I don’t need to think about it. Is it as insane as it is fucking genius? Absolutely. Whitney doesn’t stand a chance against Andrew and his family. And if he really wants to get his hands on either ofmygirls, I’m not going to make it easy for him. I grab her by her forearms and spin her around. My grip isn’t hard, but firm enough to gain her attention. “Whitney, dammit! Just listen to me for five fucking seconds.”
She blinks, surprised at my outburst. I can’t imagine my face looks much different—I’ve never, and I meanneverraised my voice at a woman. It wasn’t a full-on shout, but it wasn’t quiet by any means. I forge ahead before she can protest anymore. Before that mouth of hers gets going again. “I have money. A lot of it. I have a home. If you marry me, he has no grounds to try and take Brinley. Everything that’s mine, will be yours. Everything he’s saying is bullshit to begin with. It won’t hold up in court. But if we do this, it’ll give you more leverage. Maybe even scare him off.”
“Why?” She asks, eyes bouncing between mine. Her face scrunches, like she can’t decide if she wants to punch me or dip straight into interrogating me. “Why would you do this? What’s in it for you?”
I let my hands drop from her arms and step back. I rub a hand over my face, and settle on saying, “It’ll get my mom off my back about dating.”
That’s partially true. But it’s not about that. Not for me. I won’t let this asshole uproot her and Brinley’s life. Ican’t.
Putting a stop to my mom and her usual tactics are just a bonus.
“You need help.” I add. “And I can help.”
“And what?” Whitney scoffs. But I can see her resolve crumbling, and I know I’ve got her where I need her. “Everyone’s just going to believe that we fell madly in love behind their backs?”
“We’ll make them believe.” I shrug. It really shouldn’t be that hard. I’m already more obsessed with her than I should be. “After you get custody, we can get an annulment.”
“This… this is insane.” Whitney breathes.
I nod, dead serious. “Yeah, it is. You in?”
“Yeah,” she finally says. “I’m in.”
Chapter Fifteen
WHITNEY
Marriage is something I wanted. Eventually. With the right man. At the right time.
But not like this. Never like this.
It’s absolutely insane. Idiotic. The dumbest thing I could possibly agree to. But I’m doing it anyway.
Wyatt and I sit on opposite ends of the coffee table, me having just agreed to marry him. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact I will be a Conway. No longer an Adler, but a freakingConway.
I can't say I'll miss my maiden name very much, but it's still Brinley's last name. A small part of me is hesitant on that front–and we may need to discuss him changinghisname. It’s temporary anyways, it’s not like he can’t go back to it after the annulment.
The current situation feels oddly similar to the time we struck a deal about me working for him in turn of staying here. It doesn’t evade me how poorly that went at first, too.
“We need to set some ground rules.” My words are firm, with little to no room for debate. So far, we’ve only come to the conclusion that we will not tell anyone until after Blake and Wesley’s wedding. He just stares at me expectantly, so I roll myeyes and elaborate. “We will have to hold hands. Probably kiss in public.”
“I think we can handle that,” he agrees.
“No dating anyone else while we are… doing this. Married. Whatever.”
“I have no plans to sleep with or see anyone else while we’re together, Whitney.” His jaw tightens, his response certain.
“Good… that’s good.” I should say something like, me too, but the weight of what we aren’t–what this really is–settles too heavy in my chest to do so.
“Pet names?” he asks.
I cock my head, mulling it over. “Only when necessary.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” I add. “We don’t tell anyone that this isn’t real. When the time comes… we’ll figure out a way to break things off without making one of us look like the bad guy.”
“I agree. Anything else?”
“Er–well. We should… practice kissing?” I ask. Realizing how stupid it sounds out loud, I refrain from smacking myself in the face.
