by Zoe York
“Maybe it was that I enforced her bedtime one too many times when I babysat her as a kid.”
“Well, if you want to have a ritual burning, it’s not too warm for a fire.” He handed over a set of pajamas.
Piper arched a brow. “I’m afraid the chemical fumes would kill us. This,” she shook the dress, “just isn’t natural. Should I be concerned that you just happen to have a set of women’s pajamas?”
“My sister leaves some emergency stuff here for when she comes to visit.”
“Well, there’s something new. I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“And a brother, Grady. Both younger. Skye’s the baby.”
“Well, then I shall be grateful Skye’s close to my size.”
“Go on and get changed. I’ll get started on the rest.”
As he left the room, Piper wondered with pounding pulse just what the rest would be.
Chapter 3
MYLES HAD THE POPCORN on the stove and some of the kitchen chairs hauled into the middle of the living room floor by the time Piper came back out. He tried not to notice how the little tank top hugged her curves, but failed miserably. It wasn’t that there was more skin exposed than there had been in the dress. It was the intimacy of seeing her in pjs. Didn’t matter that he’d seen Skye in the same ones. He sure as hell hadn’t been fantasizing about her for the last six months.
Piper crossed her arms, plumping up the breasts he was trying not to ogle.
“You want a sweatshirt or something? I didn’t think about you getting cold.” Please say yes. Myles had every intention of being a gentleman, but his will-power was only so strong.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Huh? Oh.” He lifted the edge of the comforter and finished draping it over the chairs. “I made you a blanket fort.”
“A blanket fort?” The edge of confusion in her smile told him she didn’t get it.
“You did tell me once that was your favorite scene in The Holiday. I thought it’d be fun to watch it with you from a blanket fort.”
“That’s—”
Stupid? Silly? Crazy?
“—awesome.” She flashed him the smile that’d been haunting his dreams. “What can I do to help?”
“Go nab the rest of the pillows and comforter from the guest room.”
He grabbed her one of his sweatshirts, while she was at it, then went to check on the popcorn, which he barely saved from burning. By the time he’d dumped it all in a bowl and added salt, she’d also robbed the pillows from his room and some from the sofa and made a cozy little nest beneath the impromptu canopy in front of the TV. She’d also put on the sweatshirt—thank God.
He queued up the movie and crawled in to join her, loving that she immediately snuggled in. And then he could feel all those curves he was trying not to think about, despite the sweatshirt. But at least he had his arm around her. She balanced the popcorn on her lap, tossing some into her mouth as the title credits started.
“This was a fabulous idea,” she said.
“I had at least a couple dozen different plans for our first date during the hiatus. Karaoke among them.”
“Oh yeah?”
“But ultimately I decided I wanted you all to myself.” Myles turned his head, taking advantage of the fact that her hair was still pinned up to press another tiny kiss to the sensitive skin behind her ear. Her shiver made him smile.
Piper turned her head, leveling those big brown eyes on his. “And what exactly are your plans for me, Mr. Stewart?”
“Something along the lines of making up for lost time,” he murmured.
She was the one who tipped forward, closing the distance between them. Myles hummed low in his throat as she fitted her mouth to his, no hesitation, just a slow, easy exploration. There’d been no time for this with any of their stage kisses. He knew the heat that lingered just below the surface, just waiting to hit flashpoint. He’d felt it the night he’d kissed her the first time, outside Speakeasy. Had dreamed of it in the months since. But he didn’t press. He’d follow whatever pace, whatever tone she set.
She shifted, twisting to better face him. Myles blindly set the popcorn aside, dimly grateful they hadn’t gotten around to opening the Cokes as she wrapped her arms around him and took the kiss deeper. He slid his hand beneath the sweatshirt, feeling the heat of her skin through the thin tank beneath.
Just a little touch.
Snaking his hand beneath the tank, he spread his palm against the small of her back. Piper let out a sexy little moan and opened to him, her tongue darting out to dance with his.
For a moment, Myles thought his butt cheek had gone to sleep from sitting on the floor. Then he realized his phone was vibrating in his pocket. He growled in annoyance, wishing it to silence.
Piper broke the kiss. “Do you need to get that?”
“Right now, I don’t care if the world is ending outside those doors. I’ve got good sturdy locks. They’ll keep the zombies out.”
“But what if it’s something to do with the Sunday edition?”
He tucked a lock of hair that’d fallen free back behind her ear. “I both love and hate that you thought of that.” Heaving a sigh, he wiggled until he could get his phone out of his back pocket. It’d stopped ringing, but the readout said the call was from Simone. “Crap. I should probably call her back.”
Piper sat back, straightening her sweatshirt and grabbing the bowl of popcorn.
“Just don’t—I’ll make this quick.”
Her feline smile made his blood heat. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Myles crawled out of the blanket fort because there was no way he’d be able to concentrate with the temptation of Piper right there. “You want anything while I’m up?”
“Napkins. The popcorn is a little greasy, as all good popcorn should be.”
“You got it.” He hit the call button as he headed to the kitchen.
