“Can you handle that?”
“I…um…yes. I can handle kissing you.” She hoped.
Adam turned abruptly and strolled deeper into the living room. Her lungs emptied in a rush.
“You need different clothes, makeup, hair, a manicure—”
“You want me to get a makeover?” She didn’t know whether to be insulted or pleased. She’d been downplaying her looks for so long it had become second nature. Apparently, she’d become good at looking drab.
He hitched his pants and sat on her sofa. Such a masculine man on flowered chintz just looked…wrong somehow. “To be believable as my wife you’re going to need a little flash and a lot of style.”
“To compete with your usual bimbos, you mean?”
“There will be no competition. I told you, Lauryn, I won’t be unfaithful despite your ridiculous insistence on celibacy.”
She marched across the room and stopped in front of him. “It’s not ridiculous.”
He stretched his arms along the back of the sofa and let his gaze coast from her face to her br**sts, waist, legs and then back up again. Goose bumps sprouted in the wake of his examination.
“We’ll see who can hold out the longest. And when you break, you come to me. No one else.”
She wanted to smack that smug smile off his face. “I won’t break.”
“We’ll see. I’ll hire a personal shopper to help you choose appropriate clothing and make the beauty appointments.”
“I’ll choose my own clothes and make my own appointments.”
“Lauryn—”
“And I won’t dress like a tramp.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t date tramps.”
“Didn’t your last girlfriend recently make the news for flashing a pantiless crotch shot at the paparazzi?”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend.”
“The media says differently.” She futilely tried to massage the headache squeezing the back of her skull beneath her knot of hair. “I can dress myself and do all the rest.”
He sat forward, forearms braced on his knees. “Not from what I’ve seen. Keep your wardrobe conservative, but try to dress your age instead of matronly. Remember, people are supposed to believe I’m attracted to you.”
Ouch. “You’ll have to trust me.”
“We can’t afford mistakes. We have to get it right the first time.”
“I’ll get it right.”
Tense, silent seconds ticked past. “You have a headache?”
“Yes. But it’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure. Please, Adam, go home. I’ll read the documents and discuss them with you tomorrow.”
He stared at her as if considering refusing, but then rose. “I’ll pick you up at Estate at five tomorrow evening. We’ll stop by Brandon’s office for the notary to witness our signatures before going to dinner.”
And then she’d be tied to Adam Garrison in a sham of a marriage for two years.
But what was two years when her entire life had been a lie?
Four
“Ready to roll?”
Lauryn nearly jumped out of her chair at the sound of Adam’s voice behind her late Tuesday afternoon. She swiveled around and found him standing just inside her office.
Black suit, white shirt, conservative black-and-silver-patterned tie. Manly. Magnificent. He’d always been a sharp dresser, but she rarely saw him so formally attired.
“Almost. You’re early. Let me print this last page.” She caught the sheet before it could hit the tray. “I typed up an addendum.”
“Addendum to what?” He crossed to her desk and took the papers she offered.
“Our agreement. These are the items we covered last night.”
His gaze ricocheted from the pages to her face. He backtracked and closed her office door. “Our sex life is not going into a legal document.”
“I want the terms spelled out.”
“I won’t have anything in writing that the press can use to discredit me. The prenup and marriage contract are risky enough. Delete that file,” he ordered in an authoritative voice.
Her hackles rose in a conditioned response. Like a Pavlovian pooch. She’d never taken orders well. Her father had barked them as if she’d been a new recruit, and she…well, she’d rebelled. More often than not her response had landed her in hot water.
But that was then.
“Adam—”
“Do it now, Lauryn.”
Grasping the arms of her chair, she sat back and counted to ten. “You’re protecting your interests. Why shouldn’t I protect mine?”
“I give you my word I will abide by your requests.” He fed the pages into the shredder and then planted his palms on her desk and slowly leaned forward until he towered over her. He held her gaze without blinking. “Until you tell me otherwise.”
The last phrase, delivered with a cocky half smile, oozed confidence and charisma. He thought she’d change her mind about the sex ban. He had no clue what kind of lockdown she’d put on her hormones since dissolving her hasty marriage or how good she’d become at ignoring the opposite sex. But he’d learn.
She deleted the file and even emptied her computer’s recycle bin. “Done.”
“Let’s go.”
“Wait. You need to approve the advertisement for my assistant.”
“No need to advertise. Your predecessor is eager to come back to work. She’s discovered she needs a break from full-time diaper duty.”
Tension squeezed Lauryn’s throat like an invisible strangler’s hand. Silently, she collected her purse and the marriage agreement and followed Adam out of the building.
