Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Reid
There is no way I heard her correctly.
“You’re what?”
Unshed tears shone in her eyes when she looked up again. “I’m…”
“Come on.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the table to lead her out of the shop. I threw up a hand to wave goodbye to Craig, who was behind the counter and led Avery out into the spring air of the plaza.
And just in time because the moment we were in the fresh air, tears started to fall from her eyes. She swiped at her face with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to…thank you.” She accepted the napkin I’d swiped from the table and dabbed at her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m crying. It’s all just…”
“It’s okay.” I didn’t know whether that was true or not, but it seemed like the right thing to say when someone burst into tears in front of you. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be?—”
“I don’t have a husband.”
Of all the things that could have come out of Avery’s mouth, I wasn’t expecting that. Mostly because it hadn’t occurred to me for even a second that she might have a husband.
With a breath, I took a step closer to her and lifted her chin gently with my thumb. “I don’t know why that’s got you so upset,” I said as gently as I could manage. “But I’m sure as hell glad you don’t have one.”
Avery’s face flushed, and to my surprise, she burst out laughing. “I’m not really sure what to say about that.” She wiped at her eyes and blew out a breath. “But I think you’re going to change your opinion when I tell you why it matters.”
Her lips turned down in a frown I’d never seen on her pretty face. She glanced around us at the busy plaza with people coming and going. It wasn’t the most private setting to have what was quickly shaping up to be a serious conversation.
“Come on.” I took her hand and led her down the pedestrian-only street.
A handful of people I knew waved and said hi as we passed. I ignored every single one of them, focused only on Avery and whatever had happened since I’d seen her that morning.
Finally, we arrived at the park benches that looked out over the creek that ran alongside the plaza shopping area that was filled with cafes and shops. It was as private as we were going to get for now.
Avery sat next to me on the bench and turned so she faced me, our knees almost touching. Not wanting to rush her, I gave her a minute to compose herself. However, patience was not one of my virtues, and trying to figure out why she was upset about not having a husband was starting to make me crazy.
With immense patience, I waited until she was ready. Finally, she blew out a breath. “I’m not really sure how to say this.”
“I’ve always found that saying what you need to say with as little bullshit as possible works the best.”
I wasn’t trying to be funny, but it felt fucking good when her lips finally curled up into a smile, no matter how small.
“Right. Well, in that case. Here it is.” She straightened her shoulders, and my eyes dropped to the tantalizing line of cleavage that her wrap dress showed off.
My dick had no business reacting the way he did when she was clearly distraught. But he had a mind of his own. It’s not like I could do anything about my semi currently straining against the fly of my jeans. At least not until I was alone.
“I’m going to lose the inn,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m sorry I wasted your time. But I can’t hire you after all.”
And just like that, the blood returned to my brain, and she had my full attention. “What the fuck?”
“That’s what I said.” She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Turns out that when my grandparents wrote their will, I was only a little girl and because they come from a different generation, they just assumed that by the time they passed away, I’d be married.”
Her distress over not having a husband was quickly coming into focus.
“You’re not married.”
She looked me in the eye and told me what I already knew. “I’m not.”
I couldn’t pretend I didn’t like that little fact. A lot. Avery and her bubbly, over-the-top personality were pretty much everything I tried to avoid in life. Never mind the fact that she was a city girl who didn’t belong in my small town, changing things up. But despite those two very big strikes against her, I was really starting to like the woman.
And my dick…well, we’d already established his thoughts on the matter.
“Okay, you’re going to have to expand on this a little,” I said after a moment. “How does all this translate to you losing the inn?” And me losing my job. The job I needed to cover the deposit I put down on the shop earlier today.
“I was so sure it wasn’t going to,” she said. “But I had the lawyer look into it, and there’s no way around it. If I don’t have a husband, I don’t inherit the inn or the savings account put aside to fix it up. And…” She lifted her left hand in the air and wiggled it before dropping it to her lap in defeat. “That’s not likely to happen in the next few days. So…” She turned and stared out over the creek, lost in her thoughts.
I watched for a moment while fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, trying to make sense of everything she’d just told me.
No husband. No inn. No job. No money. No shop.
Fuck.
“I guess there’s only one thing to do then.”
Avery spun around and stared at me. “Reid. I already told you?—”
“Marry me.”
Avery
“Marry you?”
There was no way he just said that. The stress must be getting to me because there was no way I heard him say that.
“Yes.” His face was serious. No trace of a smile. He wasn’t joking when he said it again. “Marry me.”
What. The. Actual…
My mouth opened and shut like a fish, but no words came out. I pressed my lips together, took a breath, and tried again. Still, there were no words.
There was once a time when I imagined my wedding proposal a million different times in a million different ways, and not once had this particular scenario come up.
Not even close.
“Avery.” Reid grabbed my hand; his touch somehow grounded me and brought me back into the moment. “You need a husband, and I…”
What did he need?
His eyes darted back and forth, before landing on mine once more. “I need the money,” he said after a moment.
“Money?”
I don’t know why, but the admission stung a little. Which was absolutely bonkers because it wasn’t as if this man, who I hardly knew and I didn’t even really think liked me, had actually proposed marriage for any other reason than personal gain.
“You want me to pay you to be my?—”
“No!” He squeezed my hand and reached for the other one. “It’s not like that. I need this job. That’s all. Nothing extra.”
It was hard to think with him sitting so close. And the touch of his hands on mine was doing all kinds of things to my insides. Things I had absolutely no business feeling. Especially now.
“Wait.” I pulled away and jumped to my feet. I needed space to think. Space away from his manly, warm scent that was obviously clouding my better judgment. “You’re not serious.” I turned around to face him and the expression on his face that didn’t give me any other indication. “Are you?”
Reid crossed one leg over the other and leaned back with his arms extended on the bench behind him as he nodded. “Very.”
“You want to marry me?”
“I want you to keep the inn.”
“Because you need a job.”
“And you need the inn.”
So many thoughts raced through my head. I needed a minute to make sense of them. “But a few days ago, you didn’t even want the job.”
“Things changed.”
“What things?”
He tipped his head, looking so cocky and sure of himself that of course I would say yes to his… proposal. If that’s what it really was.
“I told you.” Reid shrugged. “I need the money.”
“Badly enough that you’ll marry me for it?”
He looked me straight in the eyes and nodded.
Damn. He must really need that money.
But I needed him.
Well, I needed his skills.
His handyman skills. I couldn’t afford to think about what other skills Reid might have. My entire body tingled with the suggestion.
“What does this even look like?” The question surprised even me, because what I really should have said was no. Absolutely not. Who gets fake married to the grumpy handyman who barely even likes them just to keep an inn?
Me, apparently.
Dammit, Carrie was right. I was living a Hallmark movie.