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I took a deep sigh and sat on the foot of the bed beside him. He scooted a little to give me space.
“You felt sad about it?”
“About Ryan? No. I just didn’t recognize myself after that. I had gone to such lengths to punish him. It’s not in my nature to be vengeful. Even if I said that to you last week, I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”
“Your feelings are valid, Matthew,” I assured him. “Ryan got what he deserved. And in return for you not talking shit about Ryan, I’ll stop questioning why you did what you did.”
“When the gala is over, Reagan,” he started. “I want to talk to you about…us.”
“Is there an us?” I queried. “You said you—”
“I know what I said and this is me eating my words, okay?”
“Okay. So after the gala.”
“After the gala,” he confirmed. “When all this hectic shit is behind us.”
“Agreed.”
“So am I forgiven?”
“Partially. Why?”
“I came to see you about another thing.” He took a deep sigh as if he was mustering up the courage to say what he needed to say. “I’m promoting you.”
“What?” I exclaimed, almost choking on my drink. “Is this because you pissed me off? Coffee is a good apology. A promotion is too much—”
“As my fiancée.”
I wrinkled my eyebrows at him before I threw my head back laughing. Was he out of his goddamn mind? “Nice one, Parker.”
“You think I’m kidding?”
“You better be because this might just be the lamest proposal ever. And even if it were real, I’m not going to say yes.”
He smirked at me as I finished the last of my drink. “You remember that time when you became my fake girlfriend?”
Oh. That one. How could I forget about that one? I gave him a puzzled look and I got a feeling that I wouldn’t like where this was going. So Matthew told me about the deal he had with his father.
A wife. For crying out loud!
A wife meant he’d get his father’s hotel business in Boston. It meant having the option to expand Parker Villas there.
Suddenly, the fake relationship became too serious for me. It would mean that I needed to lie to his parents. And not just lie in omission but lie to their faces. I couldn’t do that.
“A fake girlfriend is okay,” I pointed at Matthew, standing from the chair to throw the empty cup in the garbage bag I brought in earlier. “But a fiancée? A wife? Don’t you think that’s something too serious to lie about to your parents?”
“My parents would believe me if I said that Clair is my wife,” he said. “My father is just giving me a hard time. Testing me if I’m domesticated enough to secure a wife.”
“Why does wifing up even matter?”
“Wives play a big role in networking, Reagan. Father’s business wouldn’t have blown up back in the day if it weren’t for my mother talking about it during her mahjong sessions with her friends.”
“Look, as much as I’d like to help you get that business in Boston, I couldn’t lie to your parents like that.”
He sighed, scratching his cheek as he rested his elbow on his knees. I could see that he was thinking a way around it. “I knew you’d say no.”
“They why’d you ask?”
