“Um, sure. If you’re feeling up to it.”
Mama Porter opened the door for them and Tuck settled her into a comfortable chair. She had to be careful not to put too much pressure on her back or left side, but it felt good to be sitting up. She glanced out the windows at a vastly different scene from yesterday when they’d had dinner in here. The sun was still obscured by clouds and everything was covered in soft white. The trees all had a comfortable blanket of snow and the river trickled merrily with ice on the edges and snow covering any exposed rocks.
“It’s beautiful,” Maryn said, “but who gets snow in October?”
“Crazy, huh? But I like it. It’s very different from our other homes.”
“You say ours like this isn’t all yours.”
“It’s not.” He studied her and took a long breath before admitting, “Brax, Johnson, and Mama all own shares of my properties and a lot of my investments and products are in their names.”
Maryn leaned back in surprise. Pain shot through her lower back and she quickly righted herself, swallowing a murmured ouch. “Why?” He’d said something yesterday about putting different products in their names, but she hadn’t realized to what extent he’d shared his wealth.
“I’d have none of this without them, especially Johnson who’s the reason Friend Zone is so successful.” He shook his head. “Johnson would be the first to say he didn’t do much, but he did and without Johnson and Brax’s business sense and all of them believing in me I would’ve given up a long time ago.”
Maryn shook her head. “You’ve got a backbone of steel, Tucker Shaffer. I don’t think the words ‘give up’ are in your vocabulary.”
He rubbed his hand along the metal table and didn’t respond.
“Why is Johnson the reason for Friend Zone’s success?”
He leaned back in his chair. “Are you up for a story?”
Maryn nodded. “You know I love stories.”
“I don’t know near enough about you, Maryn.” His dark eyes bore into her as if challenging her to spill all her secrets. She was definitely tempted.
“If you’re a good boy, I might tell you more.”
Tuck arched an eyebrow and smiled. The little scar appeared at the corner of his lip and Maryn had a hard time not licking her lips.
“I look forward to it.” He paused and said, “Tell me just one secret about you, something not many people know about Maryn Howe.”
Maryn smiled, liking that he wanted to know. She thought for a minute. He didn’t need to hear her boo-hoo of a childhood, wishing she had a dad, being poor, watching her mom clean and sometimes be a step above a prostitute to improve their situation, Alyssa and her father giving Maryn what her mom couldn’t and then Alyssa’s dad turning into a scumbag. She wondered about that one, maybe he was a scumbag all along and they just hadn’t recognized it until they grew older. Thinking of Alyssa and her dad, reminded her of a story she could share.
“My best friend’s dad used to pay for me to go to girl’s camp with her every summer. I met some of my best friends during those weeks.” She thought about all of them. Besides Facebook posts and messages, she really only stayed in touch with Alyssa, Haley, and MacKenzie. Haley came to visit occasionally. She would take her adorable boy to Disneyland and stay at Maryn’s apartment to save money. “One night, Erin, she was kind of our unofficial leader, came up with a silly pact. We all swore we were going to marry billionaires, or we’d have to sing the Camp Wallakee song at our wedding.”
Tucker tilted his head to the side. “There aren’t that many billionaires in the world.”
“Not that I’ve met.”
“Lucky you met me.” He blushed and rushed on, “Singing a camp song doesn’t seem like an awful punishment for failing.”
Maryn thought it was very lucky she met him, but not because of the Billionaire Bride Pact. She couldn’t care less if she ever fulfilled it. “We were twelve and on a sugar rush. But you should hear the song, it’s wicked embarrassing, there are even these screeching caws at the end, and we can’t tell anyone why we’re singing it.”
“That would be embarrassing.”
“Yeah, it would.” She shifted in her chair and tried not to wince. “But I always argued that my idea was a better punishment,” she rushed on so Tuck wouldn’t say something about her hurting. “I said if we didn’t marry a billionaire the punk we married had better be a hottie, and all the other girls got to kiss our husband at our wedding.”
“Seems like a punishment for the husband.”
“No, my friends are cute.” She winked.
Tuck elevated his eyebrows. “So if you marry a billionaire it’s only for the money because he couldn’t possibly be a hottie?”
Maryn blushed. “No, no. I was just young and saying if the dude was poor he’d better be cute, but after meeting you, I realize you can be a billionaire and a hottie too. I mean.” Her eyes widened. “Well, I didn’t mean, but I did mean. Oh, heavens.” Her tongue was looser than ever. She needed to stop all pain meds.
Tuck grinned. “So, do you plan on marrying a billionaire?”