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He gestured at the divorce papers sitting on the desk.

“I knew that so long as we had this contract, it would be a barrier between us. We could never be together as long as we were bound by a fake contract. I didn’t want our marriage to be fake anymore.”

My mind was reeling. I couldn’t believe my ears. What was he saying? It didn’t make any sense. He wanted to divorce me so he could be with me.

“I have just one thing to ask you,” he continued. “One simple thing. And I pledge to accept your answer, no matter what answer you decide to give.”

His eyes shone with intense light. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that I was the focus of the near totality of his being in that moment.

“What?” I asked, my throat suddenly dry. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Will you go out on a date with me?”

I flinched, my mouth falling open wide.

“No contracts. No fake weddings. No silly pretense or pretending to be anything other than what we are. Just you and me, being together the way we should have from the start. What do you say? Isn’t that the fresh start we both need?”

I sat back in the chair, feeling the gravity of the situation smack into me like a ton of bricks. He was asking me out. Evan Jones, the most eligible bachelor on the planet, as of five minutes ago when I signed those papers, was asking me out.

He really was interested in me. Plain old me.

As I pondered this fact, I also considered how I was going to answer him. I came to a decision and looked up at him sharply. My mouth formed the word before it had fully taken shape in my mind.

“No.”

Chapter 21

Amanda

“No?”

Evan looked genuinely surprised, and then genuinely devastated. He didn’t even try to hide behind the usual mask of Mr. Iceman.

“No. You heard me. I did not stutter.”

His eyes narrowed to slits as he gained his composure and tried to mask his hurt with anger.

“And I suppose you’re not going to tell me why you don’t want to go out with me?”

“It’s very simple,sir,” I said with a mocking grin. “You see, the purpose of a vis-à-vis date is to get to know someone to determine whether you want to spend the rest of your life with them. I don’t need to go on a date with you to know the answer to that question.”

His anger mellowed with confusion.

“Don’t you see, Evan? I already know that I want to be with you.”

His mouth fell open, and a look of wonder came over his handsome face.

“I had a lot of doubts for a long time, Evan. About you, about me. Mostly about me, though. I never thought that someone like you could love someone like me. But I have no doubts. I finally haveno doubts, and I know what I want.”

My lips spread in a mischievous grin. “I want you, and I’m not afraid to admit it. So, I’m going to ask YOU out on a date.”

“I accept your proposal,” he blurted quickly. “I totally accept. Completely. Whole-heartedly.”

I smiled and felt a giddy warmth spread through my chest.

“So, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go? I’m fresh out of translucent planes, but maybe dinner and a movie?”

I checked my phone.