Page 39 of Make-Believe Match

“We’ll make sure they’re taken care of. I’ll work with the accountant and come up with a plan.”

“Thank you. So it sounds like we’re talking one year of marriage?”

“I think much of it depends on how easily we can convince Gran to let you inherit now, but my gut tells me it won’t be all that hard. She pretty much told me at lunch that day she wanted you to have it—all you needed was a spouse.”

“So maybe even less than a year.”

“I think six months will do it.”

“Okay then. I’ll marry you.” I reached over and tapped my coffee cup to his. “Congratulations, you closed the deal.”

“I always do.” He looked straight ahead again, one corner of his mouth crooking up. “Wife.”

EIGHT

devlin

God,she looked cute in my sweatshirt.

And she smelled good too. The sweet vanilla scent of her perfume mingled with the bitter aroma of my black coffee, and when I took a sip from my cup, I swore I could taste her.

No. I couldn’t go there.

Today wasn’t about getting her naked, it was about getting her to trust me. To believe in me. It was about showing her I wasn’t the con artist she thought I was and convincing her to make a bid for Snowberry Lodge using my playbook. The more I thought about it, the more determined I was to keep it out of Black Diamond’s hands. I’d been up well into the night going over the financials, looking at similar renovations that had been done at other resorts, studying the winter tourism stats for this area.

That is, when I wasn’t wondering if Lexi was down the hall sleeping naked.

Dirty thoughts aside, I’d come to the conclusion that Snowberrycouldsurvive. It needed serious work, but there was an opportunity to offer an alternative to the giant corporate resorts catering to families with kids. We could appeal to adults looking for romantic getaways, girls’ trips, guys’ weekends. I had a feeling Lexi was going to fight me on that, but I’d deal with that later.

First, we had to tie the knot.

Then we had to convince everyone it was real.

“So let’s talk,” I said. “In case anyone asks, what made you fall in love with me so fast?”

“Desperation.”

“Come on,” I prodded. “You have to find something about me attractive.”

She sighed heavily. “Fine. You have a nice face.”

“That’s it? Try to be more specific.” I was just fucking with her, but she actually answered the question.

“When we first met, your eyes made me want to go swimming.”

“Swimming?”

“They looked like the ocean,” she said with a shrug.

“Thank you.” I glanced at her. “That’s actually very sweet.”

She took another sip of her coffee. “That’s all you’re getting. You’ve reached the bottom of my sweet barrel.”

Laughing, I signaled and merged onto the highway. “Well, I took one look at you from across the room and said,thatis the girl for me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Absolutely. My brothers will back me up on that.”