Chapter 5 Let Me Help You
LET ME HELP YOU
PAIGE
“What?” I stared at Derek. “That’s ridiculous. You are his friend. You were his best man.”
“Was I?” Derek laughed, but it was humorless. “Paige, Jack has spent years making sure I kept my distance from you. Why do you think he always scheduled things on the nights you and I used to hang out? Why would he get weird whenever you mentioned grabbing lunch with me?”
I opened my mouth to argue and paused. All those times Derek and I had planned to catch up outside of the office, only for Jack to suddenly need me for something. He had stopped going out with Derek as well.
The way Jack’s jaw would tighten whenever Derek’s name came up. How he had started calling his friend ‘Peterson’ instead of Derek.
Why have I never noticed these things before?
“He was jealous,” Derek said, pursing his lips. “Maybe from the beginning.”
“Derek... I don’t understand. What are you saying?”
He walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. The lights below sparkled, and I could see our reflection in the glass, with me sitting at his table and him with his hands shoved in his pockets.
“I’m saying that if you agree to this… to being my fiancée—even if it’s fake—Jack will lose his mind.
” Derek’s reflection turned to face me. “He’ll rush the divorce because he won’t be able to stand the thought of you with me.
It will make everything easier for you. Legally.
And it will give you the space and support you need to figure out what you really want. ”
I stared at him, trying to process what he was suggesting, but my brain felt overwhelmed with too many emotions.
This morning, I was a wife. A tired wife and exhausted mother, but now I was... what?
A woman whose husband cheated on her. A single mother and a childhood friend sitting in her boss’s penthouse, wearing his clothes, smelling like his body wash, and being offered a fake engagement like it was a perfectly normal solution.
“You have really thought this through, haven’t you?” I sighed and leaned back in the chair. Derek had everything he could ask for, so why was he insisting on this fake engagement with me?
“What would you get out of this?” I asked eventually.
“So many things.” Derek smirked. “My mom will stop pestering me to get a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Our firm will benefit from it. Plus, the look on Jack’s face would add years to my life.”
I shook my head and said, “But you could find anyone to fake-date or fake your engagement with. Why me, Derek?”
“Come on, everyone would believe it.” He took a step closer and continued, “It’s a classic friends to lovers trope. Like the books you love to read. And… no one knows me like you do, Paige. You’ve known me for years. Decades.”
Decades. The words hung in the air between us.
Damn it, he is right! He has always been persuasive. No wonder he’s city’s best lawyers.
I looked down at my half-eaten sandwich, then at Lily sleeping peacefully in her carrier. When I looked back at Derek, I tried to ignore the way my heart was racing.
This seems practical.
“If I say yes,” I said slowly. “What exactly are you asking for? What would this fake engagement actually look like? In public? For Lily?”
His expression didn’t change, but I saw his shoulders relax slightly.
“Lily would be our priority. You both stay here. Move in with me. I’m having the second guest room converted into a nursery, and it’ll be ready tomorrow.
We tell people we’re engaged. You file for divorce, and I’ll make sure you have the best lawyer in the city.
We make Jack believe it’s genuine enough that he moves fast. As for what it looks like in public?
We look like a couple in love. Like the childhood friends to lovers trope.
We touch, kiss, and we sell the hell out of it. ”
I tried not to focus too much on the touching and kissing part.
“And then?”
“And then whatever you want,” he shrugged. “If you want to call it off once the divorce is final, we call it off. If you want to stay friends, we stay friends.”
He crouched down beside my chair, putting us at eye level. That close, I could see the flecks of darker blue in his eyes, the worry lines creasing his forehead, and the stubble on his jaw.
He didn’t look like my boss or the smooth attorney who charmed clients.
He looked like Derek. My Derek. From when we were kids and everything was simpler.
“Paige,” he whispered, and hearing my name in his rich, smooth voice made my pulse race. “I know this sounds crazy. But I can help you. Let me help you.”
I bit my lip, thinking about the fake engagement.
“Stop overthinking,” he said, his deep voice snapping me out of my thoughts. “Let me be what Jack never was. Let me be your man.”
I closed my eyes.
This was insane. Completely and utterly insane.
Fake engagements were things that happened in romance novels, not real life.
But then again, I never imagined finding my husband in bed with another woman either.
When I opened my eyes again, Derek was watching me with an intensity that made my heart stutter. I didn’t know what to make of his expression. It looked like it was deeper than just friendship.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay. Let’s do it. Let’s get fake engaged and make Jack’s life hell.”
Derek grinned, and the sight of it made my chest warm. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smiled back, and it felt strange on my face. “But Derek? If we’re doing this, we are doing it right. I’m not letting him think he won by breaking me. We touch, kiss, and we make them believe we can’t keep our hands off each other.”
“Deal,” he said, his voice firm.
I held out my hand, and we shook on it. His hand was warm, big and solid around mine. I tried not to think about how it felt less like sealing a business arrangement and more like stepping off a cliff.
But Derek didn’t let go right away. His thumb brushed across my knuckles, sending electricity up my arm.
“Thank you,” I whispered, not sure what I was thanking him for.
“Always, Paige-bear,” he said softly.
I pulled my hand back gently, needing to break whatever spell had fallen over us.
The deal had nothing to do with the way Derek was looking at me. Nothing to do with the warmth still spreading through my chest from where his hand had touched mine.
Nothing at all.
“I should probably get Lily to bed,” I said, glancing at my daughter. “It’s been a long night.”
“Of course.” Derek stood, putting distance between us, though his eyes gleamed with an unknown emotion. “The guest room should have everything you need. If you want anything else, just let me know.”
I nodded and lifted Lily onto my shoulder. She made a small sound of protest but settled quickly.
“Paige?” His voice stopped me when I headed toward the stairs.
I turned back. He was standing by the table, hands in his pockets.
“You made the right choice,” he said, his voice dripping with his usual confidence. “Coming here and agreeing to this. All of it. I’m going to make sure you and Lily are taken care of. I promise.”
“I know you will.”
And the scary thing was that I meant it.
Despite everything that had happened that night, despite my entire life falling apart, I trusted Derek. I always had.
As I carried Lily upstairs to the guest room, I tried not to think about what I had just agreed to. Or about the way Derek had looked at me or the warmth of his hand or the fact that Jack had been jealous of him for years.
I finally climbed into bed myself, wearing Derek’s clothes and surrounded by his scent. One thought kept circling through my exhausted brain…
What the hell had I just gotten myself into?