The Pact (Winslow Brothers 2)

“Daisy girl, you’re making me nervous here. Stick your finger down your throat if you have to and ralph that shit up!”

“I’m not trying to scare you,” I say, but it comes off as more of a whine than anything else. “I just… I need to move to New York.” The words come off my tongue way more direct and harsher than I intend, and it doesn’t take long before I’m backtracking. “For a little while. Not, like, permanently. Just…three months or so. That’s it. That’s all I’m wanting to ask you.”

“Excuse me?” He furrows his brow. “You want to move to New York for three months?”

“Yes?” I respond, and when I realize how uncertain I sound, I swallow and reiterate with a firmer repeat, “Yes. That’s what I need.”

“And why exactly do you need this? Have you taken a position with the New York City Council? Applied to be an extra in the remake of Mary Kate and Ashley’s New York Minute? What’s going on with you?”

“They’re remaking New York Minute?” I ask, suddenly distracted.

“Daisy!”

I hold up both my hands in defense. Sorry. But to be fair, I am a child of the Mary Kate and Ashley generation.

“I have to go to New York because…” My whole career, my whole life, depends on it. “Well, you know I got married. And…I…want to…spend more time with my husband. We don’t know if we want to live on the East Coast or West Coast, and I figure this is a great way for us to figure that out. And, you know, we’re newlyweds, and we should be together and… Yeah, that’s pretty much why.”

“So, you want to move to New York to spend time with your mystery husband that you married in Vegas, whom I know absolutely nothing about? Am I getting this right?”

“Mm-hmm.” I suck my button lip into my mouth and then quickly add, “Obviously, I would be staging properties while I’m there. I want to work for you. That hasn’t changed.”

“Okayyy…” He pauses and runs confident fingers over his chin. “What’s this husband of yours’s name?”

“Flynn. Flynn Winslow.”

“And how long have you known Flynn?”

Like…a week?

“Uh…not that long.”

“He can’t move to LA?”

Well, no. He’s a resident of New York, and I sent in an application to Immigration stating that very fact. Obviously, though, I can’t exactly tell my boss that.

“It’s not a good time…” I pause and then quickly add, “For his job. Yes. His job needs him to stay for now. That’s why.”

“And what does he do exactly?”

Thank God, it’s something you actually do know about him!

I almost want to slap myself over how insane my life has become that I’m thrilled I know the answer to a simple question like this. About my freaking husband.

“He’s an electrical engineer.” And some kind of investment stuff that you haven’t gotten the full story on yet, so technically, you don’t even completely know this answer…

“Interesting.” Damien smirks. “And what made you decide to marry this mysterious electrical engineer in the first place?”

Obviously, he’s fishing for information. And I’m willing to bet ninety percent of that has nothing to do with work; it’s purely because Damien is a nosy little biotch.

Though, I can’t really blame him. I’d be asking him the same exact questions if the roles were reversed. I mean, our relationship’s foundation might revolve around boss-employee, but ever since he headhunted me to work for his company, we’ve grown to be fairly close friends.

“I don’t know. Because it just felt…right?” You know, how any good marriage proposal feels when it’s done to prevent you from getting deported.

Damien’s mouth straightens into a firm line, and I know I’m going to have to do a hell of a lot better to convince him my marriage to Flynn isn’t a total lie done in the name of my visa-expiring ass.

Come on, Daisy. It’s time to really amp up the insta-love, love-at-first-sight, he’s the most amazing man you’ve ever met factor. Because right now, it sounds more like you’ve scheduled a root canal rather than married the love of your life.

“I know it was impulsive to marry someone I just met, but…” I pause, searching for the right words to make Damien believe this marriage is the real deal. “He’s the one, Dame.” Who will save my ass from getting deported. “My…person. I can’t really explain how I know this, but I just know. Everything is right when I’m with him. And trust me, I never thought I believed in love at first sight, but…yeah… I married Flynn because he’s my soul mate. He’s my forever.”

“Your soul mate?”

I nod fervently. “It’s as if I’ve known him all my life. As if I’m destined to be with him.”

“And this is why you want to go to New York? To be with him?”

“Yes.”

Damien thinks it over for a long minute, running his hand across his hair and searching my face closely. “You have to understand this is a shock. I know for a fact you weren’t dating, weren’t even looking. Hell, to be honest, I often wondered if you were a closeted lesbian or something.”