Page 8 of Pretend Wife (Angels of the Secret Order #4)

SIX

Danielle

My phone chimed in my purse, and I flinched. I’d hated the sound of my text tone since the weeks following Hayden’s accident when Z would text me regularly, asking for updates.

I’d heard nothing from him in over a year, and I still couldn’t break the habit of flinching every time someone texted me. Miles had picked up on it early on and started only calling me, but not everyone was that observant. Or spent enough time with me to notice my reaction.

I pulled the phone out to find a group text from Kylie telling us she’d finished our latest book club read and asking when we could all get together.

I watched the replies pour in seconds later from the rest of my friends.

Sierra

Fridays work really well for me right now. How about next week?

Piper

Next Friday works for me. Sierra, do you want to drive together?

Sierra

Sounds good. Dani? Miles?

Miles

As long as it’s after 6.

Miles was the only boy allowed in our book club. I hadn’t meant to invite him, but he sort of just started reading all the books when he hung out at my house. Then he got into a twenty-minute discussion over one of them with Sierra at some event at the hotel, and the rest was history.

Me

Works for me too.

Kylie

Sweet! See you all Friday. And Miles, you have to bring wine. Danielle told us about your wine party last weekend.

Miles

Maybe you should move to the city and then you’d get invited to our wine parties.

Kylie

*laughing emoji* You think I can afford a place in Boston?

Miles

You could move in with me.

Wait, I didn’t think that through. I have to ask my girlfriend before I can promise anything.

Me

You could move in with me.

Sierra

Take that back, Danielle. Right now.

Me

Never mind. Sierra has spoken, and I really don’t want Nate to murder me.

Kylie

I’m not moving. Both of you can stop.

Miles

Fine, fine. Be that way.

Kylie

Shut up. And don’t forget the wine next week.

Miles

Yes, ma’am.

The train pulled to a stop, and I shoved my phone back into my purse and gave my surroundings my full attention.

That was another habit I’d gotten into over the past couple of years.

When I’d first come to Earth, I’d relied too much on my angelic instincts and the naive belief that no one would be able to hurt me.

All it had taken was one encounter with a certain prince of Hell to teach me how wrong I’d been .

So now I took the same precautions most human women took when walking through secluded streets. I didn’t live in a bad part of the city, but it would be too easy for someone to corner me, especially walking home in the dark in January.

I turned onto my street and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the man sitting on the steps outside the front door.

Hayden looked less put together than I was used to. His black hair fell across his forehead in a disheveled mess, and his suit was wrinkled. But it was the defeated look in his dark eyes that made me pause. This wasn’t the untouchable heir of the Blake family fortune that appeared in magazines.

Right now he was just a man.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You blocked my number.”

“That generally implies that I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I need your help.” The words came out reluctantly, like he was admitting a highly shameful secret. Like asking me for help was the ultimate rock bottom for him.

But I wasn’t going to acknowledge that right now. “How long have you been sitting here?” I glanced around but didn’t see a car that looked like it belonged to him anywhere. “It’s like fifteen degrees out.”

Hayden shrugged. “It was the only way I knew to get you to talk to me, Sunday School.”

It took everything in me not to react to the nickname he’d given me at the start of our relationship. Just hearing it now brought too many unwanted emotions to the surface.

“Well, I’m here. Talk.”

“I need your help,” he said again, climbing to his feet. “My father has terminal cancer.”

I blinked at him. As far as Hayden was supposed to know, I was an emergency room nurse, not a cancer specialist. I’d picked my job because it worked well with my healing abilities.

Fixing an injury was a simple matter, even bringing people back from the brink of death was doable as long as it was a wound that was killing them.

But disease was a different category. I didn’t have the authority to cure cancer.

That kind of healing required orders from higher up.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally. I’d seen Robert Blake on a few occasions during my short relationship with Hayden, but we’d never been formally introduced.

“He wants me to get married,” Hayden said.

Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Okay…?”

“Will you marry me temporarily? It would be for like nine months, just until he’s gone.”

“You want me to marry you?”

“Fake marry me,” he clarified. “We can come up with an arrangement that makes you comfortable, and I’ll give you two million in the divorce.”

For a solid minute I couldn’t do anything but stare at him. Hayden and I hadn’t said a word to each other in eight months, and now he wanted me to pretend to be his wife? But he was dead serious—I recognized the look in his eyes .

He didn’t break eye contact while he waited for me to digest his request. His gaze was expectant and unruffled.

He really believed I was going to agree to this.

Because of our history or just because he thought I was that kind of girl—nice enough to do something insane just because he asked.

Or maybe he believed I wouldn’t turn down two million dollars.

I shook my head. “This is crazy. I get that you don’t want to disappoint your father, but lying to him isn’t the answer.”

He frowned, looking more confused than upset. “You’re saying no?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yep.” I brushed past him to unlock my front door. But before I could go inside, Hayden’s hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist.

“Wait.”

“Let go, Hayden.”

He dropped my wrist like I’d burned him and lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay.”

I wasn’t even surprised when he walked inside behind me and up the stairs to my apartment.

“I’m not worried about disappointing my father,” Hayden said as he followed me through my apartment toward the kitchen. “Honestly, I couldn’t give fewer fucks what he thinks of me and my life choices, but if I don’t get married in the next three weeks, he’ll write me out of the will.”

