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I swing my gaze to her only to find her head dropped, her eyes no longer on me. Instead, she is staring at the tile floor of my grandfather's suddenly cold office.
Mr. Simpson turns back to my girl. Shit, I have to stop referring to her as my girl. I sealed my fate when I foolishly signed my future away. The Hanson word is final. We don’t change our mind. I can’t shame the family by backing out of the marriage. Besides, I don’t even know anything about Shae. She could be married for all I know.
“Shae here will be planning the wedding, what with Lydia’s modeling schedule, she’ll be too busy to plan a wedding.” Mr. Simpson nudges Shae, causing her to lift her gaze, but her eyes never meet mine.
"I brought my wedding vision board if you would like to go over it with me, Mr. Hanson.” Her naturally husky voice rolls over my skin, making my cock stand at attention, something that hasn’t happened in a long time.
“Are we done here?” Lydia drops the pen on the contract. Her bored tone is nothing like the sweet sound of her sister’s.
Damn, she’s quick, I didn’t even see her move around the desk to sign the contract. I'm normally more attentive than that, buthow am I supposed to concentrate on anything else when Shae is in the same room with me?
“Yes, sweetie, you can go. Shae can handle it from here.” Mr. Simpson kisses the top of Lydia’s head. “Be good. You’re going to have to give up dating all those male models now that you’re a taken woman.” He calls after her, but she’s already left the room.
“You two have a lot to discuss. We’ll leave you to it. Come on, George, let me buy you lunch at the new restaurant in our building.” My grandfather slaps Mr. Simpson on the back, leading him through the door leaving me alone with Shae.
I stuff my hands in my pants pockets, willing myself not to reach out and touch her like I'm craving to do.
Shae
Of course, the manof my dreams would want my younger sister. Why wouldn’t he? She’s beautiful and skinny, while I’m chunky and slightly pretty on a good day. “I’ve got some wonderful ideas I think you will be happy with.” I push forward with my wedding ideas, laying out my vision board on the desk for Nile.
Besides, my father's business it almost bankrupt due to a poor investment that could leave my family and all of his employees penniless. It's a small company, and all the employees are more like family than hired staff. When the senior Mr. Simpson came to my father with his plan for an arranged marriage, I offered to be the bride, but my father did what he always does. He patted me on the head and told me Nile would be happier with Lydia by his side than someone like me.
He didn't need to elaborate on what he meant by that, but I knew. Lydia is a size two and a model for an up-and-coming fashion house while I'm me. A shy, quiet mouse who does what she's told. It's so bad my family jokes my name should have been Shy instead of Shae. Besides, I'm a size fourteen on a good day. Nile would never want someone like me on his arm when he could have Lydia.
I love my sister, and I've never been jealous of her before. Not when she won homecoming queen two years in a row. Or when she dated all the popular guys in high school. Not even when we were shopping together, and a designer saw her and had to have her as his model, was I ever jealous of Lydia. But this, her getting the man of my dreams, I'm not sure I'll be able to get over. I might have to move out of the country.
I clear my throat, shaking off my depressing thought, “As my father said, Lydia is very busy, but I’m confident that I can have the wedding planned for the three-week timeframe your grandfather stated.
“Three weeks!”
I wasn’t expecting his outburst. He must be anxious to wed Lydia. Bed Lydia is more like it, “I can possibly have everything ready to go in two weeks, but that might be tight.” I paste a smile on my face, giving him the earliest timeframe I can reasonably manage.
When I first walked into the office and our eyes met, I felt an instant connection. Something I've never felt before. He evidently didn't feel it because as soon as he saw Lydia, he couldn't sign the marriage contract fast enough. I've always fantasized about having a handsome, strange sweep me off my feet and carry me off to have his wicked way with me. I mean, that's what happens in all the romance novels I read about plus-sized girls like me.
Snap out of is Shae. Why would Nile want a chubby twenty-four-year-old virgin when he could have Lydia, a skinny twenty-year-old virgin?
Lydia confessed to me about her lack of sexual experience on Christmas Eve when we both had a little too much of the spiked eggnog. She might go out to the clubs and hang out with the male models, but she swore that is as far as it goes. Plus, she is outgoing and friendly to everyone she meets. Well, most of the time. I'm not sure why she was acting the way she was today.
“No, three weeks will be plenty of time. Show me your ideas.” His voice causes my body to get hot and itchy like it needs a good scratch, and he's the only one to make the itch go away.
I square my shoulders, diving into my prepared speech, “With such a short amount of time, I’ve narrowed the selections with Lydia, so this shouldn’t take long. I’ll only need you to sign off on what Lydia already picked out. I’ll leave everything here for you to look over. You can have your assistant call me when you’ve signed off on what you want for the wedding.”
I silently applaud myself for getting through this conversation. Now, if I can come up with a reason why I can’t attend my baby sister’s wedding to a man who makes my heart flutter and my knees shake, I’ll be even better. All I have to do is plan the perfect wedding in three weeks and then conveniently become ill on the day of the wedding, and I'll never have to see Nile again.
I wait for the feeling of relief to come over me, but it never does. If anything, I'm even more depressed than when I first found out my sister was marrying the man of my dreams.
It's not an exaggeration either. For years, I've dreamt of a man with blonde hair, a strong jaw, and ocean-blue eyes that would stare so far into my eyes that I would swear he was looking into my soul.
But those were just foolish dreams from a foolish girl. A girl who actually thought she would have a chance with someone like Nile. A girl who hides behind baggy clothes and a curtain of brown hair. If it wasn't for my accounting degree, I wouldn't be of much use to anyone. I just wish my father would have letme look at his financial statements sooner. I'm not sure it would have prevented the threat of bankruptcy, but it might have lessened the amount of debt owed to all his creditors.
“I’ll leave you to review my designs and selections. When you’ve made your final decision, you can have your assistant text me. I can stop by her office and pick everything up.” I turn to walk away, but he stops me with a hand on my arm.
"No, that won't do at all, Miss Simpson. Your sister might not want to be a part of planning this wedding, but I plan on being involved every step of the way."
Nile
What in the hellwas I thinking? I can't be lusting after one sister when I'm expected to marry the other sister. There has to be a way out of the arranged marriage with Lydia.
