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“Tyler?”
At my name on her lips again—at least some part of me is—I close the space between us and reach for her bag. The act of removing it from her shoulder doesn’t have to be as intimate as it becomes. My hand captures the strap and travels down her arm, and I am aware of her reaction to my touch. She draws in a breath, cuts her stare, and shivers.
Bella has not let go of what happened between us any more than I have. I slide the bag on my own shoulder, watching her closely as I ask, “Anything else?”
“Nothing,” she confirms, but there is a whole lot more than nothing in the air between us.
And maybe that’s the problem. There is just too much undone between us. We need it done. We need it behind us.
I drop the bag, and I’m about to just say screw making our flight, we’ll fly private—and screw everything else holding me back—whatever it takes for me to get a taste of her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tyler
I never get the chance to act on that thought.
My cellphone rings, almost as if my conscience is setting off an alarm.Don’t do it. Don’t touch her again. Don’t step back over the line. And I don’t. I grab the bag and take a step backward, placing space between me and Bella before I snake my phone from my pocket.
Gavin is on my caller ID and that is not a call I want to take in front of Bella. I decline the call. “Let’s go. It’s late.”
“Don’t you need to get that?” she asks. “I can give you privacy.”
I walk to the door and open it. “Whoever it is can wait. The plane will not.”
She hesitates and then grabs her long, black trench coat from the hook by the door, slips it on, and walks outside. I follow Bella to the porch, pulling the door shut.When I turn, she is there waiting on me, close, and I all but end up colliding with her again. “Bella,” I chide softly.
“I have to lock up,” she explains, and we’re standing there again, unmoving, staring at each other.I’m going to kiss her, I think again.
And holy hell, my phone rings again, and I step around her and walk down the steps, removing my phone from my pocket to find my mother calling. I decline the call and pause to wait on Bella. She catches up with me. “All set?” I ask.
“Yes,” she confirms. “I’m ready. What time is our flight?”
“Seven,” I say, aware that it’s nearing five. “We should be fine.” I’m certain that we will, but we won’t have time to kill timeat the airport, which is fine by me. The less time I spend with Bella, the better. Or worse. It just depends on how you look at it.
The driver greets us, and I hand off Bella’s smaller bag. Once he has it in hand, I open the rear door for her, and she slides inside. I join her, but she is on the other side of the car, far from my reach.
Once I’ve shut the door, my cellphone buzzes with a text from Gavin:We need to talk. Call me.
I reply with:I’m not alone. On my way to the airport
Good,he replies.I hope she’s pretty enough to live with. You need a fake fiancée right now. The clock is ticking on your inheritance. One you’re willing to marry for at least three months. Before you object, I’m already working on a prenup that will protect you. This is a little more than one year of your life. You have to do it. Call me when you can talk.
What about a legal challenge?Is my reply.
He has ammunition against you, Tyler. Your license and your reputation are the least of your worries. Withholding evidence is a crime. If that comes out, it will snowball. Your cases and your father’s would be overturned. Suck it up and pick a bride.
My involvement in criminal law was short-lived, but my father’s was not. In fact, we didn’t sell off the criminal law division until two years ago, and it was long past due. It no longer fit our business model. But the selloff is irrelevant when it comes to the liability that could be created. Gavin is right. This is a problem, and I’d happily just suck it up as he demanded, but what if my father planned to use this case against me anyway? He was evil. I have to find a real answer, and marriage isn’t that answer.
“Everything okay?”
At the sound of Bella’s voice, I realize that the SUV is moving. I rotate to face her and she’s already facing me, studying me,her blue eyes bright with worry. She could be the perfect fake fiancée. I’d come here today with that in mind. How could I not think of Bella for this role? She is gorgeous. She is intelligent. I enjoy her company. She wouldn’t try to screw me in the end of all of this. But as I sit here now, facing her, I think of her job, her brother, and years of knowing each other, and l realize this could change her life, and affect her reputation and her career. This could become emotionally messy, even if it would be physically satisfying. We wouldn’t save me from the grief I do not feel for my father or from a father with a plan to torment me right up until I inherit. All this match would do is create complications Bella doesn’t need and I can’t afford.
She is boththe right and wrong woman for me. And yet, I speak as if she is the only woman for me, “That depends on you, Bella.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tyler
