by Penny Wylder
He’s grinning like the Cheshire Cat as he comes back into the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and grabs a beer. It’s late enough that I gather he’s done working on the house for the day. Actually, I doubt he’d even be able to do any more work today with that thing on his leg.
“What did we just say about no yelling?”
I narrow my eyes. “That was before you plopped me down like I was in time out and told me to shut up.”
“I didn’t tell you to shut up,” Caleb says, rolling his eyes. “I said that you were going to listen.”
“You really have a lot of nerve.”
“Ally—”
“No,” I say, raising my voice over his. “You think that because you’re rich you’re entitled to do whatever the fuck you want, well I’m here to bring you back down to earth. Normal people have a sense of decency and respect. They don’t just assume that people will listen to them whenever they want an audience.”
He sighs. “Are you done?”
“Not even close!”
Caleb laughs once, and takes a sip of his beer. “I thought I’d fucked the attitude out of you. Guess I’ll have to try harder next time.”
I hop off the stool, fully ready to slap this devastatingly handsome man who’s still dressed in nothing but underwear and a t-shirt. I hate the fact that I want to rip that shirt off just so I can look at him. “I see I wasn’t clear enough a couple of minutes ago. There isn’t going to be a next time.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he says with an infuriating smirk on his face. I really am going to slap him now. My hand is already in motion when he catches my wrist. “I’ll give you the house.”
“What?”
He raises both eyebrows. “I’ll give you the house,” he repeats slowly.
Relief and joy pour over me, matching the force of the river outside. It’s happening. After all this time. “Really?”
Caleb nods and takes another sip of his beer. “On one condition.”
“Name it.” I can’t think of a single thing that would stop me from saying yes when I’m this close to my dream.
“Marry me.”
It takes a moment for the words to sink in, and then rage like I’ve never felt before ignites like a whirlwind inside me. I thought I hated him before, but that was nothing compared to what I’m feeling right now. This isn’t a joke to me, and I don’t appreciate him toying with me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
He holds out a hand. “One month, Ally. You marry me for just one month.”
“Why would I do that? My God, you don’t even know me. Why would you even want that?” I ask.
“Let’s just say it’ll be worth it to me. The reward will exceed the value of this house if all goes as planned.”
I look at him, trying to detect anything on his face that could make me understand what he’s saying. I understand the words, but I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“What’s the catch?” I finally say.
A swift smile appears on his face. “No catch. Nothing. You marry me tomorrow. Move in and live with me for two weeks so we can be seen together, and then you come with me to the Hamptons. Two weeks there and you put on a show for my family. A convincing show. Convince them that we’re madly in love. Then we fly back here and you’ll be rid of me within three days.” He says it all so casually all I can do is stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “And after that, you’re the owner of your house again. I’ll even throw in the money to complete the renovations and restorations.” He reaches out and drags his hand down my arm. I both hate and love that it makes me shiver. “We have the kind of chemistry that my family will believe, and it’s important that they do.”
I want the house, but there’s more to this than he’s telling me. There has to be. “And why is it so important that your family believe we’re a couple?”
“It’s complicated, but long story shirt, we’re not on good terms. They want me to settle down and have a traditional lifestyle. Tradition—especially their kind of tradition—isn’t something that I’ve ever been interested in.”
“So…what happens if they think you’re married?”
He laughs, but there’s no actual humor or life behind it. This goes deep, and I have the urge to reach for him. I don’t know how far I can or should push him. But if I want my house back, and I’m considering being tied to this man to playact for his family, I need to know what’s actually going on.
Caleb’s eyes are focused on one spot on the kitchen island. “Well, they gave me an ultimatum. They gave me a year to get married. Find someone suitable, as my mother says, or they won’t sign over the inheritance my grandfather left me. They’re the stewards. They can’t touch it, but neither can I without their permission. And settling down is their condition.”
He clearly has more to say, but he hesitates. I nod, urging him to continue. “I don’t … It’s not just about money.” He sighs. “I’m sorry, it’s complicated. I told them to fuck off. That was a couple of months ago and we haven’t spoken since. Anyway, I came here to Nashville with no plans to go back, because I never thought that I’d find anyone that would satisfy them.” He looks up at me then. “Until you.”
“I want to get married,” I say. “I want children. For real.” I look in his eyes and quickly add, “Not with you. That’s not what I meant.”
He laughs. “I get it, I get it. And you can have them,” he says. “I want you to have them and raise them in this house. I know you care about this place more than my family has cared about anything in their lives. Hell, in the divorce I’ll even give you a settlement that will fund the best honeymoon of your life. A real one, without me, of course. Just … please.”
The role reversal here isn’t lost on me. He’s pleading with me.
“You don’t want to try to fall in love?” I ask him. “Find something real?”
Caleb’s gaze slides away from mine, and there’s pain on his face that shows me this man isn’t the arrogant bastard I thought he was. There’s a shell that’s protecting him from whatever this is. A pain that is down to his deepest core. He doesn’t answer me, his gaze is so far away that I think he might have forgotten that I am even here.
