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I can’t believe this is what’s bothering her. Her douche of an ex was supposed to help. He actually let her start planning this wedding and didn’t after to help close out the bills. What a dick.

“Why are you making this so hard? You don’t have to pay for the wedding. Like that is ridiculous.”

“How so?”

Her eyes widen. “Beau—” She mumbles. “It’s fake.”

Hearing her say it’s fake out loud pisses me off, but I’ll deal with whatever I’m feeling later. I made this bed and now I’m going to have to lie in it.

That’s the problem. You want to lie in it, roll around in it, and repeat that one night in it.

“Well, the good news is my money is very much real.” I try to joke but she’s not having it.

“I don’t want your money.” She huffs out. “Okay—so originally they mentioned that there would be some sponsorship opportunities for the vendors.”

“You mean from the magazine?” I ask, realizing the potential.

“Yeah, they mentioned that if I used some of the sponsors, we could get some of the materials comped,” she confirms.

She’s not wrong but getting sponsors will have to make me work that much harder. We had a few jump on it when word got out about the anniversary issue, but basically, I’m going to have to foot the bill. Something she doesn’t need to know.

“Okay, you let me worry about that. How about, for now, let’s just put everything on my card, and then we can sort it all out when it’s done?” I suggest.

She looks up at me, narrowing her eyes, and I know this isn’t going to be easy.

“Lucy, listen, we have to sell this. Remember, this article is more than words and photos. It sells the idea of love, of planning the perfect Southern wedding. It’s going to help your business, and it’s going to help my magazine. And in order to do that, we have to plan a wedding worth sharing,” I explain, hoping she’ll understand.

A heavy sigh falls from her lips, and I know that’s about as much of an agreement as I’m going to get. I pull her into my arms and hug her tightly. “It’s all gonna work out.”

“I know,” she whispers.

Pulling back slightly, I look down at her, tipping her chin up to my face. “Now, what are we going to have for lunch? And before you even say anything, I’m buying, so just stop arguing and let me play the doting fiancé. How do you feel about Chinese?” I ask, hoping to lighten the mood.

“I love it, actually, but I have a little more work to do. Care if we just grab a little snack and have an early dinner?”

“That works for me.”

“Great! I think I can wrap everything up in a couple hours. Are you wanting to go out for Chinese or have it delivered?” she asks.

“Delivery is good.”

“Enough pretending?” She looks at me.

“Maybe.”

Her smile falters.

“Or maybe I just want to get you alone for a little while.”

Chapter 15

Lucy

I don’t know why I lied. I didn’t have any work to do. Well, I did, I always do, but I didn’t have to do it. Which I didn’t. I literally just stared at my laptop and googled how to not fall in love with your fiancé. Yeah, Google was no help. And neither is Facebook. Now, I have all these sponsored ads for honeymoons that I’ll never get to go on.

At least, I don’t think we will. We never actually discussed that portion of the arrangement. The mission: get married, publish the article, my career takes off, and then we divorce six months later.

“Are you okay?” Beau comes up behind me and tries to take the bags.