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Chapter 1


My mouth opened wide and I stared at Madden Cross, unable to even speak.


I heard him wrong, I had to have.


The handsome billionaire had gone from paying me for one weekend of pleasure to asking for my hand in marriage.


“Engaged?” My voice squeaked out like I’d been inhaling helium. “That’s ridiculous. We barely know each other.”


Madden lifted one eyebrow and his gaze fell to where the sheet hung off my shoulder. “I know that your eyes crinkle up when you get confused, and I also know you spasm around my fingers when I touch you just…”


“I’m not talking about sex.” I swung my legs out of bed and stood. He was insane. And he was the last person I’d ever want to marry. “Why me? What about one of your other women?”


“This is the most expedient solution. You’re here with me now.” He held up his hand when I started to argue. “It’s only for one day, two at the most. Long enough for the news to latch on and run with it and forget about the other stuff.”


I sat across from him and he poured me a cup of coffee and added cream and one teaspoon of sugar. He handed it to me with another lift of his eyebrows.


“Just because you know what I put in my coffee doesn’t mean we should get engaged.”


Although, having said it, I had to admit that I liked this a bit too much. That he’d paid enough attention to know such a little detail about me caused a warm thrill to tickle my stomach.


He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. Today he had on a dark blue suit that brought out specks of grey in his eyes. Guys in suits never really did much for me, but seeing Madden in one had changed my mind pretty fast.


“It’s not real, Skylar.” His lip twitched into a tiny grin. “But this has to happen right now. Jenna has created a press release to be fed to the media in an hour. Then we head back to Boston so we can be seen together at a few strategic places, and once the story takes off, I’ll have what I need.”


“All this to bury speculation that you plagiarized a paper years ago?”


It seemed too extreme. Who would go through this big of a lie just to hide something that happened back in college? Something that couldn’t even be proven. It seemed to me that there had to be more.


“What’s really going on?” I asked, suspicion tingeing my voice.


If he had a good enough reason, then maybe I would help him. That was a big maybe.


“How much?” he asked, uncrossing his arms, picking up his mug and lifting the cup to his lips. He watched me over the rim with indifference. Like we were discussing the weather or something mundane like that.


Coffee sloshed over my hand and onto the white tablecloth as he asked the question. “What?” I said, my heart beating faster now.


“I’m already giving you ten thousand for this weekend. How much more to agree to be my pseudo fiancé for two more days? Twenty five thousand? A total of thirty five for your time?” Madden put the mug down, sat back and adjusted the cuffs of his dress shirt like it was already decided.


“Not everything is for sale,” I muttered.


He threw back his head and laughed. Something tightened in my stomach at the rich sound. It sank right down to my bones. Until he spoke. Then ice filled my veins.


“You’ve already proven otherwise, Skylar.”


I pushed away from the table. A sick feeling filled my stomach. I had my reasons before, but agreeing to anything more at this point went beyond what I needed. “No. The answer is no. You could offer me a million dollars and it would still be no.” Without looking back, I hurried into the bathroom. Before he could actually do it. If he offered me a million dollars, which was absurd, I’d cave. Anyone would.


I turned on the water and waited for it to fill the tub.


Thirty five thousand dollars.


My stomach rolled and I sat down on the edge of the tub. I could go anywhere with that much money. Go so far away that Jacob would never find me. Two more days of pretending, would it be so bad? I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror over the marble vanity. At what point would it be impossible to look myself in the eyes if I kept doing this?


No more money from Madden. No more bargains.


I shed my robe and sank down until everything but my head was submerged in hot water. It wasn’t just compromising my principles that stopped me. It would be bad because if my name, if my face were splashed across the front page of every paper in the country, Jacob would know where to find me. It would be like putting a glowing red beacon on my head.


The twenty five thousand that Madden offered me would be enough to get away. I had to take what I had, for my own safety. It hadn’t been a bad experience either. This weekend, shotgun engagement aside, had been pretty good. The sex had definitely been better than I’d ever had, at least that first night.

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