I held her stare, and she stopped. My cock bobbed, slick from her mouth.
“I want you to come with me tonight.”
She crawled on to the couch next to me. “I think I did about three times.”
I chuckled. “Fly back with me tonight to New York,” I corrected.
“What are you talking about?”
I brushed the hair off her shoulder and made a trail to her tits. She was beautiful. She was smart. She had her own plans and goals. This would work.
“I’m talking about the perfect deal.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I have the solution to both of our problems. You need to marry me.”
Her mouth fell open.
“Jeremy. That’s not funny. I get it. You want to leave on a light note, but you don’t have to do that. Tonight was fun and I swear you don’t have to call. Not even the next time you come home. I think we make excellent drinking buddies.” She folded her arms in front of her chest.
I pulled them away. I wasn’t done staring at her gorgeous body.
“I’m being serious.” It was right there—clear and obvious. “My father dangled half a billion dollars in front of me today. And I refused to take the bait because I didn’t want to be forced into a marriage, and certainly not fatherhood. But then we ran into each other.” I exhaled. “And what do you want more than anything? A baby.”
“You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying.”
“You don’t want to be married any more than I do, right? And I don’t want a kid, but you do, right? So who else could this possibly work with? Marry me. You get your baby. I get the fortune—which I’ll share obviously. You can make a movie, hire a writing team, whatever in the hell you want. Fuck them. They think they can dictate my life? I’ll dictate it. With you. We can have everything. I don’t have to play by his rules. This breaks them. This wasn’t what he wanted me to do—so I think it’s exactly what I’ll do. What do you think? Want to marry me?”
8
Evie
I blinked. I didn’t know how many times. I was trying to bring the room into focus, and more importantly, Jer’s face. Was I still drunk? I was pretty sure the earth-shattering sex had sobered me up, but I wasn’t so sure anymore. Not after the question I just heard.
“You want me to marry you?”
“Yes. A business arrangement between friends. Legally it has to be called a marriage. It will be legitimate.”
“Jer, until this afternoon, we hadn’t seen each other in twelve years. We have never been friends.”
“You’re forgetting cat lady’s class.”
I sighed. “You know what I mean. From Mrs. Wratchet’s English class to marriage is a huge leap.”
“It’s not a real marriage. You know that. It’s in name only. And of course you’ll have access to all my money. Anything you want. Think of how many millions that is, Evie. Millions of dollars at your disposal. You can do anything you want with that kind of money.”
“In exchange for having your baby?”
He shrugged. “Let’s call it your baby.”
“I don’t believe this.” I reached for the blanket I had tossed on the floor. My mind had finally overpowered my body and I was thinking with my brain for the first time in hours.
Jeremy looked at his phone. “Shit. I have to go soon, or I’m going to miss my flight. Our flight,” he corrected.
I felt like I had whiplash.
“Come on, Evie. It’s the perfect solution. I’ll give you the kid you’ve always wanted. We know the sex is phenomenal. And you get the Hartwell name and money. I don’t see how you can turn it down.” He stood, his gorgeous sculpted frame towered over me.