Chapter 11
THOROUGHNESS IS KIND OF MY THING
DEREK
I shouldn’t kiss her. Absolutely shouldn’t. Especially after I just punched her husband.
But I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Not when she was looking at me like that.
Just before our lips could meet, her phone rang from the desk. She scrambled to her feet, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Paige didn’t meet my eyes as she cleared her throat and went to pick up her phone, her cheeks flushed and eyes hooded.
The moment was broken and whatever had been building between us had shattered.
But I could still feel it. The heat in my palm where I cupped her face.
And from the look in her eyes, I knew she felt it too.
Paige had no right to look that fucking adorable.
She was curled up on my couch with her laptop, working through emails while Lily slept peacefully in her portable crib nearby.
She had changed into comfortable clothes.
Leggings and one of my sweatshirts that was three sizes too big on her.
Her curves seemed delicious beneath the oversized gray cotton, and her hair was piled in a messy bun on top of her head.
She looked exhausted, beautiful and absolutely nothing like the broken woman who had shown up at my door days ago.
Jack didn’t deserve her. He had never deserved her. And the fact that he cheated on her with Olivia, Paige’s friend from college, made my blood boil every time I thought about it.
She was mine to protect now, and I wanted to crush the man who had dared to hurt her.
“I want to propose something,” I said. “Hear me out before you say no.”
“I’m listening,” she said looking up, her fingers pausing on the keyboard.
“We make it public,” I said, moving closer. “That we are dating each other before we get fake-engaged. Make Jack think you’ve moved on with his friend. Hit him where it hurts. I want him to know what he threw away every time he sees your hand in mine.”
Her eyes widened. “Right away?”
I could hear the wheels turning in her head.
“He humiliated you, Paige,” I said, sitting down on the coffee table across from her.
“Slept with your friend. And you know he’s probably out there right now, telling everyone you’re crazy, that you’re a terrible wife.
But if you show up on my arm, looking happy and gorgeous? He’ll lose his mind like he did today.”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I could see her processing it. Her eyes drifted to Lily, sleeping peacefully in her crib.
“When do we do it?” she asked.
“Right now,” I said, a grin spreading across my face.
“Right now?” She blinked. “How?”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to the photos I had asked a photographer to take earlier that day. “Remember lunch at the deli?”
“Yes, but—” She paused, leaning forward as I held out my phone, and watched her eyes widen when she saw the images.
I had hired a photographer and told them I wanted candid shots. The photos showed me pulling out Paige’s chair, both of us laughing over sandwiches, and the one that really sold it was me reaching across the table to wipe a smudge of mustard from the corner of her lips.
The way she was looking at me in that shot, smiling and relaxed, made it look intimate and real.
“You had already planned this?” She asked, her eyebrows raised.
“I had a feeling we might need proof,” I said. “We release these pictures. Let the public be the judge. By tomorrow morning, everyone will be talking about us.”
She scrolled through the photos slowly, and I tried to read her expression.
Is she angry that I orchestrated this? Or impressed? Horrified?
“This is insane,” she finally said.
“Completely.”
“And petty.”
“Extremely.”
“And possibly the best worst idea I’ve ever heard,” she said, looking at me. There was a spark in her eyes I hadn’t seen in days. Finally, she grinned. “Let’s do it.”
Relief flooded through me, and I reached for my laptop, pulling up the document I had been working on since that afternoon.
“I drafted the final contract.”
“Of course you did.”
I turned the screen toward her.
“The Fake Relationship Agreement. It outlines everything. Duration, which is until the divorce is finalized plus two months. That gives us time to make it believable and then stage a clean breakup.”
Paige leaned forward to read it as I continued. “Public appearances, minimum twice weekly. Coordinated social media posts so we’re telling—selling the same story. PDA like kissing and hand-holding are acceptable in public. Nothing more in private.”
Even though I desperately wanted to. I wanted to do everything and more in private.
“Nothing more in private,” she repeated.
“There are clauses about Lily too,” I continued. “I’ll help with childcare, no strings attached. And I’m covering your legal fees—”
“Derek, you know you don’t have to—”
“You can pay me back if it makes you feel better, but I’m not negotiating on this,” I interrupted, my voice smooth. “Confidentiality clause. No one can know it’s fake except Sean. Also, there’s a plan to leave. Clean break with no hard feelings. We go our separate ways when it’s over.”
She was quiet, reading through every line with that focused expression she got when reviewing contracts at the office. I always loved watching her work. The way her brow furrowed slightly, how she would bite her lower lip when she was concentrating.
“‘Party A and Party B agree to maintain the appearance of a romantic relationship?’ Derek, this is the least romantic thing I’ve ever read,” she said, giving me a look.
“That’s the point,” I smirked. “This is business.”
“Business. Of course,” she rolled her eyes, scrolling back to the top. “This is very thorough.”
“I’m a lawyer. Thoroughness is kind of my thing.”
“But the childcare clause is generous. Almost too generous.”
“I like Lily, and she seems to like me, based on the fact that she hasn’t cried every time I hold her.” I smiled and added, “This has to work for both of us, Paige. That includes making sure you and your daughter are taken care of.”
She looked at me and sighed. Her hazel eyes were unreadable. “The exit strategy... you really think we can just walk away? After all this?”
Of course not. I’d never be able to move on from you. But I’ve accepted it for years, so it doesn’t matter.
“We’re adults,” I said, ignoring the way my chest tightened at the thought. “We can handle this professionally.”
I am a professional liar, after all.
“Professionally,” she repeated with a small nod.
The printer whirred to life across the room when I made two copies, and retrieved the pages, signing both with perfect strokes.
“Your turn,” I said, holding out the pen and one copy.
Paige took the document, her fingers brushing mine, and I tried to ignore the electric shock that simple contact sent through me. I let my thumb linger against the back of her hand for an extra moment before letting go.
She stared down at the contract, at my signature next to the blank line waiting for hers.
Then she halted, pen hovering over the page.
My heart stuttered. Is she backing out? Having second thoughts?
I wouldn’t blame her. It was insane and reckless. I could imagine Sean rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
“Paige?” I asked, keeping my voice gentle, even though anxiety made my voice stutter. “W-what’s wrong?”
She looked up at me, and there was something vulnerable in her expression that made me want to pull her into my arms and tell her we didn’t have to do it. That I would find another way to help her, one that didn’t involve lying to everyone we knew.
But I also saw the determination there.
“If we do this,” she said, licking her lips. “If we really do this... we can’t go back. Everything changes.”