49
“So none of it’s real?”
“None of it’s real.” Michael Masser, one of my lawyers, shook his head at me. We were sitting at either end of a table strewn with papers, each of them detailing exactly how Amaya and I had been screwed over by the shady chapel that had allegedly married us.
“Fucking hell,” I snarled, and I got to my feet and turned on him, but it wasn’t his fault. I stopped myself before I launched into a tirade, knowing he wasn’t the focus of my anger or that he shouldn’t be.
“What do we do now?” I asked. He stared back up at me for a long moment, a seriously? expression on his face. I ignored it. I just needed someone, anyone, to give me some guidance here.
“If you want to stay married to her, you have to get a license in this state.” He shrugged. “Make sure it’s all above-board and legal. Then, you can start with the contract from scratch and take it from there.”
“Right.” I got to my feet. I felt as though my body had been crumpled up the last few hours, and practically all my bones clicked as I stood up again. I stretched and sighed. If I wanted to keep Amaya in my life, I had to convince her to marry me again—for the sake of the contract, of course. And that meant switching on my prime seduction skills.
“Thanks for your help today.” I shook hands with Michael. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
“No problem.” He furrowed his brow at me, and I could tell he was busting to ask me what the fuck I was going to do about all of this, but that was for me and Amaya to know and for everyone else to keep the fuck quiet about.
I made my way out of the room and started down back to my car, but before I went anywhere, I ducked into a small flower shop opposite the offices. If I was going to convince this woman to stay married to me, then I was going to need to romance her. Before, that had required me to get the two of us so drunk, we couldn’t think of any good reasons not to do something that stupid. This time, it would take a little more effort. But of us were warier now, more careful. Maybe an extra bottle of champagne?
I stepped into the flower shop and inhaled the overwhelming perfume of the plants around me. I thought about getting roses for a second, but that wasn’t her style. That would have been too cheesy for her. I scanned the shop, and my eyes settled on a bouquet of daisies, delicate and feminine like her.
“I’ll take those, thanks.” I approached the woman behind the desk. She handed me the daisies, and I headed out the door. Champagne. That was what we needed next. I grabbed the nicest bottle I could find from the nearest store and headed back to my car to get everything set up back at the apartment.
She wasn’t there when I got back, much to my relief. I had time to set everything up. I chilled the champagne, made sure there was no tag on the daisies, and tidied the apartment as best I could. I ignored the voice at the back of my mind that was telling me this was a seriously dumb idea, that there was no way I was going to trick a woman like Amaya into marrying me a second time. First time was a fluke but second time and she’d actually have to have feelings for me. Right? Just the way I did for her.
I paced the apartment waiting for her to return, keeping a close eye on the clock and counting down the minutes until I should send out a search party to go after her. But to my surprise, she got back a little early. As soon as I heard the door click, I went to grab her stuff for her, meeting her as she came through it.
“Hey,” I greeted her with a peck on the cheek, taking her coat and her bag and hanging them up for her. She smiled, a little suspiciously, and cocked her head at me.
“Hey,” she replied. “What’s going on?”
“Come on, let’s go outside.” I took her hand. “It’s a beautiful day, and I have champagne.”
“You have champagne?” She giggled. “What’s this in aid of?”
“I just want you to be able to relax after work, that’s all,” I replied, smiling at her. “Is that allowed?”
“Sure is,” she replied, and I grabbed the champagne and a couple of glasses and then remembered the flowers. I picked up from the counter and proffered them to her.
“For you,” I told her. “They reminded me of you, so I got them.”
“They reminded you of me?” She took them from me and buried her nose in them, inhaling deeply. “Mmm, if that means I smell this good, I’ll take it.”
She put them in water, and we gathered our stuff and headed down to the small courtyard attached to the building. I rarely made it down here, but it was pretty enough, and the way the light was hitting it right then made it look like pure luxury.
“How did I never know this place was down here?” She gasped as we emerged from the stairwell.
“I don’t really bother coming out here.” I shrugged. “That’s on me.”
“Well, I’m going to be dragging you out here a lot,” she warned me.
“I can live with that.” I grinned, and I popped the champagne and poured us both a glass. I held one out to her, and she took a sip.
“Ooh, I like that,” she smiled. “Reminds me of …”
She trailed off, but I knew where her mind was at once.
“The first time we met?” I filled in for her, and she nodded nervously, as though any mention of what happened in Vegas was tantamount to stirring the pot.