Page 68 of Married in Michigan

I frown. “That is worth more than everything I owned, combined. It’s pretty and not at all garbage.”

He eyes me. “We can do better. We’ll stop and see Abner on the way, get you something real.”

I sigh. “Paxton. On the waywhere?”

“Your first official function as my fiancé.”

My heart hammers, and I try in vain to swallow. “And what would that be?”

He grins, and it’s that mischievous smirk that always gets me in trouble. “A business dinner.”

“Business, or politics?”

A shrug, his eyes twinkling. “In this case, both. The couple we’re meeting are heavy-hitter angel investors, and they’re interested in investing in a company I’m launching this spring. He is also a colleague—he’s the personal secretary to the Majority Whip. We’re having an informal discussion about some topics I’m trying to get pushed through, and I’m hoping he can get his boss’s support.”

“Why not go through the actual person?” I ask.

“Because I’m a lowly first-term House rep—I don’t get a meeting with the Whip, I’m just not important enough. But I know Matthew from Princeton, and I’ve done him some favors. He owes me, and I’m calling one in. Get my bill in front of your boss, and I’ll make sure your measure gets pushed through the House without any major restructuring.”

“I see. You did him favors back in college, and you call it in all these years later?”

A shake of his head. “Not in college, no. More recently."

“What did you do for him?”

He tilts his head. “It’s not really my place to say.”

I blink, my eyes widening. “Oooh, mysterious. Something nefarious, I bet.”

He chuckles. “Ehhh, who are you gonna tell? Just don’t let on that I told you, okay?” He sighs, thinking. “Matt has a gambling problem. He counts cards, and he’s good at it—too good, and therein lies the problem. He likes to win, and he does, a lot. Too much. He got into some trouble in Atlantic City, the kind of trouble that can start piling up and get real dangerous real fast. I made some calls, greased some palms, and got him out of hot water.”

“Wow,” I say. “Not what I was expecting.”

He grins. “And yes, I helped him out because I knew he’d owe me a favor.” A wink. “But I also did it because he’s my friend and I really didn’t want to see him being fished out of the river on the evening news.”

My eyes widen. “That kind of trouble?”

He makes a face. “Yeah, that kind of trouble.”

“Maybe he should stay out of casinos, then.”

Paxton laughs, a loud guffaw. “His wife would agree.” A thoughtful frown. “Although, he doesn’t go to casinos, he’s too high a roller for that. He goes to the kind of games that happen in a secret back room where you have to get invited and know a verbal code and a handshake and put a deposit down just to get dealt in.”

I laugh. “I always figured that was only in movies.”

“I mean, I’m exaggerating for effect a little—there’re no codes or handshakes, but it is secret, and it is invite only, and he really does have to buy in for amounts that would make even me hesitate.”

I nearly choke at that. “You didn’t bat an eye when I spent a hundred grand today.” I frown. “Or, rather, when Julie did.”

“Exactly. He plays in very rarified circles. Millions of dollars—tens of millions, even—get won and lost at these games. Thus the trouble he was in, and why the favor I did him means I get the bill in front of his boss when I’d otherwise never get the time of day.”

I shake my head, laughing. “What a strange world you live in.”

Paxton shrugs, nodding. “You’re not kidding.” He waves at me. “Okay, well, you look incredible. Let’s go politick, shall we?”

“I’m not wearing makeup, and my hair is a disaster.”

He eyes me, bobbing his head side to side. “I mean, I personally think you don’t need that shit, but this being a pretty important meeting, I guess I’d better call Amanda.”