Forty Day Fiancé

by Erin McCarthy

  It felt very bizarre to be leaving what had been my home and office for the last three years. Though I would be back tomorrow to work. That made it less unnerving and sad.

  “Are you kidding? Remember that New Year’s Eve we had twenty people in here?”

  I laughed. It had been a night of sweaty bodies and laughter. “That defied physics. I still can’t explain it.”

  “Is Javi at work?” Leah asked.

  “Yes. Poor guy. He’s left all alone in this place paying only a third of the rent. What an unexpected score for him.” Granted, I still intended to use the other two bedrooms for work, but him not having to share a kitchen or a bathroom was a major coup in the city.

  There was a knock on the door.

  It was the movers. I got them organized and prepared for my whole personal life to sail out the door. It would honestly not take long. I was leaving behind my desk, desktop computer, lighting, camera, racks of stock. My bed was staying as well, to act as a sofa for me during the workday, but mostly because there was no use for a twin bed at Michael’s.

  The first order of business was for them to bring up everything off the truck that had been loaded at Michael’s. Becca’s wardrobe. I had emptied Leah’s old room of my current stock just to move all of that in there easily. It was the room closest to the front door. We sat in the back on my bed, while they made swift work of the process. It only took them ten minutes to haul everything up. Then they started hauling out my belongings.

  “Your organization has always amazed me,” Leah said, as we sat with our legs crossed on the stripped bed.

  “If I were truly organized, we would each have a coffee in our hands. Oh, and I wouldn’t have failed to mail in my visa application,” I said wryly.

  “What’s going on with that?”

  “Michael and I have an appointment with a lawyer at the end of the week to start the fiancée visa process.” I glanced down at my engagement ring instinctively. It was such a lovely ring. “I hope all of this is worth it in the end.”

  Leah gave me a look that made me uncomfortable. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked. “I’m not judging, I swear. I’m just asking. You’re our dark horse when it comes to relationships. Everyone else is so predictable and you’re… not.”

  I wasn’t offended. But I also thought she was batty. “Are you joking? I go for the same type of man every single time. I’m ridiculously predictable.”

  “But you keep your feelings a secret. None of us ever really know how you feel.”

  “That’s because I’m British,” I said, both flippantly and truthfully.

  Leah opened her mouth but I was saved from whatever she was going to say by two men coming into the room.

  “We need the dresser now, miss,” the one said. “I need to tip the mattress up to get it out because this room is so narrow.”

  “Sure.” I peeled myself off of the mattress and went to stand by the window as they hoisted up the mattress. I crossed my arms and leaned against the window. “What an anticlimactic ending to our years here, Leah. You’re living with your fiancé in a sprawling penthouse and I’m heading downtown. I never thought I’d live downtown.”

  Leah ran her hand along the wall. “This apartment truly sucks on every level. There are rats in the walls. The kitchen is a joke. The windows rattle in the winter, so its freezing, and in the summer it feels like a sauna. The water pressure is nonexistent. And the steps to the second floor of the building are not to code. They’re only deep enough for size-five feet. It’s a winding, rickety, deathtrap.”

  She was right about each and every point. “Yet, I’m going to miss it.”

  “Me, too,” she said. “It’s only been a month since I moved out but at least I’ve been able to come over and see you here. I doubt I’ll drop by Washington Heights just to pop in on Javi. He’s not a guy you pop in on.”

  That made me laugh. “No. He’s not. I’m not supposed to talk about the whole visa thing but you should have seen Javier’s face when I asked him to marry me.” It was funny now. It hadn’t been at the time. “He was flat-out horrified and yes, it had to do with him having a girlfriend, but it also had to do with him just being horrified at the prospect of being with me. His poker face is complete and utter shit.”

  “It truly is.” Leah looked around. “They’re really knocking out this move fast. I can drop you off at the new apartment with your suitcase and then I can go grab us some takeout while you tell them where to put stuff.”

  “That is a brilliant plan.” Leah had her fiancé’s driver waiting for us downstairs in whatever random parking spot he’d found.

  “Also, you didn’t get this from me, but I have some paperwork downstairs for you. It’s what Immigration is looking for to prove you are a legitimate couple.”

  That made me start, and guiltily look down the hallways. The movers were somewhere in the exterior hallways or on the stairs. I could hear their shoes squeaking and their huffing and puffing. They’d clearly left my front door open.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I was scared to look any of that up on my own.”

  “I did it at the library. So it could have been anyone.” She shrugged. “I do not under any circumstances want you to get deported and I definitely don’t want you to get in trouble. I’m also one of those irritating friends who is in love and wants all of her besties to be experiencing the same thing.”

  “That is irritating.”

  Leah laughed. “I know. But seriously, just glance over it all and then pitch it in a public garbage can or dumpster. Maybe that’s paranoid, but I’ve been watching a lot of spy shows and movies lately.”

  Amused, I reached out and hugged her. “You’re the best and I’m very, very happy to have met you and spent years living in this shithole with you.” I hooked my arm through hers and gave her another side hug. “Let’s go out with style.”

  “Burn it down?” she asked.

