26
Iwatched her as she climbed out of the car, eyeing me warily as she did so, and she slowly made her way to the door like she half-expected me to lunge out at her out of the blue. I crossed my arms over my chest as she tried to walk around me and into the apartment, but I stepped in front of her.
“Amaya, I need to talk to you,” I told her firmly, but she shook her head. Her eyes were focused on the ground, and I didn’t blame her. But I had found some time to think, and we needed to discuss the ins and outs of this relationship before she blew it up.
She threw her hands in the air and glared at me, the first time she had looked me in the eye since she had climbed out of that car.
“What do you want?” she demanded. “Seriously, what can I do for you?”
“I want you to finish out the rest of the contract,” I replied smoothly, carefully, playing professional. As long as I kept feelings out of this, I might be able to convince her this was the best choice for the two of us. She rolled her eyes.
“I never signed it, remember?” she shot back, and I closed my eyes for a second, ignoring the attitude in her voice.
“Yeah, I remember,” I replied, crossing my arms across my chest. “But remember why you got into this in the first place? Because you needed the money?”
She pressed her lips together and glared at me.
“Plus, Toby misses you,” I cocked an eyebrow, and I saw something in her soften.
“That’s pretty fucking low,” she snapped. “Using my own pet against me.”
“Well, it was pretty low of you to just walk out after what you told me last night,” I countered. “You know how much of a mess you’ve made of my life?”
“Not my problem,” she muttered, and she tried to brush by me again. She had her key in the lock by the time I spoke again.
“Just the contract,” I promised her. “That’s it.”
She paused.
“We’re still married, after all,” I reminded her. “And we’ll just get tied up in court as it is. Given that we already consummated.”
She closed her eyes, shook her head, and let out a groan of annoyance. She turned back to me.
“Can’t you see this is a bad idea?” she implored me. “You’re a smart guy. You have to get that.”
“Yeah, and I’m not asking you to be anything other than what we agreed on at first,” I assured her. “My stand-in. I’ve already introduced you around. You know what kind of trouble I would be in if I tried to call things off now? If I told them you were out of the picture already?”
“That’s not my problem,” she repeated but with less certainty than before. I could tell she was seriously wavering. She needed the money. She looked up at her condo as though reminding herself of what her life had been like before I had come into it.
“Come on, my nonna’s already asking after you,” I chided her. It was true. She’d called while I was at work that day, demanding to know what I was doing working on a Sunday and insisting I brought Amaya up to see the family again. If I hadn’t just had to deal with her walking out on me, I would have taken it as a good sign that my nonna wanted more of her. As it was, I was having to push hard and fast to get her back on board before any of my family noticed she was missing.
“I already had to spend the afternoon with your sister,” she shot back. “What makes you think I’m going to spend the rest of my day with your family?”
“What do you mean? You were with Cleo?” I furrowed my brow, and she nodded.
“Yeah, I was,” she shot back. “She found me, and she dragged me out for lunch with her friends. I had to make up all this shit about you and me and the relationship and … ugh, it was horrible. I just want to get in and get some rest, and I don’t want to be having this conversation right now.”
“Fucking Cleo,” I muttered. Typical. She could well have tanked my chances of getting something to work with Amaya, no doubt tracking her down to make sure she was an appropriate addition to the family. Oh, the irony. If she only knew the state Amaya and I were in right now.
“I’ll keep my sister away from you, don’t worry.” I waved my hand. “Now that she’s sated her curiosity, she’ll probably lose interest anyway.”
“Oh, so she won’t want to keep me around for my sparkling personality?” Amaya arched an eyebrow, this close to playful, and I chuckled.
“That’s not what I meant,” I replied, and the barest hint of a smile passed across her face. “I just meant it won’t be like that in the future. I’ll keep her away from you, for good this time.”
“Yeah, she seems pretty strong-willed,” she pointed out. “I don’t think you’re going to get much of a say in it.”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied, and I saw that flicker of a smile pass across her face once more. It wasn’t much, but I would take what I could get with both hands.