This was what had convinced him to talk to me for the first time since leaving me? Money?

I spun around to face him. “I’m not going to help you lie to your family. ”

He let out a heavy breath. “What do you want, Danielle? More money in the divorce? A honeymoon in the Bahamas? A mansion somewhere? Name your price.”

I couldn’t hold back my scoff. It was like he didn’t know me at all. “I don’t want your money or anything you could buy with it.”

“Then what? What can I do to convince you?”

I took a step toward him, making sure he heard my next words. “You showed up out of the blue and asked me to fake marry you. In what world is that an okay request to make of the girl you dumped without so much as an explanation? You didn’t even ask if I’m seeing anyone.”

“Are you?”

I let out a dry laugh. “A little late, Blake.”

I could’ve sworn I saw him flinch. “Look, I’m sorry. You’re right, I should have led with that.”

“Wow, apologizing. You must really be desperate.”

His eyes fell shut as he sucked in a breath. “Sunday School… please.”

“Your father’s money means that much to you?”

“No,” he whispered. “I don’t want his money or his company, but Miles does. If I don’t do this, Dad will leave everything to Miles, yes, but with conditions since he’s a controlling asshole who wants to decide how everyone else should live their lives.”

“What kind of conditions?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe he’ll make him get married, maybe something else.”

“And if he doesn’t agree?”

Hayden laughed without a trace of humor. “We both know he will. My brother has wanted that company since he was six years old. It’s his dream.”

I let out a heavy breath. “If I were to agree to this fake-marriage plan of yours, what would I have to do?” I couldn’t believe I was considering this, but if there was one thing Hayden and I could agree on, it was that we wanted what was best for Miles.

“We’d agree on and sign a prenup; then you’d move in with me after the wedding for the duration of the arrangement. You’ll have to formally meet my family and attend the occasional event, but otherwise, you’ll be able to do whatever you please.”

“And you’re sure you want to do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You couldn’t even look at me when I saw you at Christmas, and now you want to pretend to be in love with me?”

His eyes locked on mine, and I could feel the electricity crackling between us like it used to. “You’re the only woman in the world I trust enough to do this with. And Miles is worth it.”

I swallowed, trying to ignore the way my body wanted to react to that stare, like he was trying to see all the way into my soul. “I’ll consider it.”

“Does this mean you’re going to unblock my number, or do I have to wait for you on the sidewalk again?” The hint of a smirk appeared on his lips, and a thread of amusement weaved through his aura.

“We’ll see.”

His smirk deepened. “I’m looking forward to it. ”

And then he was striding away from me. I heard my apartment door close behind him, and it was like all my energy abandoned me with the sound. I dropped onto the nearest chair, my heart still racing.

Could I really play Hayden’s fake wife? How was I supposed to survive living with him day in and day out, to pretend we were in love in front of his friends and family?

It would be painful. There was no way around that.

But I also couldn’t turn him down. Not if it meant letting Miles get hurt.

This whole thing was a giant mess with no good options.

And I hated that the thing that was bothering me most was how my body had lit up when Hayden called me Sunday School . I wasn’t sure when the condescending nickname had become an endearment I loved hearing fall from his stupidly perfect lips.

“Stop it, Danielle,” I murmured to myself.

But I couldn’t stop the memories from invading my mind. They didn’t ask for permission and didn’t care what kind of havoc they wreaked.

Taking a deep breath, I slipped into the alcove.

And froze at what greeted me on the other side.

I’d been prepared to drag Kylie away from a hookup and into a bed to sleep off whatever the hell she’d been drinking earlier.

I wasn’t prepared to find Hayden Blake sitting alone with his head tipped back and his eyes closed.

His suit jacket was draped over the arm of the couch, and he’d rolled the sleeves of his white button-down up to his elbows .

My attention snagged on his bare forearms for a second. They were covered in a light layer of dark hair and muscular in a way that made his veins stand out. How did he get so strong sitting at a desk all day?

Please, God, don’t let him have been Kylie’s make-out partner for the night. The idea of them together made my stomach drop in a way I really didn’t want to examine too closely.

I dragged my eyes back up to his face to find him looking directly at me. It felt like there was a rock in my throat when I tried to swallow. He was actually meeting my gaze, and for a second it felt like we were back in the hospital, when he asked me if he was in Heaven.

“You lost, Sunday School?” he asked, his voice low and slightly amused.

“Sunday School?”

“Yeah.” His eyes dragged over my body with a smirk. “I had a Sunday school teacher who wore that exact sweater.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I knew my outfit didn’t fit the club scene—I hadn’t had time to go back to my apartment after my shift and was stuck with whatever I could find in my locker at the hospital—but he didn’t have to point it out so blatantly.

“She must have had good taste,” I said sweetly, opting to ignore the insult behind his comment.

Hayden gave a low chuckle, and muscles low in my stomach clenched.

I was not supposed to be reacting to him like this. The man couldn’t even look at me most of the time. And he was my friend’s brother, not to mention the object of my deal with Beelzebub .

But my vagina didn’t seem to care about any of that. She was too busy drooling over the man’s forearms to listen to reason.