  “God, no! I have fifty thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise in here.” I grinned at her. “Oh, and Javi still lives here, remember?”

  “Damn it, that’s right.”

  “I was thinking something a little simpler.” I moved out of the bedroom and down the hall. “Like this.” I flipped off the apartment numbers hanging crookedly on the metal door. “Bye, 204. It’s been real.”

  Leah raised her middle finger next to mine. “It really has been real. A little too real. Here’s to never sleeping in a twin bed again.”

  I could get behind that. Which was why I had to figure out how to both be so real with Michael that he fell in love with me. Yet not so real that he thought I was a genuine idiot.

  All without falling in love with him so I wasn’t disappointed if he tossed me out.

  It was a regular big old mess and I had no idea what was going to happen.

  Like an online auction, I couldn’t predict the outcome.

  I just didn’t want to be returned as “not what I was picturing.”

  Ten

  When I got home and pushed open the door of my apartment, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Lots of boxes and a frazzled Felicia, was what I was mostly anticipating. Or Felicia busily unpacking toiletries.

  What I didn’t expect was to step into the Christmas display at Macy’s. “What the…”

  For a second I glanced back at the hallway to make sure I was in the right apartment.

  Because I had left a very minimalist apartment that morning and had returned to find it had been transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with what had to be an eight-foot tree. There were empty boxes strewn around, but they were the kind that holiday decorations came in, not moving boxes. Wreaths adorned the walls of the living room and the kitchen island had some kind of glass bowl with snow inside it and reindeer. It was all classy and cheerful, but what the hell?

  Felicia’s head popped out from behind the back of the tree. Way higher than she was in reality, so I had to assume she was on a stepladder. “Hi!” she said brightly. �
��How was surgery?”

  In one day I’d gone from a bachelor to a man who came home to a new décor and questions about my day. It was a hell of a shift and I didn’t hate it. I was just taken aback. It was definitely intense though.

  I took a cautious step forward and shut the door behind me. Had I fallen into one of her photo shoots? “Surgery went well. No issues.” I kicked my snow-covered shoes off and peeled off my coat. “What… are you doing exactly?”

  “Putting up the tree, of course.” Her head disappeared again.

  Of course. “Are you all moved in, then? I expected more boxes and a higher level of stress.”

  “Moving in was short work. The men you hired had it all done in two hours.”

  It was as I walked across my living room I realized that in addition to wreaths she had hung artwork on my wall. Art I’d never seen before. I didn’t dislike it, it was just startling. There was a glass bowl on the coffee table that was new as well. I did a three-sixty and realized the whole place was like that. She had just made additions here and there. A little bit of Felicia scattered about, some holiday, some just… stuff.

  All in one afternoon.

  The woman was a hurricane. I was terrified to see what the hell had happened to my bathroom. She’d probably wallpapered it in a floral pattern in the course of ten minutes.

  Putting my hands in my pockets I moved to the tree and searched for her among the giant branches. “Where did you get this tree?” I fingered a silver bulb. “And all these decorations?”

  She glanced over at me, wrestling with some kind of ribbon. “I ordered them,” she said, as if that were obvious. “They were delivered this afternoon.”

  “Did this need to happen today?” I asked.

  Felicia looked at me like I was a complete and utter fool. “We have thirty-five days, Michael. That is it. We have to convince people we’re a couple and host an engagement party. There isn’t one single day to waste. In fact, you should probably help me so we can get this done faster.”

  I just wanted a taco and a beer after a long day and the opportunity to digest the fact that Felicia was living with me, and that it had been my idea. You know, contemplate it with some long drawn-out kisses and grinding on each other. I did not want to holiday decorate. I never wanted to do that, actually. “What’s for dinner?” I asked.

  She made a sound in the back of her throat. “Are you joking? It’s whatever you would be eating if I weren’t here. I told you I don’t cook. That isn’t negotiable.”

  “Well, I don’t Christmas decorate.” I reached out and eased my hand over the small of her back. “I’ll order some food. Is Mexican okay?”

  “Whatever you want. Why won’t you help me? We could take great photos of us decorating the tree together. Some people find that sort of thing romantic.”

  “I’ll have sex with you under the tree but I’m not decorating it.”

  “We can’t take photos of that.”

  That made me grin. “Not ones we can share.” I bent over and picked up a bulb and put it on a random branch.

  “Oh my God, not there!” she said.

  I gave her a smug look. “See? You don’t even want me to decorate with you. Because you’re a control freak.”

  Felicia jumped down off the stepstool and gave me a smile. “You are correct, sir. You’re going to have to learn to live with it. I was envisioning decorating together meaning I tell you where to put things and you just do it and we post it on social media.”

  Fat fucking chance. That sounded really boring. “That sounds like hell to me. Is this part of your campaign to expose me to all the quirks I might not like?”

  Her hair was in a ponytail and when she tilted her head to think, the ponytail swung. “Actually, no. This was me panicking when I read all the ways we can and should prove that we’re an actual couple. I decided not only do we need a cozy holiday home, we need engagement photos. So please clear your schedule for two weeks from Wednesday evening at eight. I have someone swinging round. She came highly recommended.”

