Page 308 of The First Taste

I turn around and give him a surprised look. "You considered me before you thought about the layout of the apartment?"

Dare moves away, fidgeting. He is rarely uncomfortable, so I have a hard time pinning the emotion on him, but he certainly looks like he doesn’t want to be having this conversation.

"Before you think about it too much, it’s not like I did anything. When I was doing the planning, I left the room empty at Rob’s suggestion. So you really have to think about him. He was key in picking out most of the furniture in this place and your engagement ring. I don’t really like doing much of that stuff."

I nod and poke my cheek out with the tip of my tongue. "I’m getting a sense of that now."

He grabs my arm and hauls me on. "There are two more rooms. This one is the baby’s room.”

It is just beside the kitchen, although I notice that the walls are made of a sturdier material not unlike stucco. I step in and look around, gasping.

There is a gorgeous white crib sitting strategically in a sunbeam with a beautiful white mobile hanging over it. There’s a changing table and a little white dresser, matching the theme of this room. Every surface is done in either stark white with tiny pink and green polka dots. There is even a toy bin in the corner, already stocked with toys. And my favorite part is the huge rocking chair with several little onesies hanging over an arm and a pink and white blanket folded neatly over the back. My eye catches on these little onesies, and I forget to breathe for several seconds.

"Oh my God.” I turned to Dare, my eyes misting over. "Oh my God. I thought you said we weren’t going to be here for very long?"

“We’ll still have to have a place to stay when we are in town.” He raises his hands and tries to calm me down. "It’s missing a lot of things. I just asked Rob to get whatever he thought you would need. I am sure you will still want to shop for baby things before you… you know. Have the baby."

It takes me a minute to calm down, breathing big, deep breaths and blowing them out. "I never thought... I honestly hadn’t even planned any of this out."

Dare waves a hand around the room. "You don't have to. You are not responsible for anything if you don’t want to be. That’s what's amazing about being rich. Well, that and the fact that we don’t actually have to parent our own kids."

"What does that mean?"

"I was left with a nanny for most of my childhood and I turned out fine."

I turn a frown on him. "You did not turn out fine. You turned out like… Well, whateveryouare. Besides, isn’t the whole point of being rich that you can choose whether you want to spend time with your kids or not?"

He shrugs and starts to leave the room. "I guess when you put it that way, I can’t argue." He heads to the other end of the loft. "Come on, there’s one more thing that I want to show you."

With one last look over my shoulder, I leave the nursery and follow my soon-to-be husband. He leads me down the hall and then opens a door on his right, urging me to hurry. I rush through the door, and he smirks at me.

Here, the walls are again that thick stucco rather than the thin rice paper. There is a small doorway that leads into what looks like a bathroom and a huge four-poster bed right in the middle of the room. There are two wall cabinets that serve as closets, a pair of minimalistic white wooden bedside tables, and a pair of cozy armchairs sitting by a fireplace that vents all the way up to the roof. I open my mouth, looking around. It’s like I just stepped into a home decor magazine. The linens on the bed are white and gray and expensive looking. Under my feet is a very curly, dark gray rug that feels luxurious.

"What do you think?"

I look around, nodding. "It looks pretty good. Is there a separate sleeping space for me?"

Dare stops and looks at me with a frown, his hands going to his hips. "I thought we talked about this. We are sleeping in the same bed from now on."

"No. You said that when other people were around, we would share the same room. But clearly, there is no one else here. Right?"

"Nice try. But I like having you where I can see you at all times. Anytime you’re not with me, Frick and Frack will be on your tail. Besides, what if you get lonely at night and no one else is around? How would that benefit my interests if you had this all to yourself late at night?"

I huff at him. "Dare, be serious."

"I am serious. If you think that I am done fucking you, you are crazy."

"You are too much." I shake my head and turn around, walking back toward the front of the loft. Dare follows me, not saying a word. But I can feel his eyes on the small of my back, burning a hole right through me.

The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. Dare forces me to pose for engagement photos, so I do, changing my outfit a few times at his request. I try to keep telling myself that even though he is going to essentially lie with these photos, it’s all for a greater cause. The greater cause may be Hope House and Aunt Minnie, but whatever.

We were only fooling the Morgans, so I feel okay about it. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

I pose for the pictures, letting Dare move my body around and shout directions at the photographers. I feel awkward, but Dare keeps saying that the key is to stop obsessing over the fact that we are acting out a lie. I bite my tongue and submerge myself in the role, beaming at the camera and telling myself that I am the next Mrs. Morgan. I can’t seem to turn my brain off, but at least I manage to keep my mouth shut.

After the photographers leave, I step out of the sky-high heels that the glam squad left for me and collapse on the white fuzzy couch in the living room. Dare smirks at me.

"Tired?"