Samantha
“What have I gottenmyself into?” I questioned as I got out of the car and looked up at the dilapidated old lighthouse.
The owner of the old home and my future husband stood at the door with a rag in hand. From the hard expression on his face, I could see that he was not expecting me today.
“Hi,” I finally said, going around the hood of my car. I left everything inside in case I needed to run or get a hotel.
The background that I had on Dax Winchester was lacking. He led a private life. No social media to speak of. All I could find without hiring someone to dig stuff up on him was his online bio on the university website.
I did know he was an ex-cop and moved from a small town in Washington state to a small town on the other side of the country. He had one daughter and was an assistant coach at Georgia Coast University. That was all the information I had on him.
I was going in blind, but I had three years with Josh and was blinded to who he really was by my feelings for him. At least I was going into this arrangement with my eyes wide open.
Dax stepped off the porch and sparkles appeared in the sunlight. “Don’t tell me I went and found myself a sparkly vampire to marry.”
“What?” He stopped and shook his head.
“You’ve got glitter everywhere, when you stepped into the sun it sparkled. You know, like Edward from Twilight?” I was totally team Edward and Bella, and I’d seen the movies more times than I could count.
“Oh, yeah. Art project with Bow. You weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow.”
I smiled at the fact that he spent time with his daughter, not many men would be willing to get down with glitter. I know for sure that was something Josh never would have done if we had a daughter one day. Not two minutes in and already I was more hopeful about Dax Winchester than I thought I’d be. Maybe I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I apologized, not really wanting to go into big details about why I was a day early. “It’s a long story, and I should have called ahead of time. I can go into town and get a hotel, but I just wanted to let you know I was here.”
He nodded. “It’s ok. I just haven’t really told Bow anything yet, but I’ll grab your bags.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. When he came closer, I noticed the different shades of blond in his hair. He looked like a man that could have walked out of a magazine. He was tall and built. There was no reason this man couldn’t have any woman that he wanted, so I wondered why it was he was searching for a marriage of convenience.
“Why are you doing this?” I blurted out and almost regretted asking when his hazel eyes met mine. There something in those eyes that told me to tread carefully. He had demons he was dealing with, and I could understand that. We all had our demons.
“Why are you?” he fired back, his mouth in a thin set line.
“Fair enough,” I looked away from his intense gaze. He had a point. I didn’t want to talk about why I was committing myself to someone I didn’t know. much less didn’t love.
“Look,” he leaned against the fender of my car. “We both have our reasons. I don’t want to talk about mine, other than the fact that my daughter needs a mother. If we are lucky, one day we can be friends, but don’t expect more than that, Samantha.”
“Got it,” I swallowed hard around the emotions lodged in my throat. “Maybe friends one day.”
“We’ll give it a month before we tie the knot. See if we can find a rhythm together and if this situation will work for the both of us. Sound good?”
“That works for me.” I shrugged. “What are you going to tell your daughter?”
He lifted my bigger suitcases out of the trunk, his arm muscles flexing as he hoisted the heavy case out. I opened the back door and pulled out my smaller duffle, my computer bag, and my purse.
“You’re a friend who’s going to stay with us for a while. If we decide a month from now that this will work for both of us, then we’ll draw up the prenup, go to the courthouse, and get married.”
“Ok.” I nodded. The courthouse didn’t bother me. I’d had the whole big wedding thing with Josh and that worked out as well as throwing a mouse in a snake pit. What bothered me, even though logically given the situation it shouldn’t have, was how impersonal it felt. Maybe when we were at least friends and knew each other a little better it would feel more —I don’t know, normal?