  I barely heard a damn word she was saying. All I could think was that she was absolutely beautiful and she was here. In my apartment. I shifted closer to her and cupped her cheeks. “I’ll be there.” Her organization, efficiency, and independence were actually hot. She might be a little neurotic and over the top, but she got the job done and I appreciated that. “You’re very gorgeous when you’re being a boss.”

  The corner of her mouth turned up. “Boss lady. That’s me. Wait until you see the list I have for us. I’ve written a joint statement about our engagement for our social media accounts and booked us to look at six different wedding venues so it appears we’re genuinely searching for a site.”

  “Just tell me where to be and what to do.” I closed in on her and kissed her, breathing in her scent. Her lips were soft beneath mine. I had exactly zero intention of going to look at six venues, but I would break that to her later. When she saw the control freak side of my personality.

  Right now I just wanted to taste her. Enjoy her presence. Talk her into sex. My hands slipped down to squeeze her firm ass in her leggings.

  She sighed against me, kissing me back, eagerly. Her hands went around my neck, but then she pulled back. “No. Don’t distract me.”

  “I was just saying hello to my fiancée.”

  “Beast. Go order your food. We can eat and go over my list.”

  I shook my head but said, “Can’t wait. What do you want if I order Mexican?”

  “Fish tacos.” She stepped back up on the ladder and went back to her decorating. “The list is on the island. We’ll burn it after we go through it.”

  That made me laugh. “Excellent. Burn the evidence.”

  I wasn’t laughing when I sat down on the sofa with her twenty minutes later, tacos on a plate in front of me, and looked at the list she had. It was daunting. “I’m really supposed to know all these things about you? What celebrity makes you want to scream? Why would I know that?”

  Felicia sat next to me and dipped a pepper into the guacamole. “Harry Styles. I’m sure he’s a great guy and he has a lovely voice. But his tattoos are too random. It frightens me.”

  That made me shake my head. “Okay, so now I know two things about you. You are bothered by both Harry Styles and random tattoos. Got it.”

  “What celebrity bothers you?” she asked, biting her pepper.

  That was easy. “Any celebrity who spouts medical advice when they have zero medical education or training.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “I’m glad you approve of my answer,” I said, amused. I went back to the list. “Do you think mermaids exist? Felicia, the person interviewing us for your fiancée visa is not going to ask if you believe in mermaids. I can guarantee it.”

  “You can’t guarantee anything,” she said, going back to the guacamole with the second half of her pepper.

  “You’re double dipping,” I pointed out.

  “I turned it around. I didn’t put the end I bit back in.”

  “That’s still double dipping.”

  Felicia gave me a look. She took another pepper and drew it into her mouth, sliding it in and out. She flicked her tongue over the tip while I instantly got hard. In and out that pepper went, while she licked and sucked. Her eyes were filled with mischief.

  She knew exactly what she was doing to me and she was doing a damn good job making me envious of a pepper.

  Then she stuck the pepper into the guacamole.

  “What the hell was that?” I asked, reaching for my beer. I needed something to cool me down after her little blow job simulation.

  “I licked it, so it’s mine,” she said. “Now I don’t have to worry about double dipping. It’s all mine since you’re so worried about what’s been in my mouth.”

  Damn. “Put whatever you want in your mouth. I take it all back. Lick and suck whatever you want.”

  “What about biting?” The corner of her mouth turned up.


  I picked up my taco before I broke her no-sex rule on the very first night living together. “Only I get to bite.”

  She laughed. “Typical. Now keep reading that list. We’re basically down to thirty-four days now. The day is almost over.”

  “Can’t we just enjoy our dinner and your beautiful Christmas tree?” I had to admit I liked the way the white lights were twinkling and casting the room in a soft glow.

  “We don’t have time to enjoy anything.”

  That made me laugh. “Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for.” I picked up my taco and gestured to the tree. “I told you I haven’t decorated for Christmas in a decade. It’s nice. It feels homey in here. You did a good job.”

  “Thank you. I actually enjoyed it. The space is easy to work with. It would be even more fun if I’d had more time to do it. We can finish up after dinner.”

  I saw the way she slipped that in. “I have work to do,” I said, lying.

  She rolled her eyes. “Then we really need to get back to the list. Facts, Michael, we need to have facts to give these people.”

  For a woman who had thought this whole idea was insane, she seemed very motivated to make it work, which made me pleased. I wanted this to work with Felicia. I wanted to go the distance with her, which might sound fucking crazy. But I was a man who went with his gut and I knew I wanted her. “Ask me anything you want to know.”

  “What is your favorite scent or aroma?”

  “You.”

  Felicia laughed. “That is a bizarre thing to say. No. You need to answer something like lavender or cinnamon or the scent of the ocean.”

  “Is this how our marriage is going to be? You ask me a question, I give my opinion, and you tell me my answer is wrong?” I wasn’t annoyed at all. I was finding the whole conversation and her intensity surrounding it entertaining.

  “I’m just saying that your answer is not what they’re going to be looking for. They can’t ask me what your favorite scent is and I answer ‘Oh, his favorite thing to smell is me.’ We’ll look mad.”