This proposition doesn’t seem like bullshit to me. I’ve always been good at spotting a liar, and Caleb seems sincere. Or as sincere as he is capable of being right now. Is a month of my life too much of a price to pay for my dream? And free of charge? All that money I saved can be mine. I could start a brand new life after this is over. All I have to do is say yes for a month.
Would it really be that bad?
Given the mind-shattering orgasm that he just gave me, I daresay it wouldn’t be bad at all, if sex were a part of the deal. Even if it weren’t, I could live with him for a month.
“Would sex be part of this deal?”
He does look at me then, heat in his eyes. “If you want it to be. I would never force you. This deal isn’t a ploy to extort you for sex or turn you into a prostitute, if that’s what you’re worried about. If you say no sex, then it’s fine. Though we would need to be affectionate in front of my family so they think we’re in love. What do you want? Obviously I have no objection to fucking you like that for a month.”
I bite my lip. The answer my body wants is obvious. But is it smart? Hell, none of this is smart. “With protection,” I say. “I want us to be able to separate without any entanglements.”
He nods, and then smirks. “Agreed. Can’t get enough of me?”
“Honestly, I should tell you no. That there isn’t going to be any sex whatsoever and that you can never touch me again. But if I’m going to sell my soul for my dream, then I might as well have fun, right?”
Caleb snorts. “I’m hardly asking you to sell your soul, Ally.” His gaze is intense now. “If I were asking for that, I’d want a lot more from you. And believe me, you would know.”
I believe him. This man is intense, and I have no doubt that he would be very clear about his inten
tions if he chose to go after a woman that he wanted to keep forever. There’s a tiny pang in my gut that I immediately dismiss. I’m a means to an end for him. No, we’re a means to an end for each other.
We’ll make the best of it and then go our separate ways. So why do I feel like I’m entering into something permanent and life-changing? Why does this feel heavier than what it is, a simple arrangement to get us both what we want. Maybe because this day has been crazy, full of adrenaline and sex, and I have an over-active imagination. That’s probably why.
I still have a healthy amount of skepticism in my mind, but I find myself feeling more at ease. I can do this. No, I will do this. “Okay, I’ll do it. If you can provide me with paperwork that reflects all of this before we sign the marriage license.”
“Done,” he says.
“Really?” I half expected him to push back, to try to negotiate or make an excuse for wiggle room.
Caleb downs what little remains of his beer. “Yes,” he says. “I’m not trying to trap you, and I don’t want to be trapped. I want this to be crystal clear. No tricks up my sleeve. Paperwork will make sure that we’re both on the same page. It’s an excellent idea.”
“Okay.”
Then that slow grin appears again. “Seal the deal with a kiss?”
My first instinct is hell no. And the second instinct immediately follows and roars hell yes. I realize we haven’t ever kissed. We just did a hell of a lot, but I never felt his lips against mine. Suddenly there’s a tornado of butterflies in my stomach. “Okay.” My heart is pounding in my ears. I feel like a teenager suddenly. Nervous and excited at the same time.
Slowly, Caleb comes around the island and pulls me toward him. “Ready, Ally?”
“Ready,” I say, though I’m honestly not sure.
He starts it off with just a brush of his lips against mine. A whisper of a kiss that spreads warmth across my entire body. Slowly, the kiss deepens. I find myself falling. This kiss becomes the center of my universe and I don’t think I ever want to break away.
What is wrong with me?
The kiss changes all at once. Caleb’s tongue slips between my lips, and suddenly our tongues are dancing together, deeper, and my arms are sliding around his neck before I can stop myself. His hands are on my arms. They light my skin on fire even through the thin fabric of my dress. I barely felt his hands on my skin earlier, and now I want him to touch all of me. Every part.
Caleb’s hand rubs across my back and up the back of my neck, fingers reaching up into my hair so he can pull me closer. The kiss feels like an explosion, and the beginning of something that can’t be easily contained.
One month. A month of this. Of unrestrained, unexplained passion and pleasure, and at the end of it I get my grandfather’s house out of the deal? That isn’t a bad thing. In fact, this might be the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.
I shift myself so my body is plastered against his, and Caleb breaks away from me, hissing in pain. Shit. I brushed against the injury on his leg—that’s entirely my fault.
The mood crashes around us, with Caleb grasping the edge of the island to regain control of himself. After a moment, he goes across the room and picks up his wallet off the counter. Out of it he takes a handful of bills, and it’s only when he comes back to me that I see that they’re hundreds.
“Go buy a dress. Tomorrow is your wedding day,” he says roughly, voice not at all matching the kiss that we shared. This moment highlights the stark reality of what we’re doing. Chemistry is one thing, and we have that in buckets. It’s packed with tons of TNT and some fireworks on the side. But this is still a business arrangement. Playacting. We each have a role to play, and an exchange of payments.
I accept his money.
“Don’t …” I swallow. “Don’t do any more demolition without me. Please.”
He looks at me, and there’s no trace of a smile as he glances at his leg. “As if I could.”
