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I shook my head as emotion clogged my throat. I focused on the clouds outside of the window as I continued. “I didn’t realize the legalities of the situation. She was only eight, and I was a naïve teenager with a dream of escaping our tragic little home. I didn’t realize the legal battle that came with trying to take my baby sister out of our parents’ home. It didn’t matter how awful they were, they still had rights. It took all of my savings and a year of fighting them before they finally signed over the rights to me. But once that was done, I had her, and we were safe. We were hungry, but we were safe. After I got my feet underneath me, I could at least keep us fed. Then I worked a little harder, saved up a little more, and now look at her,” I said, beaming as I pulled out my phone and showed him a picture of Brec standing outside her dorm building. “She’s at NYU.”
For the time being.
“She looks so happy,” Crossland said as I pocketed my phone. “They made you pay for the rights?” he asked, sympathy coating his eyes.
I grimaced and nodded. “Yep, but it was for the best,” I said, even though my hands shook every time I thought about it. “I would’ve paid way more in legal fees if they wanted to drag it out for years, and I think in the end they knew I would win. They knew I would push and push and testify to their neglect and that I wouldnevergive up. Never leave her there with them. And hey, they wanted ten grand, so they got ten grand, and I…” I triedto catch my breath, the emotion surrounding the story swirling inside me.
“And you,” Crossland said. “Practically became a mother.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. Ihadbecome a mother. Brecken had been eight, and it’d been hard. I’d been clueless on how to do things, but I at least knew hownotto do them.
Crossland shook his head, and I could see the struggle written all over his features.
“It’s okay,” I said, and really meant it. “I’ve mostly healed from the past. Are there times it creeps back up and threatens to shatter me completely? Definitely. But more often than that, I’m just happy to be where I’m at today, and that’s with Brecken at NYU, regardless of how long I might have to work to keep her there.”
Crossland grinned. “You know three months isn’t really that long in the grand scheme of things or do you really think that you’re not going to make it to the end of this contract?”
I cringed slightly. “I don’t know why I keep forgetting I’m getting paid for this,” I said. “Part of me still feels like it’s not real. Like the rug will be ripped out from underneath me at any moment.”
Crossland leaned forward slightly, looking as if he might reach across and take my hand.
He didn’t. He held my eyes with his.
“It’s real, Aspen,” he said. “I promise. You saw the contract yourself and signed it. This is your job now, one that will hopefully help take some of that stress off of you by the end. And you’re already doing so well.”
I laughed at that and swallowed down the emotion that rose inside me with his words. He really meant it. I could tell that much, but it didn’t stop me from thinking that all of this would come crashing down on top of me. I’d lived that way my entirelife, always waiting for the next blow to come or a new price I’d have to pay. I couldn’t change that, no matter how much I healed.
“We’ve only officially been together for two hours,” I said, smiling at him.
He leaned back in his seat, cocking a brow at me. “Four weeks, Aspen. Four marvelous,bliss-filledweeks.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Is that part of the deal now? Am I supposed to lay it on thick and make you look good?”
He scoffed at me. “I don’t need you to lay anything on thick to make me look good, sweetheart. I do that fine on my own. And trust me, if this was an actual relationship? Youwouldbe more than blissful.”
I laughed again, surprised at how much laughing I did around the billionaire who had employed me to be his girlfriend. It was nice, even if it was all fake between us.
We spent the rest of the plane ride answering more questions, all about our likes, dislikes, dreams, right down to how we met—which was an embellished version of the true story about him spotting me at the bar in his club.
I still felt very out of place, but by the time we landed, there was a common connection between Crossland and myself. The questions we asked each other had genuinely felt like a first date as opposed to a job interview, which is what itshould’vefelt like, but it was easy with him. And I didn’t know if that was because the stakes were off the table, knowing this wasn’t a real relationship and I didn’t actually have to uphold anything except for what we agreed to in the contract that took the pressure off, or if it was because he was just genuinely easy to talk to.
He was smart and funny and playful and just this side of restless. The last one was the most surprising for someone with as much as he had. His wealth ensured he could do whatever he wanted to do, but I think it was the insurmountable optionsthat he had at his fingertips that made it hard to figure out what exactly he wanted to do next.
A black SUV waited for us on the tarmac and staff loaded our bags into the back before a driver whisked us off to an equally luxurious hotel, guiding us into a penthouse suite with more than enough rooms for the two of us. I could’ve brought Brecken and Jesse and their friends if I wanted to. It was four times the size of my apartment, but I was proud of myself because I didn’t let my jaw fall on the floor.
After the staff member left our bags in the primary bedroom and headed out of the room, Crossland headed into the living space, shedding his suit jacket, and neatly laying it over the back of the couch. He poured himself a drink and then sank into the couch, leaning back against it.
I hesitated for a moment in the middle of the room, wondering where exactly I should go, but then Crossland patted the space right next to him on the couch, and I headed over, settling down beside him.
“I thought we were going shopping?” I asked, a little nervous about what I was going to wear to this wedding. The way Crossland and his friends had been dressed at the poker game, I was sure that it wouldn’t be a backyard barbeque event, which was the extent of the suitable outfits I’d packed.
“Oh,” he said, setting his drink down on the coffee table before us. “Shopping comes to us.”
I raised my eyebrows, utterly confused.
He smiled sweetly at me and glanced at his watch. “In about ten minutes,” he continued. “Our styling team will be here with options for you to pick out and try on.”
“You know,” I said, shaking my head. “I really am trying to go with the flow here, but is it showing on my face every time I’m shocked by how your world works?”
