Chapter Sixty
Chance stopped short. His eyes shut, and damn if Dax and Gigi didn’t want to ruin everything. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let them dictate when and how he and Jane spent their time together, and certainly not when Jane would say that.
He opened his eyes and closed the distance between them, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I would do anything to hear that, but not because—”
“I saw the pictures,” she said.
Fury knotted in his jaw. “They’re not real.”
“I know.” The corners of her mouth tightened. “But it took me a minute, and I’m so sorry that it even took me that long. I trust you.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “I love you.”
“Babe.” He pulled her close. “I’m in love with you, and it’s been that way since the moment we hit go.” He cupped her cheeks. “I hate this place. And I don’t want any of it to stay with us. Do you get that?”
She nodded, and he held her close, clasping a hand around the back of her head and holding her to his heart.
“Jane, honey, I love you. I’m going to marry you.
” Euphoria flooded his system when she squeezed his sides in response.
“Maybe we won’t have dozens of kids. But I’ll give you everything you want.
” He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s just get the hell out of here first.”
Again, Jane nodded. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “They set us up.”
“Yup.” His earlier conversation about an exit strategy with Jared had quickly derailed into his boss reading him the riot act for fucking the client.
As soon as Chance recovered and caught Boss Man up to speed, Chance could see everything clear as day.
The Thanes had set them up. Lark was very much involved, from arranging the unwelcome camera crew visit to Jane’s cottage to the photoshopped Caribbean vacation.
“We’re the collateral damage in another Thane publicity stunt. ”
The outside world wouldn’t be able to see events as they really happened or even in real-time.
Every incident had been scripted, choreographed, and surely edited to suit a production schedule that they weren’t privy to.
Chance could see their entire playbook. Their depravity made him shake. “Good news, though.”
She hooked her arm in his. “You already heard ice cream’s for dinner?”
He cast a glance at her, appreciating for the umpteenth time how well Jane could dust herself off and keep trucking. “We have the start of a plan.”
“Oh, really?” Jane deposited him on a barstool next to Teddy.
As she made them ice cream cones and prepared a real dinner as well, Chance shared what Jared had said—as much as Chance could in front of Teddy—ending with their first action item. “Later tonight, I’ll track down Courtney Thane and have a long conversation on Teddy’s behalf.”