I can’t fight the wince. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As I walk out the front door, I can feel his eyes on my back. Just like I can still feel his hands on my waist, still hear his groans as he came, and still taste the aftermath of his pleasure.
This is far more complicated than either one of us is going to admit. But it’s too late to turn back now.
6
Caleb
Standing in front of the mirror, I pat down my lapels and smoothe out my hair once more. I didn’t rent a tux for the occasion of my marriage, but I’m still trying to look the part. A nice dark suit and crisp white shirt. Downstairs my lawyer is waiting with all the necessary paperwork, and I hired a photographer to memorialize the occasion, even if it is just a show. I persuaded my best friend to join us today, and he literally flew in for twenty-fours to add a realistic flavor to this thing and to serve as our witness. I found a justice of the peace who charges by the hour and he should be here any minute. Then the only person we need is Ally.
I’ve got a surprising amount of anxiety bouncing around in my gut for what is going to ultimately be a fake marriage. But I’ll shake it off. Who wouldn’t feel a little odd in a situation like this? Looking around my sparsely decorated bedroom, I feel like a stranger in my own life. I’m in a house that’s not really my home, and soon enough, I won’t even be the owner of this house. Everything around me feels temporary, including the woman I’m about to call my wife. Will Ally want to share this bedroom with me for the month that we’re together? The part of me that wants to have her over and over again wants that. But I also know that while sex isn’t off the table for us, it might be easier to keep things as separate as possible so that when the time comes, like Ally said, there’s no entanglements.
Trevor knocks lightly on the door before walking into my room.
“How are you doing?” Trevor asks.
“I’m fine.”
A smirk. “Then why do you look like you’re about to throw up?”
“I don’t, you asshole,” I say, rolling my eyes. “But thank you for coming in for this.”
“My pleasure,” he says. “I’m amazed you found someone that would actually agree to this, but I’m glad. And I hope it works to get your family’s heads out of their asses.”
“That’s the plan.”
It’s simple, really. I’ll take Ally to meet my parents, we’ll charm them, and then I’ll have them sign over my inheritance to me before we leave the Hamptons. Once we’re back in Nashville, I’ll make sure all the accounts are exclusively in my name before I finalize the divorce for Ally and me. They’ll be pissed when they figure out what I did, but no more than they’ve already been at me. I truly wish there was another way to convince my family to release my trust fund without deceiving them, but they’ve been pretty adamant on this point. And I’m just as adamant that I’m not ready to settle down.
I understand Ally’s dream of recapturing what she and her grandfather had in this house. She hasn’t told me all about her childhood yet, but looking around this house and its grounds, I can imagine what it was like living here. More importantly, I can relate to that desire to have what her grandfather built. That’s all I want, too. My grandfather was my everything when I was a kid. And when he died, it felt like the entire world went dark. That’s why I want what he left me. What’s rightfully mine. It’s not about the money, it’s about the fact that he wanted me to have it. He wanted me to have it and build something beautiful using that money, and I want to. That way it will feel like he’s still part of my life.
It’s the only remaining piece of him that I have.
Last night, after Ally left, I looked her up. Her grandfather is still alive, but he lives in a small house on the outskirts of Nashville. This house had been sitting on the market forever. Her grandfather sold is many years ago, and ahomever bought it from him lost interest quickly. There wasn’t a nibble until I bought it just a week ago. It’s such a magnificent house with a rich history, and I wondered why Ally’s grandfather would ever s
ell it in the first place. If it weren’t for this deal with Ally, I’m not sure I would have let the house go. A few minutes of poking around on the internet brought me to Ally’s mom’s obituary, and the entire sad story kind of fell in place. After reading that, I was even more convinced that this plan is the right path for both of us. The house is beautiful, and I could be happy here. But I don’t need it. I can find another beautiful house without shattering someone’s dreams.
“What’s she like?”
I laugh before I can stop myself. “She’s … something else.”
Trevor makes a face in the mirror. “How did you meet her?”
When I called my best friend last night and told him my plan to get married to secure my inheritance, I hadn’t told him everything. Not how Ally had crashed into my life like a train wreck and turned everything upside down in the matter of an hour. The welt on my leg went down a bit with a lot more ice and Tylenol, but it still hurts like a bitch, even wrapped securely in an ace bandage under my suit.
“You would literally kill me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
He’s going to think I’m crazy. And maybe I am. This is the most spontaneous thing that I’ve ever done, and despite the speed at which I forced the lawyer to get the paperwork prepared and arrange everything, it feels right. I know it is. For both of us
I sigh, and decide to give him the quick rundown of what happened with Ally yesterday. As I retell the story of our initial meeting, his eyes go wide. Listening to myself, I realize this sounds absolutely ridiculous, and I’m not surprised by his reaction. “Are you kidding? You could be marrying a crazy person, Caleb.”
“She’s not crazy.”
“She threw herself in front of a raised sledgehammer, I’d say the jury is still out on that one.”
I chuckle. “That’s fair, but you’ll see when you meet her. Besides, it’s only for a month.”
Trevor shakes his head. “You know I’ve got your back, but I thought this was some girl that you’d been dating. Not someone who just … showed up.”