“Did your attorney look at the contract?” he asked.
“I don’t have an attorney here and there wasn’t time to find one.”
Adam grasped her elbow and stopped her on the sidewalk. He met her gaze head-on. “I won’t cheat you. The settlement is fair.”
“I know. I read it.” Five times. Pages of emotionless words promising twenty-four months of her life to a virtual stranger. A year to get Adam elected and then a year to keep him in office until he’d proven he could do the job.
Would she be able to remain as detached when she shared a home and a life with this man? Would she be able to walk away as if the marriage had never happened? Her reaction to Adam’s stimulating touch said the time wouldn’t pass without leaving its mark.
But she could control her body. Couldn’t she?
She had to.
She turned, pulling free of his hand, and looked past him, but she didn’t see his BMW by the curb. A dark blue Lexus sat in Adam’s usual spot. It wasn’t the first time someone had ignored the sign marking his reserved parking place. She scanned the street, but didn’t see Adam’s convertible in any of the other spaces, and the valet wouldn’t arrive until later this evening. That meant a hike to the parking deck, which was one of the reasons—besides the prohibitive cost of parking—Lauryn always rode the bus. Thank goodness for her preference for flat-heeled shoes.
Adam reached into his pocket, withdrew a key ring and hit a button. The Lexus’s lights flashed. He dangled the keys in front of her. “You wear a lot of blue. I hope that means you like it.”
“What?” She gaped at the small SUV and then at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. You’re driving.” When she didn’t reach for the keys he caught her hand, pressed them into her palm and closed her fingers around them.
She didn’t know which startled her more. The pricey car or the contact with Adam. She’d have to work harder at reining in this taboo attraction. “I have a decent car.”
“Now you have a better one. Keep the old one or sell it. I don’t care.”
“But…”
“Appearances, Lauryn. It’s all about appearances.” He checked traffic and then opened the driver’s door for her. “Let’s go. Brandon’s staying after hours for us.”
She slid into the buttery soft leather seat, filled her lungs with that new-car smell and checked out the tinted sunroof. Compared to her four-year-old economy sedan, this car’s dashboard looked like something NASA built. GPS and satellite radio. Who knew what the other gizmos were? Her hand trembled as she slipped the key into the ignition and started the engine.
Adam climbed into the passenger seat. “You’ve delivered documents to Brandon for me before. Remember where his office is?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t looking forward to maneuvering a brand-new luxury vehicle through rush-hour traffic.
Adam gave her perhaps five minutes to get accustomed to the way the car handled before speaking again. “Bahamas law requires us to be in the country twenty-four hours before we can apply for a marriage license. We’ll leave tomorrow morning, get married Thursday evening and then come home Monday morning and move our stuff into the house.”
Thursday? She gulped. “So soon?”
“Waiting wastes time.”
“You’re willing to leave Estate that long?”
“The staff will survive without me, and Sandy will fill in for you.”
He had it all figured out. “Sandy’s my predecessor?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t have time for the makeover you requested by tomorrow.”
She kept her eyes on traffic but caught his shrug out of the corner of her eye. “Do it on the island. Cassie’s well put-together. She can tell you where to go.”
All too soon they reached the high-rise housing Washington & Associates. Because so many of the building’s workers were making the evening exodus, Lauryn easily found a spot near the entrance. She parked and climbed from the car. The knot between her shoulders from driving the unfamiliar vehicle sank to her stomach and expanded with each step she took beside Adam toward their destination.
He ushered her into the elevator and up to the law offices of Washington & Associates. A woman Lauryn guessed to be in her sixties waited for them by the reception desk with a big smile lined on her face. On past visits Lauryn had always left packages with the receptionist, who wasn’t behind her desk.
“What is this I hear about an engagement? Both of your brothers, then Brandon and now you. Have the men in Miami suddenly become smarter?”
“Hello Rachel.” Adam pulled the diminutive woman into a hug and then released her and extended his hand toward Lauryn. “This is Lauryn Lowes, my fiancée. Lauryn, this is Rachel Suarez.”
Lauryn reluctantly put her left hand in Adam’s and let him tug her forward. The shocking heat of his touch seeped up her arm and then oozed down deep inside her, but the woman thankfully broke the spell by enfolding Lauryn’s right hand in both of hers.
“He’ll be a good husband as long as you keep him on a short leash,” she whispered.
Wide-eyed, Lauryn darted a quick glance at Adam to see if he’d heard, but his face remained impassive.
“Thanks for that tip,” she replied and received a wink in return.