“Sure,” I manage, when I realize that he’s waiting for a reply. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Devan smirking in our direction, and I fire a quick glare her way. “Should we, uh… step outside?”
“Sure,” Xander responds, grinning as he mimics me. I glare at him too, especially when he and Devan trade matching smiles, before he leads me out of the apartment.
“Bye, hope to see you again lots!” Devan calls after us. Just before I yank the door shut behind me, she catches my eye and mouths Good job, then winks. I flush bright red and pray Xander didn’t notice that.
This is probably a terrible idea. Listening to whatever business idea he has for us working together. Because I know myself, and there is no way that after the night we had together, I’d be able to keep my hands off Xander for long. He’s an all-consuming river, and if I leap in, I’ll have no safety line. Nothing to hang onto for dear life.
But maybe that’s okay. I think about work, about Bob’s scowl and the stacks of dishes I just washed earlier tonight. I think about the bills lying inside on my counter.
Business proposal, he said. Any business has to be better than the one I’m currently drowning in. Maybe what my life needs right now is something exciting. A shake-up. Maybe this will turn out to be the answer I need.
Outside, Xander takes a seat on the corner of our crumbling porch and pats the cement beside him. I drop down next to him, though not before double-checking the windows to make sure Devan isn’t snooping. She’s good about giving me my privacy, but I have to admit, if the tables were turned and it was her hot one-night stand showing up to talk business? I’d probably be tempted to spy too.
I don’t see any signs of her, though, so I turn back to Xander, who’s taking a deep breath. For the first time since I’ve known him, which admittedly hasn’t been that long, he looks almost… nervous.
“I came back to offer you something,” Xander says.
I frown, wondering what on earth he’s talking about. When he left, he was pretty clear about this being a no strings attached situation. Admittedly, I was a little more broken up about that than I’d expected to be after a one-night stand. But I chalked it up to the fact that it’s just been a long time since I felt a connection with anybody—and frankly, I’ve never had sex so good.
I didn’t expect him to come back. I didn’t expect him to look at me like he’s doing now, as if searching my face for the answer to a question.
And I certainly don’t expect what happens next.
“I want you to become my fiancée,” he says.
My jaw drops. My heart leaps, even as my mind rebels. What? This is so far beyond our last no strings attached conversation that I can barely even wrap my head around it. He wants to marry me? I snap my mouth shut. Open it again, though what the hell I’m going to respond, I don’t even know.
This is crazy. Way too fast.
And yet…
And yet, I can’t deny that a little voice somewhere in the back of my mind wants to know if it would work. If this really could be something more than one night of fun.
“Xander…”
But he stops me before I say another word, holding up a palm. “Like I said, Melanie, this is about business.” He clears his throat. “It would only be temporary.”
I frown. All my previous questions and concerns crash straight down into sheer confusion. “Um… I don’t get it.”
He shifts against the stoop, clearly looking uncomfortable. He runs a hand through his hair, though, and I can’t help it. My gaze tracks the movement his arm makes, the way his muscles shift and bulge beneath his shirt, which rides up just far enough to give me a brief glimpse of those washboard abs I loved so much the last time we were together…
Fuck. It figures the man of my dreams would propose to me, only to mean it as some kind of joke.
I swallow back my disappointment, angry at myself for even feeling it.
“I need someone to pretend to be my fiancée, is what I should have said,” he goes on. “My father…” Xander clears his throat. His expression has suddenly shifted into a much darker, more brooding one. “He has something I want. Dearly. And the only way for me to get it is by proving to him that I’m capable of settling down and getting serious about life. In other words, according to him, finding a wife.”
“I see.” My stomach sinks. I stare out into the dark streets, my mind racing as I try to put the pieces together. I’m not sure what I’m feeling at the moment. Confused, mostly.