12. 12
Iwould choke, only there’s nothing in my mouth. Not even a drop of spittle to block my airway.
Maybe I didn’t hear her right.
Maybe she is crazy.
Maybe I’m dreaming.
Maybe—
“Just for a little while,” she says.
Crazy it is!
I am one confused man. I mean, sure, I am a man and we confuse easily, but I think this would confuse even the brightest of male specimens. I scratch behind one ear. “Weren’t you just on a dating show? One where you could have gotten married in the end?” And while I thought marriage after a few weeks was insane, we’ve known each other for a day.
She licks her lips and my eyes draw there, lingering far too long. “Yes. But those men claimed to love me. And—”
“And, sure, why would you want your husband to love you?”
“They had feelings—feelings I didn’t reciprocate. I didn’t love them back, Miles.”
I swallow. She didn’t. I remember. And she attempted to be really honest and decent about the whole thing. Which doesn’t make me understand this situation any better.
She huffs out a breath and drops my one arm left in her grasp. “Listen, I’m making some changes in my career—at least, I’m trying to. It’s ruffling feathers. My PR manager was certain that show would boost my image.” Her eyes close and the light above us illuminates the sparkles in her eye shadow.
Like a trance, I stare at her closed lids until steel blue eyes look back at me once more.
“The thing is, I think Ash may have been right. My image needs some… love. But I ruined everything when I didn’t fall for any of those men, when I couldn’t go along with it all. I just couldn’t bring myself to falsely marry someone with them thinking that I actually loved them. That’s above and beyond wrong. You know?”
I nod, still unsure what’s happening here.
“But you don’t love me, Miles.”
I swallow. I don”t? I mean, of course, I don”t. I don”t even know her. ”I don”t,” I say—and I mean it. No matter how pretty her lips may be or how saintly this light makes her appear, to love someone after one meeting would be crazy.
And I am not crazy.
Then again, I am in a closet, listening to a plan that makes no sense at all. Maybe sanity and I are only partial friends. I blow out a breath and clench my jaw. No matter the desperate look in her eyes, I determine that I am mostly sane. “I can’t marry you, Lane.”
“Delaney.” She lifts her chin, her long, dark lashes fluttering up at me.
“Excuse me?”
“If we’re going to be married, you should know my real name. Delaney Jones.”
Perhaps she’s hard of hearing too. “I can’t marry you.”
“Miles. You are a decent human. I promise to help you if you will help me. The only way this gets screwed up is if you fall in love with me. And you’re not going to do that. Right? So, we’re good.” Her chest fills just before she sighs out an exhale.
“Are you—” I shake my head. “Did you take something? I mean, you aren’t on something, right? Because—”
“You think I’m on drugs?” Her shoulders shoot back, her chest puffs, and she gives me an epic glare.
“Well, you aren’t making sense, and you assume that I’ll just go along with this crazy charade.”
”Miles. I have been stuck. I have been unhappy as a Judy for the last two years. My heart is in folk. But I can”t just cross over, not with my image in the mud the way it is. I would flop before I ever got my start. Help me build my image and I”ll help you get your art studio. The building across the street,” she says. ”The one for your students.”
I pause, resistance on the tip of my tongue, but… My art studio? My teaching studio? The one Lars refuses to give up? How could she possibly help me with that?
As if Lane Jonas—no, Delaney Jones—has read my mind, she says, “I just bought the building from Lars.” She licks her lips, her eyes on me.
I can’t speak. I can’t breathe. My jaw goes slack, but I can’t lift it. She bought the studio? My studio? As in, it’s a done deal?
Delaney reaches up, one hand on either side of my face. Her fingers brush my jaw, and both her thumbs tap my chin upward, closing my gaping mouth.
“So, what do you think?” she asks.
“You bought my building?” I finally get out.
“I did. I’ve been on the phone with my lawyers all morning.” Her blue eyes sparkle as she stares right through me. “As a wedding gift for my soon-to-be husband.”