Page 49 of Married to Lies

I liked the word on her lips far more than I should have. “Have you thought about what I said?”

“Well,” she continued, “I thought about us.”

My heart picked up speed. I wished I didn’t care so much about the outcome of this conversation. Then my muscles could relax, because they couldn’t tell the difference between a football opponent and the answer to a proposal from a woman I had admired for months.

She flattened her hands on the table. “If this is a business partnership, I have conditions of my own.”

I arched my eyebrows waiting for more explanation.

“I want MyHome to sign a five-year contract with the cleaning company I work for,” she said calmly, not a hint of a flinch to her words. Her confidence was as sexy as her proposition was intriguing.

Of all the demands I pictured, that wasn’t one. “Why is that?” I asked.

Her gaze flicked down to the table and then back at me. “I’d hate for a fight between us”—she gestured between us again playfully—“to cost hundreds of people a job. I’d prefer for business to stay business and us to stay...”

“More,” I asserted. God, how I wanted us to be more than a business deal.

Her cheeks darkened again, and she fought a smile. “You want more with me?” It was almost a whisper, especially compared to the music playing so close.

I practiced my one and only line if she agreed to this. “I do.”

Her throat moved with her swallow, sending my thoughts to dark places. When my gaze flicked back to her eyes, she said, “I have one more ask before I say yes.”

“What’s that?” My voice scraped over the words. I’d do just about anything right now.

“We elope next week.”

My eyebrows flew up. The schedule only called for our marriage in February. It wasn’t even January yet.

“I leave for a founders’ retreat on January second,” I replied. There was hardly time to plan and have a wedding.

“Then we marry on the first,” she said. Despite the determined sound in her voice, I noted the worry in her eyes that seemed to be about more than the expedited timeline. Why was it there? I wondered.

I waited for a time, hoping she would reveal herself.

It was a powerful tool, waiting. People always spoke more and more, uncomfortable with the silence I’d learned to make my friend.

Unfortunately, the server wasn’t in on my plan. Just as Rei opened her mouth to speak, he approached with an icy carafe and two glasses he set on the table and filled with water. The liquid swirled and bubbled as he filled the cups. And then he asked, “Have we decided on our food and drink choices?”

I looked to Rei. “Have we?”

She swallowed again before giving the server her attention. “I-I’ll have a dirty chai and the French toast with scrambled eggs and bacon.”

“The same,” I said.

The server walked away, at last giving us the privacy we needed.

“January first is in six days,” I said. “Counting today.”

Rei finally said, “You told me Simon’s children would do anything to stop a wedding. I don’t want to put either of us or Simon at any more risk.”

My chest softened. “I’d do anything to keep you safe.” I meant it.

She smiled. “Even hire a big, scary gunman named Steve?”

I chuckled. “Even that.”

“Even marry me on the first?”