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“No snow damage. As you can see from the line, obviously business is good.”
The tables were also full. Everyone in Hunter Valley had cabin fever. Except me. I wanted to go back to the James Inn and stay cozy all alone with Silas.
“Not for long,” he said, his voice laced with acid.
Silas set his hand on my shoulder. I felt it. The hand. His presence. He had my back. “Right, because my father got all the banks in town to refuse me a loan.”
He smiled. He fucking smiled. Which meant he knew. That didn’t surprise me at all.
“Guess you have to come back to me after all.”
I felt Silas’s fingers tighten on my shoulder. I could feel the restraint, the barely-there reserve he held. Someone was fucking with me, and he didn’t like it.
“Yeah, not happening,” I said. “As I told you last time, I’m paying my bills just fine.”
“How?” he asked, looking totally stumped. “No bank in town will give you money. Your trust is cut off. What are you doing to keep this place open?”
Wait.Wait.
I glanced at Silas over my shoulder. He needed me to marry him for his mega-deal to go through. Cheney wasn’t going to let me do anything with my trust money. I had to wait until I turned thirty to access it. And to get him out of my life.
There was one way to solve my Cheney problem. Marriage, the other stipulation to my trust. If I got married–not to him–he wouldn’t be in control of my money or me.
I wasn’t sure if I would have thought of it if Silas hadn’t suggested it first.
Everything would be resolved. Cheney would be gone. There would be no more reason to talk about the James Corp loan. Or the camming. Or covering any of Steaming Hotties’ bills. Even my father and him getting the local banks to deny me a loan wouldn’t matter.
I might be doing Silas a favor, but he could do one for me as well.
Maybe he didn’t want me to be his wife, but he needed me. Well, I suddenly needed him in return.
“Cheney, did you meet my husband?” I asked.
43
EVE
I hoped,crossed my fingers and toes, that Silas would play along. He was the one to suggest being married in the first place, but I doubted he expected to use it now. As in thirty seconds after he brought it up.
But I needed Silas to be my husband to get a hold of my trust fund. My money worries would be over. It wasmymoney, so it was ridiculous that I had to go to such lengths to get it. I also doubted my grandparents had this in mind when they added the stipulation into their wills.
I also doubted they’d have an asshole like Cheney controlling the trust either.
If Silas needed my help, then I needed his. What did it matter if it wasn’t a real marriage? Love was always tied to money somehow.
This would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. And the sex was amazing.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cheney’s beady gaze shifted from me to Silas and back. “Husband?”
Reaching past me, Silas held out his hand for Cheney. “I’m Silas James. You are?”
“Cheney Douglas,” he replied, more out of habit than the desire to make small talk.
“My ex,” I explained.
They shook hands and kept shaking hands. Cheney’s face was turning red, and Silas wasn’t letting go. It was like a pissing contest, although it wasn’t needed. I knew exactly which one had the bigger dick. And more talented.
“This guy?” Cheney asked. “He’s paying your bills?”
