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“Let me guess,” I started, knowing there was only one thing that motivated people to do things like this for others. “Money?”
Her eyes grew two sizes too big. “Lots of money, Sutton.”
“I don’t need his money.” She knew that as much as I did.
Neither one of us was rolling in tons of cash, but we survived. We’d be doing a little bit better if we didn’t live in the city and had more affordable rent, but we’d scored with this place, and we had no intention of giving it up. It was safe, clean, and in a good neighborhood. The two of us paid our bills on time and still had money left over to have fun on weekends—when I wasn’t studying or in the emergency room.
“I know you don’t need it. But you’d get out of debt a whole lot quicker than you would otherwise. I know you’ve already had to start paying it back. I get our mail.”
I nodded because school loans waited for no one and nothing before you had to start breaking the bank each month. The idea of having them paid off was more than a little tempting. I never minded the debt that medical school put me in because I knew it would be worth it in the end, and it was part of what I had to do to become a burn specialist.
“Starting my career debt-free does have a nice ring to it,” I mumbled out loud instead of to myself, like I had intended.
Kayla leaned in closer to me, her phone in her hand. “Here, look at him. You haven’t even looked at him.”
Refusing to look at her phone, I looked everywhere else instead. “I’ve seen him a million times, unfortunately.”
Over the last three years, I’d seen more pictures of Joseph Martin than I’d ever cared to. Although any female in her right mind would be asking to see pictures of him every single day until she died. Clearly, I was out of mine. But, he had done that. Made me hate him.
“You haven’t seen him lately,” she added before shoving her phone in front of my face, so close that I couldn’t see anything, except for blurry blobs of color.
I moved her hand a safe distance away, and my heart literally leaped into my throat at the visual.
Stupid heart. Stay where you belong.
“He’s gorgeous.”
“He said the exact same thing about you,” she said with a sly grin.
“Stop trying to butter me up.”
“I’m not. He really did say that.”
I hated that one look at his picture had me actually considering doing this. Twenty seconds ago, I couldn’t have cared less about his existence, and now, I was practically drooling on Kayla’s phone.
When was the last time I had sex?I couldn’t even remember. That was the issue. I blamed my girl parts for going all stupid at the sight of his dark scruff and blue eyes.
“This is not a yes, but what does he want? Or what does he need exactly?”
Kayla rubbed her hands together like she had just masterminded some sinister plot to take over the world. “He needs to show his mom that he’s happy and in love. All without the actual love part, of course. But she won’t be an easy sell, so you’d have to actually make it believable.”
I felt ridiculous for even wanting to know more, but here I was, curiouser and curiouser. “Why can’t he find someone else? I’m sure a guy like that has a million women at his beck and call.”
“You’d think so, huh? He really doesn’t. I mean, there’re a couple of women he fucks, but you’ve seen what they call him in the press. Or at least, you’ve heard me tell you.”
I nodded because I knew exactly what they called him. “I’m familiar with the names.”
“He doesn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. Or give them hope for a future he doesn’t have time for. It needs to be an arrangement, and he’s super uncomfortable with me hiring a firm that could do this instead.”
“Can we go back to thecouple of women he fuckspart?” I asked, realizing that he was a typical male, no matter what Kayla said.
“I knew you’d get hung up on that.” She brushed her hair back. “It’s just sex. He doesn’t even see them that often. Honestly, he’s usually too tired.”
“Hmm,” I said, not believing her.
“I mean it, Sutton. He’s not a power-hungry asshole even though he could be. He totally could be.”
Most men in his position would be using all that power and influence in every way imaginable, and I found it somewhat endearing, albeit a little unbelievable, that Joseph didn’t.
