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He leaned forward. “You want to say yes. I can see it.”
“It’s still a huge decision. It’smarriage.Don’t you have a girlfriend or something that would be against this?”
“I don’t date, so no.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Just like I find it hard to believe you’re still single. It’s like we were waiting for this moment.”
“For revenge on Calvin.”
He blinked as if he’d forgotten the whole reason we were doing this. “Yes, of course.”
I pressed my lips together. My appetite was gone, a true testament to how frazzled I was. “Can I think about it?” I asked. “Or is this a one-time offer?”
“You can think about it,” he replied. “I have nothing but time.”
“Good. I need to get the best friend’s seal of approval. You know, normal girl things.” I grabbed my purse. “We should get back to the office.”
“I’ll give you a ride, but I need you to promise me one thing first.”
“Please don’t be weird and ask for a kiss.”
He laughed again. “No, it’s not that. I need to know that youarethinking of this. You’re not going home to simply figure out how to say no.”
“Are you kidding? You’re offering me money in exchange for my hand in marriage. Iamthinking about it, but this is just ... It’sa lot.And I need to be sure you’re not weird.”
“They do say interviews go two ways. You still have yours later.”
“You’re inviting me to snoop?”
“I have nothing to hide.”
“Everyone has something to hide,” I replied, raising an eyebrow.
A shadow flickered over his face, giving me confirmation that there was something else. We weren’t close enough for me to ask, but it was the reminder that I needed that he wasn’t as open as he said he was.
And I had digging to do.
I fakedmy way through the interview. Half of my answers were lies and the other half were embellishments. Since I wasn’t sure about what I would do with Levi, I knew I couldn’t bomb this, but I was also so distracted that I couldn’t think straight.
While I never had a plan for my life, getting proposed to as revenge on my brother had never come up. I could understand why Levi would want to piss off Calvin. After all, I wasn’t his biggest fan either, but this was off the deep end in a way even I couldn’t comprehend.
I didn’t have a lot of expectations for my love life, but this certainly wasn’t it. Gram had drilled her past into me, and I would have been happy to have temporary happiness with someone. But as time went on and my options dwindled, even that seemed impossible.
Sally asked her last question and finally opened up the floor for me to talk. My chest loosened as I could finally unleash the burning thing on my mind.
“So, what do you think of Levi?”
Sally slowly blinked. “Our CEO?”
“Yes. He seems ... interesting. But the company is as good as its leadership, right?”
“I suppose that’s true. In a leadership sense, he’s good. He’s present when he needs to be and opens the door up for us to talk to him about anything. I quite like working here, and the benefits make it even better.”
Benefits.I needed to ask Levi about that if I decided to go through with this.
“And what about personally?”