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“Not interested,” he said firmly with a shake of his head. “Been there already, and it didn’t end well.”
Naomi sighed again. She couldn’t blame him for feeling burned in the love department. She could, however, blame the woman who’d hurt him enough that Toby had built a wall around his heart that was so tall and thick it had taken Naomi months to reach past it.
“Fine. You’re not looking for love. Neither am I,” she added in a mutter. “But that doesn’t mean...”
“Think about it.”
“But no one will believe it.”
“Your parents did.”
She waved that aside. “That’s because they don’t know me. My friends—”
“Are so wrapped up in their own happily-ever-afters they won’t question it.”
“Your family—”
He scowled thoughtfully, but a moment later, his expression cleared. Those amazing eyes fixed on her, he said, “Okay, I’ll tell my family the truth. Don’t want to lie to them anyway. Does that work for you?”
“They won’t like it,” she said, and silently added, they’ll blame me.
“Mom and Scarlett both like you already, so what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know if I want to be married,” she said simply. “You’re my best friend, Toby. It’ll be...weird.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Doesn’t have to be. Think of it as a marriage of convenience. We’re together because of the baby. No sex. Just friends who live together.”
No sex. Well, it wasn’t as if she was a wildly sexual person anyway. In fact, until that single night with Gio, she hadn’t been with anyone in more than a year. And since Gio, she’d avoided all men except for Toby. So going without sex wouldn’t be that terrible, would it? Oh, God.
“I’m not saying we become monks,” Toby pointed out as though he could read her thoughts. “If one of us meets someone, we’ll work that out then. In the meantime, we’re together.”
* * *
Toby watched her and wondered what the hell she was arguing about. Anyone could see this was a good idea. Though he could admit that he hadn’t come up with it until that moment when Vanessa Price gave her daughter the cool look of disappointment at news of the baby. Damned if he could just stand there while Naomi tried to explain about the baby’s father and how he was a worthless player. So, before he’d really considered it, he’d blurted out the lie. And it had felt...right.
Why not get married to his best friend? Whether she knew it or not, she was going to need help with the baby. And as long as they kept things between them platonic, everything would work out fine. Yeah, he was attracted to her. What man wouldn’t be? But he wasn’t going to act on that attraction, so a marriage of convenience was the best solution here.
“Well?” he asked, gaze fixed on hers. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re crazy,” she said on a half laugh.
“That’s been said before,” he reminded her. “People have been talking about crazy Toby and his weird inventions for years.”
Nervously, she pushed her hair back from her face, and the early-afternoon sunlight caught a few threads of copper, making them gleam. “If we do this, we’ll both be crazy.”
“Worse things to be, Naomi.”
She smiled. “Are you sure about this?”
He tipped his head to one side and gave her a look. “When have you ever known me to say something without meaning every damn word?”
“Never,” she said, nodding. “It’s one of the things I like best about you. I always know what you’re thinking, because you don’t play games.”
“Games are for kids, Naomi. Neither one of us is a kid.”
“No, we’re not.” She met his gaze squarely and took a deep breath. “I’m a city girl. What’ll I do on a ranch?”
“Whatever needs doing,” he said.
