Page 49 of The Arrangement

He clicks around on his computer and types a few things in, then he looks up at me. “How fast do you want to become my wife?”

My wife. Chills zip across my heated skin. Those two words do something to me—and I didn’t expect that.

“I need to be out of my apartment by Sunday morning, I think,” I say.

“I can get a truck to your house this evening to move you out. Does that work?”

Wow. “Um, yes. I can get our stuff together in a few hours if I can find some boxes.”

“I’ll put an order in and have some delivered.” He clicks around a few more times. “Should I reserve a church?”

“It kind of feels wrong to get married for money in front of God, don’t you think?” I ask, laughing.

He laughs, too. “I’m going to Vegas tomorrow. Want to get married there? We could take Mimi and make a weekend trip of it.”

All I can do is stare at him.Why is he this wonderful to me?

Even in my most hopeful moments, I didn’t imagine he’d go to these lengths to make this okay for me … and Mimi. He has immense responsibilities on his plate between Brewer Air and his family—not to mention the enormous mess of his dad’s atrocities—and so many people are counting on him. He doesn’t need my mess, yet here he is, asking to help me hold my load.

I don’t know how I managed this or if I’m dreaming, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t regret it.

Tears fill my eyes again. “You’ll really do all of this for me?”

There’s something on the tip of his tongue, but he doesn’t say it. Instead, he shakes his head and grins a shy smile. “You’d be surprised what people will do for you if you let them. Now go home and start packing. I have a few calls to make.”

I stay rooted in place.Should I hug him? Kiss him? Shake his hand like I did Tate’s?

But the idea of touching him sends a bolt of energy through me that makes my knees weak. Brushing against him beforetoday made me tingle. But now, knowing what his arms feel like, the sturdiness of his chest, the feeling of him holding me tight, I can’t risk touching him again.

Not now.

Not here.

“Thank you,” I say.

“You can thank me later.” His lips twitch as he sits behind his desk. “And, trust me, you will.”

My insides burn, and it takes everything I have not to drop to my knees and thank him properly right here. But I have stuff to pack and a move to make.

Then I can make the other, more pleasurable moves.

“Looking forward to it, Mr. Brewer,” I say.

Before he can respond, I pivot on my heel and leave him sitting there.

Chapter 12

Chloe

“Is your car supposed to make that noise?” Mimi asks, peering over the dashboard as the scenery around us changes.

The city buildings stopped a few miles back, and as we’ve wound our way deeper into a residential area, the trees lining the road have grown taller. The homes behind the pines and strategically placed shrubs are harder to see. Still, their grandeur is unmistakable.

The evening sun’s rays filter magically through the vegetation and create a muted glow over everything in their path. It would make a perfect scene in a movie. A granddaughter and her Mimi, traveling into the sunset to start a new life.

Ha.

I let off the gas a bit, and the thumping stops. “There? Is that better?”