the glass. Taylor nodded silently and then reached for the bottle near Ryder.
“Round two?” he asked helpfully, knowing that his friend wasn’t even close to being done.
“Bring it on.” Ryder answered with determination that had nothing to do with the alcohol.
Chapter8
Two days after they reached their agreement in the all-night diner, Ryder went to Regina’s house to pick her up so that he could take her shopping. He double checked the address in his GPS system when he saw the house from his car in the street. She had texted him her address, but when he saw the house, he was certain that it must be wrong.
When he realized that it wasn’t wrong and that she actually did live there, he was shocked and a little surprised that his stomach knotted a bit at the sight of it. It began to dawn on him as he walked up her old sagging wooden front steps to the paint worn door at the slight front porch, that he was changing her life in a tremendous way, and that knowledge touched the edges of his heart.
He knocked and waited uneasily, wishing that he didn’t feel badly that she lived in such a humble old place, and wishing even more that he didn’t feel anything about it at all. She was going to be his employee, he told himself. She was going to be well taken care of. She wouldn’t live in the kind of mean state that she was just then. It gave him some peace to know it.
The door opened and she smiled at him. He couldn’t help but give her a genuine smile in return. She was in jeans and a pretty, form fitting top. Her curled red hair was pulled up in a ponytail at the back of her head, and her fresh face was shining. She looked happier than he had ever seen her, and he felt that happiness coming off of her like sunbeams.
“Good morning,” he told her lightly. “You look great.” He gave her a nod as he tried not to be obvious about checking her out.
“Thanks!” She stepped out of her home and closed the door behind her, not too keen on letting him see the inside of it. She wasn’t ashamed of it, she kept it clean and it looked nice, but it was as simple a home as one could get, and she felt slightly inhibited in letting him see it.
He walked with her to the car and opened the door for her. Minutes later they were driving toward Fifth Avenue to begin their day of shopping. They hadn’t gotten far when something that was eating at the back of his mind found a voice.
Looking around at the traffic nonchalantly as he turned his yellow Ferrari in and out of other cars, he asked with a partly interested tone, “Have you quit your job yet?”
She was looking at the interior of the car, fascinated with the design of it. She had never seen a Ferrari in person, let alone been inside of one. She looked up at him and shook her head. “No, not yet, but I will. I know it sounds funny, but I wanted to give them notice. At least a week. I know Garrett will have my spot filled pretty fast, but then there’s a little training time for the new replacement and I wanted to be sure to take care of that before I go.”
He turned and stared at her, stunned. “Why? Why would you bother to take the time to give them notice? That place is nothing to you; it’s just a bar, you worked there, and now you don’t need to. It’s not like you’re going to go back, or even need a job after we’re done.”
Regina lowered a brow and spoke seriously to him. “I care about the people who work there and about my word and my integrity. Yeah, I could just walk right out of the door, but I don’t want to do that. That would leave them in a tight spot; high and dry without help until they replaced me, a
nd then they’d have the added work of training someone to do my job. Not that there’s that much training, but a couple of nights doing that is more work for them, and I don’t want to give them any extra work or hassle and stress. You’re right, I don’t need them anymore now, but they need me, and they’ve been good to me, and I’m not going to let them down at the end. That would be awful of me to do to them.”
Her logic seeped into his mind and he saw what she was speaking about; her own integrity was much more valuable to her than just throwing her old job to the curb and walking out, and he saw her a new light. He saw the goodness in her, and he was impressed with it.
“That speaks volumes about the kind of person that you are,” he said quietly as he glanced over at her and gave her an approving smile.
“Any decent person wouldn’t leave them flat on their backsides.” She shrugged, looking out of the window.
The Billionaire's Secretly Fake Bride (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 3) Page 9
