6
As the car pulled into the spot outside my condo, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. What the hell was this guy going to make of my tiny little place?
Jolene was staying at the home, had been for the couple of days I was out of town, so at least I wouldn’t have to explain her presence there to him, which was a relief. Still, this guy had more money than anyone I’d ever met before in my life. He was going to think I lived in a hovel compared to whatever palace he stayed in.
He hadn’t even blinked when I’d named my price for going through with this. It was enough to pay off all my debt as well as comfortably cover a full year’s worth of bills and living expenses for me and Jolene. It would give me the chance to get ahead, to climb out from beneath the pile of debt that had been near-crushing me the last six months or so. The thought of my future opening up like that in front of me was dazzling in a way I couldn’t put into words, as though the sky had spread wide before me to show a life I had never even dared to imagine someone like me could actually have.
“This is your place?” he remarked once we were both standing in front of it as I fumbled in my bag for my keys. I nodded.
“Yeah, I just need to grab a few things and then we can, uh, I can drop them off at your apartment,” I replied, a little shaky. With the money I was getting, I would be able to pay for Jolene to stay in the home, so there was no need for her to know how I was getting it or what I was doing to keep the two of us above water. I could visit her all the time and focus on getting my career off the ground. I could do anything I wanted. I could finally have the life I had dreamed about for both myself and my sister, and that was so overwhelming, I was having a hard time keeping my head straight.
We made our way into the condo, and I was glad I had at least thought to tidy the place before I’d left. It was one thing for him to see how tiny this place was. It would have been quite another if it was a total mess as well.
He leaned in the doorway and looked around, and I wondered if now was the time to tell him about Jolene, about my parents, about everything that had led me to this situation in the first place, but I figured it was best for him not to find out so soon. I could tell him later if I decided to, but I had no idea whether I could actually trust this guy or not. We barely knew each other, my husband and I. I ran the words around my head, hoping they would start to make sense, but they sounded just as crazy now as they did the first time they had occurred to me.
“What do I need to bring with me?” I asked. He looked out of place in this room, as though he had been photoshopped in from somewhere else entirely. He furrowed his brow at me, and I realized he must have had everything he could possibly need back at his apartment. Or maybe he’d just never had a woman staying with him for more than a night at a time, and he was struggling to think of anything I might need to bring with me.
I hurried to my room to gather all my stuff, leaving him standing there surveying my place, and I tried not to think how cheap it must look to him. He had a fucking private jet, for goodness’ sake. I had no idea what he did for a living or if it was family money he was swimming in, but this guy was rich in a way nobody I’d ever met before was. I couldn’t imagine living the kind of life he got to on a day-to-day basis. Hell, if I asked him to sponsor my library for me, he could probably pay for a whole new wing to be added to it without a second thought. And now I got to experience that kind of life with him. It was a thrilling thought, but the price I was paying for it was terrifying. I had never been a good liar, so how was I going to look his family in the eye and assure them I was his loving wife when I barely even knew his name?
Stuffing a few clothes, my laptop, and what little makeup I had into a bag, I slyly checked myself out in the mirror. I looked a little rough around the edges, but my eyes were shining with excitement. I flashed myself a smile and then heard a little scrabbling next to me. I’d almost forgotten about someone.
“Toby!” I headed over to his cage, and he came scuttling up to the bars. It was clear he had missed me. One of my neighbors had agreed to come in and feed him, but Toby was a social little ferret, and he always liked attention where he could get it. I’d be leaving this place for a year, and there was no way in hell I could leave him behind. I was going to bring him with me, and Kristo was just going to have to deal with it.
I gathered all my stuff up and scooped up Toby’s cage as well, heading back through to meet Kristo in the living room. He hadn’t moved, as though he had no idea how to interact with a place like this.
“Who have you got there?” He nodded to the cage, and I giggled as Toby sat up on his hind legs and glared at Kristo. He was often possessive and liked to make it known he was the most important man in my life. Kristo leaned down to look him in the eye, and the two of them looked so funny staring each other down like that, I found myself dissolving into a mess of laughter. Or maybe it was just the hysteria taking over as I realized what in the hell I had gotten myself into.
“I hope you’re not allergic to fur,” I teased. “Because there’s no way I’m leaving this little guy behind.”
“He’s a ferret, right?” Kristo remarked as he straightened back up again. “I’m not so sure he likes me.”
“Well, he doesn’t have to as long as he can come with us,” I replied. “That’s okay, right? Or does your place have rules about pets?”
“There are pretty much no rules in this city that I can’t afford to break,” he shot back, flashing me one of those cocky smiles I was already starting to recognize as his signature. I liked the way he smiled at me, a reminder that the two of us shared a secret. I had a feeling I was going to be seeing a lot of those kinds of smiles in the near future.
“So, I’m good to take him then,” I nodded, and he reached over and plucked the cage from my hand. For the briefest moment, our fingers touched, and I ignored the spark that passed from his bare skin to mine as we connected. It was the oddest thing. I knew I’d slept with this man, I knew I’d liked him enough to pull something I would have never even dreamed of before, yet I couldn’t remember any of it. It was as though it had happened in a dream, and he had marched straight out of my sleeping memory and into reality. My dream man, except I had magicked him into real life, and now I was married to him. It was a lot to take in.
He carried the cage out to the car, and I hesitated for a moment before I followed him. Toby wouldn’t have any idea what was happening to him, but I did, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a really, really stupid choice on my part. It was easy to get swept up with the excitement of it, to tell myself this was a good idea because of the money it would provide and the time it would give me to get my life on track in a way it hadn’t been in a long time. But I was leaving my entire life behind. I would have to hide some of this from my sister, the most important person in the world to me. And I had no idea what kind of man he was. What if I was walking into the worst decision of my life?
Then, I looked around the apartment, at this tiny place I had called home for so long, and I knew I couldn’t stay here. This place had been enough when I knew there was nothing more for me out there, but even before I had met Kristo, it had long-since started to feel oppressive. The way the walls seemed to close in, a reminder that I was stuck here thanks to my enormous debt and everything that came with looking after Jolene, felt suffocating at times. Now that someone had offered me a way out, I would have been utterly crazy to turn it down. Yes, anyone else might have thought I was insane for taking him up on his offer, but whatever life he had for me, it had to be better than the one I currently found myself stuck in.
I followed him out to the car, hefting my bags over my shoulder as I did so, and found Toby waiting for me in the back seat. I slid in next to him, poking my fingers through the cage to let him know I was there and that he shouldn’t be scared.
“You all right?” Kristo asked warily, eyeing me in the rearview mirror. I hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
“I’m fine,” I promised him. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled, clearly relieved.
“Good.” He nodded, starting up the car. “Let’s get you back to my place, and we can get the contracts ready to go.”
“Cool,” I replied and watched him as he drew out on to the road once more. Now that this was actually happening, the nerves fluttering inside me began to dissipate into something else entirely. This meant a whole year, with an insanely rich, ridiculously gorgeous guy who needed me to pretend to be his wife and a life-changing amount of money when it was all over. I was crazy to even second-guess myself. And now that I had made the choice, I was quietly excited about what the hell the next twelve months were going to bring for the both of us. Throwing my arm over Toby’s cage, I grinned as the road whipped by outside the window and felt like I was ready for anything.