Pretend I'm Yours (Pretend 1)

I start reading the page that I realize is the contract I signed a few months ago when we agreed to fake marry. But I don’t believe what I’m reading.

“You added this page. This wasn’t here on the contract I signed.”

He frowns. “This paragraph was included the whole time. You just didn’t read the contract very well.”

I shake my head. “I read the contract front to back ten times before I signed it. I know better than to sign a contract like that without reading it first.”

“Go get your copy of the contract.”

I sigh. This is pointless, but I walk to my makeshift office in the corner of my dining room. I dig through the stack of papers until I find the contract, and then I bring it back and thrust it into Kade’s hands. He flips through the pages, but can’t find the one he’s looking for.

He flips to the third page, studies the paper for a second and then begins pulling at the corner. Two pages are stuck together. And when he pulls them apart, and I see the paragraph. Tears fall from my face, most likely forming puddles on the floor near my feet.

“You wanted a baby this whole time. It’s encouraged in the contract, but ultimately up to me if I want to pursue or not. You think I’m the perfect woman to have a baby with, and you want an heir because you are probably never going to get m

arried for love. And you would love a child with a woman you care about, to love, to be your heir, and keep other women from trying to get knocked up so their child would become your heir,” I say, paraphrasing all the important parts of the contract.

He nods.

“You want this baby?” I ask.

“As much as I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

He wipes the tears from my eyes. “Will you have me? Let me try to make up for all the horrible things I’ve done to you. Love you and this baby and—”

I don’t let him finish. My lips land on his in the most passionate kiss. “I’ve always been yours, from our first kiss, to the first time we had sex. Even when you pissed me off, it didn’t make me love you less. It just made me mad.”

“Then, you’ll let me love you for real, forever?”

“You can love me for as long as you can stand me,” I say, still sobbing as our bodies collide together.

He kisses me over and over.

“I’ll never get enough of you, beautiful. I loved you even when you wouldn’t let me. I just didn’t know how to convince you to love me through your fear.”

“Now you don’t have to, because I’ll never be afraid again as long as I have you.”

“When do I get that five million bonus in the contract for having your baby?” I tease, not believing he thought I would ever be after his money.

He smirks. “I think I owe you half of my money, my businesses, and my heart. We may have been fake married in our hearts, but on paper, our marriage is very real.”

I smile. “I like real.”

Epilogue

Kade

“You are not proposing to me again,” Larkyn says, brushing past me to rearrange the flowers at the entrance of the sanctuary that she and my brother created together. I’m a little jealous, actually, that he gets to work with her every day. They’ve created something incredible, and today is the grand opening.

I smirk. “How did you know I’m planning on proposing again?”

She flashes me a glare, but all I can do is laugh, because her heart isn’t in it and it turns more into a half smile, half grimace.

“Because I know you. You won’t leave my side, you bought me a new dress to wear today, and you bought enough flowers to fill my entire house.”

“Our house,” I say, referring to her home that we moved into together. I wasn’t sure I would like the smaller, more modest home. But I love that there are fewer places for her to escape to and hide away from me. And I like that it gives us a fresh start.

“And can’t I just do something nice for you?” I ask.