From Fake to Forever (Newlywed Games 2)

“Yeah, seems like.” Jason held out his hand to shake Cara’s. “Jason Lynhurst. Meredith’s husband.”

Crap. That had not just come out of his mouth. That was so like a man. As if he could fly in here and she’d fall into his arms, as if everything was fine and they were a married couple meeting in Barbados, as planned. All is forgiven. Let’s get it on, little wife. Jerk.

“Oh, my.” Cara tsked as she barged on past Meredith’s squeak of denial. “This is a far better story than I was hoping. Do tell.”

Meredith unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth and elbowed her sister in the ribs. “I’m standing right here.”

“Uh-huh,” Cara agreed. “And yet you’ve never breathed the word ‘husband’ to me one single time, so maybe you should hush up and let me talk to my brother-in-law.”

“As if.” Meredith tossed her head and zeroed in on Jason with equal parts attitude and scorn. Just to cover the nervous flutter of her pulse at the sight of his gorgeous self not three feet from her. “You shouldn’t go around sneaking up on people who deliberately flew thousands of miles away to hide. And you definitely shouldn’t introduce yourself as my husband.”

“Then you definitely shouldn’t have married me,” he countered brightly.

Too brightly, especially for a man who—if life was fair—was miserable without her and had tracked her down in the Caribbean because he wanted to throw himself at her feet, begging for mercy.

She might even forgive him after a fair amount of groveling. Or she might not. Too early to tell.

That’s when she noticed the manila folder in his hand, like the kind used to hold important papers. Her pulse dropped. He’d tracked her down all right. To finally divorce her, once and for all.

Her stupidity knew no bounds.

“What are you doing here?” She crossed her arms before he noticed her shaking hands. “You were supposed to mail me the divorce papers, not deliver them personally.”

“I did mail them. Three weeks ago. But funny thing—I never got my copy of the filed papers back.”

Neither of them broke the staring contest they had going on as Cara murmured that she had something else to do and slipped away.

“I didn’t get the papers.” Because she’d gotten on a plane to Barbados, too numb to even think of mentioning to her mother that she was expecting divorce papers in the mail. Guess she’d proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she couldn’t be trusted to resolve adult problems like filing for a divorce.

She glared at him. “If you came here to rub it in how much of a dingbat I am about paperwork, you’re two years too late.”

His expression softened. “I’m here because I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. But I can’t do it without you.”

The words lanced through her. Why would he deliberately throw that into the mix now, when she’d already tried to have this conversation back in New York? It was too little, too late.

“You want to be CEO,” Meredith reminded him. “You made it really clear you don’t need me for that.”

She’d laid everything on the line: her heart, her future, her happiness, her marriage. Even her job prospects. All with the belief that he’d been warming up to the possibility of forever, only to be crushed with the truth. He wasn’t willing to give her the one thing she wanted from their marriage—love.

“Maybe this will help explain.” He handed her the folder. “Go ahead. Read it.”

The manila folder scalded her hand and she nearly dropped it. “I know what the divorce papers say. My father’s lawyer drew them up.”

With an intense once-over she didn’t dare interpret, he shook his head. “It’s not what you think. Inside is the manifesto for revamping Lynhurst Enterprises. Bettina, Paul, Avery and I worked on it together.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed even as her fingers curled around the folder, itching to open it and verify what he was telling her. “The four of you were in the same room? And no homicide detectives had to be called?”

His smile melted her and she forgot to breathe. Apparently her body hadn’t gotten the message that this man wasn’t hers anymore.

“It was touch and go for the first couple of meetings. But I remembered what we talked about. How Lynhurst Enterprises is my passion and I’d sacrifice anything for it because it was built by people with my blood. Figured it was time to put it to the test.”

A little off balance, she opened the folder. Page after page of black type detailed a mind-numbingly comprehensive business plan. Like he’d said. “I don’t understand. What happened to the merger plans you worked on with Avery?”