Sleeping with the Enemy (An Enemies to Lovers Collection)

“I don’t understand.” I blink rapidly because of the dang eye moisture and all that, but I’m confused too. “Why do you think Wilder would do that?”

“Because he’s rich.” Pappy S cuts the last of his one burger patty in two, stabs a piece, and chews it even harder.

He has a pretty dang good poker face—I think it’s all the wrinkles, or maybe it’s his big eyes. There’s just something about his face that makes a person believe he’s totally incapable of any kind of schemes. He might be made of steel, but he’s also a very sweet old man, and he looks every bit like sugar and nothing like iron. I think most people, myself included, have a hard time believing that an adorable, nearly hundred-year-old man could have wild cards up his sleeve, so him just casually dropping that fact about Wilder is startling.

“You mean….you knew?” I haven’t even started on my own burger yet.

Before answering me, Pappy S eats the rest of his first one. “Yup, I knew. I did lots of research on this one because I wanted to find you a good roommate. The other two weren’t good. They were trash, and I didn’t want you to have another bad experience. You’ve had enough of those without me getting involved with more.”

“You were just trying to help,” I say softly.

“I realized you weren’t ready to move on romantically, so I went for something else. Someone who would agree to get to know you and care about you, but who also had the means to give you some incredible opportunities, should you ever want to do something else.”

I’m starting to get a crazy bad feeling about this. “But I…how did…I don’t understand. How did you get Wilder to agree to that? That’s not just…I don’t know why he would do that. He didn’t even know me. It doesn’t make sense.”

Pappy S is starting to look uncomfortable now. This is one of the first times I’ve ever seen him not be able to look me in the eye. He’s looking at his burgers now, and he’s way too enthralled for a guy just sitting there, not eating them anymore. I guess he probably thought I knew everything when clearly, there’s something I don’t know.

There’s always something I don’t know.

“You obviously know about the first bit because it wasn’t shocking to you,” Pappy S says slowly and thoughtfully. Or maybe it’s with dread. It’s hard to tell. “You’re both also obviously getting along, and you like Wilder even though you haven’t said it. Anyway, you don’t have to tell me more than that because how you like him is your business. But he’s a good man. I’m certain of that. I wouldn’t have sent him along if I didn’t think he was. He was the one who reached out to me. I have some toy cars—”

“Toy cars?”

“Yeah. You remember the ones I loaned to that museum last year? They’re quite rare. I’ve had them since I was a kid.”

“Okay, yeah. I guess I know about them.”

“Well, Wilder collects them, but he doesn’t have one of the ones I have. It’s worth quite a lot of money, but I would rather donate it than put a price on it, so when I found out he wanted it, I wanted to meet with him. He came, and I told him what I wanted.”

“Oh my god! You actually told a complete stranger that you wanted him to move in with me and what? Pretend to be my friend? Look after me regardless of what happened? You just forced him to drop everything and make something up so I’d go along with it?”

“He wasn’t supposed to tell you since I knew you’d get upset. I did ask him to move in with you and stay for six months because I wanted him to get to know you and for you to get to know and trust him. I know you’ve been hurt in the past, and you didn’t want to open up and give anyone another chance, but there’s always room for more friends where there might not be room for a romantic interest.”

“That’s…that’s just…argh! I can’t believe you’d do that! Why? That’s so humiliating!”

“Because I love you. No one was trying to trick you. I did tell Wilder not to tell you about it because I knew you’d react like this due to how you’ve been treated in the past. I’m sure about him because I’m certain he’s a nice young man, and I’m also sure that when I asked Wilder to be your friend and look after you, he would have done it no matter if you were nice to him or not. Even if you kicked him out of the house or made him leave some way or other, I’m sure he would have kept his end of the deal. And it’s not just because he wants my car for his collection but because he’s a man who gives his word and keeps it.”