Simone answered on the first ring. “Bad time?”
“Kind of. Is this important?”
“Uh oh. That’s your you-better-not-cock-block-me voice.”
“I do not have a tone for that.”
She laughed. “Don’t be lyin’. I knew you straight out of college.”
“I cannot be held accountable for my actions in the French Quarter at twenty-four. What do you need?”
“There was a development in the front page story for tomorrow. I wanted to go over the proposed changes. I’ll be quick.”
“Go then.”
He passed Piper some paper towels and switched on his editor mode. Simone was right. The whole conversation took less than ten minutes. He made his decisions and gave her last minute instructions for putting the paper to bed. Cameron Diaz’s character had just arrived at Rose Hill Cottage by the time he hung up. But for just a moment, he stood there, trying to switch the inner newspaperman back off. Because talking to Simone had brought the whole goddamned mess with his investor back to the forefront of his brain.
“Myles?” Piper had crawled out of the blanket fort. “Everything okay?”
He tossed the phone onto the end table and forced a smile. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” Crossing to her, he laced his hands behind her back. “Now, where were we?”
She stopped his mouth with two fingers. “You forget, I’ve seen you act. Seriously, what’s wrong?”
Myles hesitated.
“I mean, you’re free to tell me it’s none of my business, but when people I care about are upset, I like to try to help.”
He loved that instant support, loved, too, the idea that he was someone she cared about. But did he really want to drag her into all of this? “It’s not that. It’s just—Hell. I’m not gonna be able to turn it off. Let’s go back to the fort for this story.”
“All things are better in a blanket fort,” she agreed.
He paused the movie and they set up on opposite sides this time, each leaning against a chair. Myles picked up one of her feet and began the foot rub he’d prom
ised. “So, you know I’m editor of the paper. What you may not know—what very few people know—is that I also own it.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously? Aren’t newspapers usually owned by big conglomerates or whatever?” Her question trailed off on a moan as he dragged a knuckle down the arch of her foot. The sound almost derailed his brain entirely.
What was he saying? Oh, right.
“Often. Small-town ones less so. When I left Philadelphia, I wanted to take a struggling small town paper and turn it around. I wanted my stamp on it. My vision. The only way to ensure I was able to do that was to buy it outright.”
“That must have been crazy expensive.”
“It was. I couldn’t get a traditional loan to do it, and I didn’t have enough capital of my own. So, I had to take on an investor.”
She was an attentive audience, listening without interruption, as he spilled out the whole sorry tale.
“Basically, I’m out of options, unless I take Tucker’s suggestion and hit up Vegas.”
Amusement lit her eyes at that idea. “Well, you could go find yourself a showgirl on the strip. Or you could take the more obvious answer.”
“Which is?”
“Marry me.”
Myles’ face went slack with shock. “Are you drunk?”
Piper didn’t take offense at the question. “Sober as a judge. Baptist wedding, remember? Just hear me out. If you show up with some total stranger in tow that you picked up in Vegas or wherever, your grandmother will, I presume, flip her lid.”
He grimaced. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“As executor of the trust, might she have the option to still not give it to you if she thinks you got married strictly for the money?”
“I’d have to check with Tucker to verify, but maybe,” he said slowly.
“Whereas if you come with me, it’s more believable. We have backstory because of the show. As far as they know, we fell for each other on stage, started dating. Six months is quick but not insane crazy short for getting engaged.”
Myles stared at her. “But I have to be actually married. Legally. License and all.”
“We do a quick courthouse ceremony somewhere out of town. We have all the legal stuff in place for you to take to your family. Nobody here has to know, and we can just continue on dating as if nothing has changed.” She paused. “Assuming you still want to date.”
“So, you’re suggesting we get married and then date?”
“Basically. The terms of the trust are satisfied, you get the money to pay off your investor, and everybody gets to keep their job.”
She could see his nimble brain sorting through scenarios, trying to find all the angles. Her own mind hummed, bouncing like a prize fighter just waiting to knock down the next question or objection. They could really do this and he’d be able to save his business.
“Where would you live?”
“As far as anyone here would be concerned, we’d just be dating, so I’ll keep my place.”
“What about holidays? Thanksgiving. Christmas. Your family will expect you there. And mine will think it’s weird if you don’t show up with me.”
“Your family’s in Madison, right? It’s less than two hours away. I’m sure we could juggle it. Work is always a convenient excuse to need to change the time of something. We could make this work, Myles.”
“Okay, say I consider this—and that’s a big if, because this may be the most madcap scheme I’ve ever heard—how long would we keep this up?”
“Long enough for you to gain access to the trust and…” Piper hesitated.
“And what?”
Nothing risked, nothing gained. This wasn’t any crazier than the rest of what she was suggesting. “And long enough for us to figure out whether we want it to be a permanent thing or not.”
“Permanent?”
For all that she’d learned to read his expressions when they’d worked together on stage, she couldn’t read him now. Had that been the point to scare him away from her? Pretending a casualness she didn’t feel, she kept her voice light. “That’s kind of the point of dating, isn’t it? Deciding whether you want a permanent relationship or not. We’d still be doing that, albeit unconventionally.”
