Possessive Fake Husband

I laugh but Josh looks at me thoughtfully. “She might be,” he says.

I give him a look and he just shrugs.

“Interesting,” Liz muses. “Well, it’s a good idea, I’ll give you that.” She sips her tea and puts it down on the tray. “I’d be willing to consider it, but unfortunately, I’ve already decided to sell my shares.”

We both stare at her like she just dropped a dead rabbit on the floor and screamed in our faces.

Josh recovers himself first. “Wait. You’re doing what?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning to tell you, but… well. I haven’t had the time.”

“You’re selling. Why would you sell now?”

“The price is high. And I’m ready to be done, dear. I want to get out of business and retire. My husband’s been bugging me to buy a place in Paris and I think he’s right. The time is right.”

“But…” He trails off. I can see the terror in his eyes. “What’ll happen?”

“Who knows? The board will lose me, but that’s not such a big deal.”

“I mean, to Cork?”

“I don’t know, dear. You’ll have to convince the others of your little plan.”

“I was hoping you’d help.”

She smiles and I can see the sadness in her eyes. “I can try, but I suspect my opinion won’t matter now that I’m selling.”

“Do the others know?” he asks, his voice soft.

“Not yet. But they will.”

“Don’t tell them yet.” He leans toward her. “Please. I’m begging you. Wait as long as you can.”

She frowns. “But—”

“Please,” he presses. “Give me time. If they know you’re selling, all the others will think it’s time. You’ve been the rock in all this, and… they’ll know the game’s up.”

She looks at him for a long moment and sighs. “How long?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “As long as you can.”

“I was going to put in the order within weeks. But I can delay… oh, I can give you a month.”

“One month.” He closes his eyes and lets out a breath. “To convince the whole board to do this merger.”

“I’m sorry, dear. I know that’s hard.”

“It’s okay,” he says, opening his eyes. He looks harder, stronger for some reason, like he just made up his mind. “I’ll do it. Give me one month before you tell anyone your plans, and I’ll save this company.”

“I hope you do, Josh. I really, really do. Meanwhile, I’ll be in Paris.”

“You deserve a good retirement, Liz.”

We stand up. She hugs him and shake my hand then leads us to the door. We linger there for a moment, but then we head back out. Josh doesn’t look back as he marches over to his car, gets in, and starts the engine.

I sit there, not moving, terrified. It feels like this whole thing, this whole fake marriage, is failing before it even started. I want to scream in frustration and rage, but I know that won’t help.

He turns to me, fire in his eyes. “This isn’t the end,” he says. “This just makes things harder, and we’ll have to move faster, but we can still do it.”

“Are you sure? You said she was the easy one… and the rest of them would take time.”

“I’m not giving up.” He grips the steering wheel. “We’ve come this far. I’m not about to just let you go.”

I blink, surprised. “Let me go.”

“The company, I mean.” He frowns, shakes his head. “Let the company go. I’m not going to back down.”

I nod a little, but I heard what he said the first time.

He said, let me go.

I bite my lip as he pulls out and starts driving back to the city. I can see the plans already starting to form in his mind.8JoshFinding out that Liz is selling her shares was a blow.

All that night, I stewed. I can’t pretend like it didn’t hurt. Liz was my best bet, my easy win. I thought we’d convince her then move on from there with a little firepower. She could’ve helped us convince all the others.

Now though, she’s out. She deserves to retire, but hell, this is the worst moment possible for me.

I don’t sleep much that night. I stay up late, trying to figure out what to do next, and I get up early with only a few fitful hours of rest at most. I make coffee and stew in the kitchen some more.

“Morning.”

I look up, surprised to see Maggie out of bed. “Morning. You’re up early.”

“I heard you down here and figured you’d want some company.”

I smile a little. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Look, yesterday, that was hard.”

“It was.”

“But like you said in the car. We’re not giving up.” She walks over and takes some coffee. “So what’s the plan?”

I look at her for a long moment. She’s wearing gym shorts and a baggy t-shirt, her hair a little messy, not a bit of makeup on her face, and she looks fucking gorgeous. She leans against the counter as the sunlight streams in through the window and sips her coffee, the mug in both her hands.