“Fair point. And if it doesn’t work out?”
She shrugged. “Then we get a quiet divorce, no harm, no foul. Tucker told you there was no contingency in the trust to take the money away if you did. And I’ll sign a prenup relinquishing whatever rights I might hold over it as your wife.”
He scrubbed both hands over his face and back through his hair, making it stand up in the back. “You realize this is completely insane, right? You’re suggesting actual, legal marriage with the same casual attitude you might take to leasing a car.”
“I trust you. I wouldn’t be here with you now, wouldn’t have made this offer, if I didn’t. I’m suggesting that you actually like me. You—I presume—trust me. You know I can act, so I can sell whatever needs selling to your family to legitimize things. If nothing else, we’re friends, with an obvious potential to be more. I have no other encumbrances to keep me from helping you out with this, and it’ll either end as quietly as it begins or...” Piper didn’t want to give too much thought to exactly how much she wanted to believe in that “or”.
“Or we decide to stay married. What then? Do we just come out and tell your family and our friends about this lunacy?”
Stay married. Wouldn’t that be something? To jump into this with the intent of helping a friend and find forever. It wasn’t why she’d offered, wasn’t what she expected. But if that was how it played out? She’d consider herself lucky that the gamble payed higher dividends than she’d counted on.
“Either that or we elope somewhere far away where nobody’s liable to show up. We could have a second ceremony as a vow renewal or skip it and take a honeymoon. Nobody’s likely to question it.”
“Speaking of honeymoon…” He trailed off, obviously looking for a polite way to phrase what he wanted to say.
“To be clear, I’m not talking about marriage in name only, if that’s what you’re wondering. I think it’s pretty obvious I’m attracted to you. If we do this, we are married, and I expect exclusivity and all the—shall we say, benefits—that go with it.”
His expression shifted to one of such hunger, Piper began to wonder if she could get an advance on those benefits.
“One way or the other, I’m not interested in being with anyone but you.”
“Same goes,” she agreed.
They stared at each other, her waiting, him apparently out of questions.
“And I thought the setup you pulled on Tyler and Brody was nuts.” Myles shook his head.
Piper shrugged with more nonchalance than she felt. “It was just a suggestion.”
“What if someone here finds out?”
“Which part?” Was he embarrassed about the idea of being married to her?
“The whole secretly married and not actually living together part. That brings up all kinds of questions and awkwardness. I don’t want to make things weird for you with your family.”
She snorted. “Sweetie, things are permanently weird for me with my family. The idea that I had a husband would be the first thing I’d ever done they thought was right or proper, no matter how it came about. I am the ultimate black sheep there, so don’t let that deter you. And either way, I don’t see how they’d find out. You’ve said yourself your family never comes here. Well, except apparently your sister, and it’d be easy enough to stay over when she does.”
Myles stared. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“It’s just not that complicated.”
“Not that—Your mind works in devious ways, Piper Parish. It’s one of the things that fascinates me.”
“I’m not afraid of risk. You already know that about me, so none of this should come as a surprise to you.”
“Oh, I have a feeling you’ll still be surprising me in fifty year
s.” He scrambled up. “Be right back.”
Future tense. Not just the possibility of it. He was going to bite.
Oh boy.
Because her throat was dry, Piper popped the top on her Coke and took a long swallow. He was right. This was completely nuts. She’d just proposed what was essentially a marriage of convenience. It was well-intentioned, of course. But like all of her crazy schemes, it had the potential to backfire. Did she really want to go through with this?
What’s the worst that could happen? We get divorced and I lose his friendship. I’d hate it, but I got along just fine without him before. I could do it again. Isn’t it worth the risk to help him save his business and the jobs of everyone who works for him? And what if it turns out to be the real deal?
Myles crawled back inside the blanket fort, this time settling beside her. “Give me your hand,” he ordered.
She gave it without hesitation.
“You are, without a doubt, the single most interesting woman I’ve ever met. You’re funny, smart, gorgeous, and you’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I know. If you’re truly serious about this, I’d be honored if you’d be my partner in crime and marry me.” He held out a ring in his other hand. The diamond glinted in the glow from the TV behind him.
Piper’s mouth fell open. “You have a ring?” Her gaze shot back up to his. “Wait, why do you have a ring? Is there some failed engagement in your past I need to know about?”
He huffed a laugh. “No. Never got anywhere close to engaged before. It was my grandmother’s,” he explained. “Granddad got her a new set for their fiftieth anniversary and this came to me to pass on to the woman I want to marry. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right. So, how ’bout it? You really want to go through with this?”
To actually marry this thoughtful, considerate, wickedly funny man in less than a month? “I really do.”
“Okay then.” He slid the ring onto her finger, then lifted her hand to his lips. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you won’t regret it.”
No matter what happened, Piper didn’t think she could possibly regret deciding to be with him. The weight of the band gave the whole situation an air of gravity she hadn’t expected. They both stared at it on her hand for several long moments.
