Chapter 6 #2
This is business, and this is just a legal partnership.
“I don’t think I have to,” I correct her.
“You want to?” Her mouth drops open.
I raise my eyebrows. “Libby Bennet. You’re a beautiful, confident, powerful woman. Why wouldn’t I want to?”
Libby freezes. Somehow, amidst all those compliments, I’ve said the wrong thing.
“What?” I ask. “Did I say something wrong?” Maybe calling her powerful when she had to come to me for this favor rubbed her the wrong way.
She shakes herself. “Nothing. But the first rule will be no flirting.”
“Um…” I can’t help but think they’re going to call our marriage a sham right off if I can’t flirt with my wife.
She waves at me impatiently. “I mean, just between us. Obviously you can flirt in public. If we do this,” she adds quickly.
“We’re doing this.” I sit forward and eye her. “I want that job of building this team, and if this is the way we need to do it, I’m in.”
She studies me. “You’re crazy.”
I chuckle. “It’s a piece of paper, Libby. A business deal. How am I crazy to accept it for ten million dollars?”
“I didn’t give you, personally, ten million dollars,” she reminds me.
“Whatever. I owe you.”
“You don’t,” she says insistently.
I let it go. She’s not winning this argument.
We stare at each other for several moments. I catch myself from leaning forward. No flirting in private, for whatever reason.
“This is crazy,” she murmurs to herself.
“Only because this is what it takes to buy a minor-league hockey team,” I point out.
“Well, we agree on that.” She huffs, then gives a decisive nod.
“Okay, first thing, we have to tell my family we’ve been dating in secret for a while.
Have a whole story. Marrying a guy on a whim is exactly what the old Libby would do, even though I haven’t made a stupid decision like that for years. They’ll freak out. And worry.”
“You’ve married other guys on a whim?” I laugh.
“Married? No. But I’ve made other dumb decisions.” She shakes her head at those words. “Well, I’ve been dumb.”
“You don’t trust them with the truth?” I ask.
“If you mean, can they keep a secret? Yes. They would never leak it to anyone that it’s all for show, but they’d never let us go through with it. They’d step in with the board or something, and we’d be right back at my family being the one to rescue me.”
She must have her reasons for not wanting her family to step in here, but if she wanted to expound on them, she would.
She stands up and starts pacing in front of me.
She’s wearing a pair of lightweight, wide-leg black pants that swish lightly against her legs as she walks.
Her dark hair sways back and forth, loose against her back in waves.
“Let’s just adjust the truth. We met at one of your early Redhaven fundraisers and went out right away but kept it a secret.
They won’t ask why—being me is reason enough.
” She rounds on me. “What about your sister? Will she buy that we’ve been dating in secret? ”
I shake my head. “Nope. But I can tell her the truth.”
Libby shakes her head. “No. We can’t tell anyone the truth. Too much risk that they’ll leak it to the press.”
“She won’t believe it,” I reiterate. “But I promise we can trust her.”
Libby mouths the word we like it surprises her. But we are in this together. We. A team.
“She won’t tell anyone?” She bites the inside of her cheek anxiously. I remind myself that she’s not distrustful of Baylee—she’s lived a life where she can’t trust many people, period.
“Absolutely.” Baylee’s going to think I’ve lost my mind, but she won’t say anything. “I promise,” I add in a gentle tone.
Libby eyes me for a moment before nodding and then continuing to pace. It’s probably difficult for her to rely on someone she doesn’t know yet. I won’t fault her for that. “What about your parents?” she asks.
“I don’t want to burden them with the truth,” I say. “Since they don’t live in Houston, I think they’ll believe that I could be dating someone and not have told them. But if they get pressed about us, I want them to be able to say what they think is the truth and not have to lie.”
Libby’s expression softens, like she gets that lying to them is the kinder thing to do here. “They’ve already been through a lot, I bet. I mean, with the media, after everything that happened with Bryce.”
My chest tightens with the memories of being hounded by reporters after everything went down with Bryce. I was used to unkind things being flung my way after eight years playing pro hockey. My family wasn’t.
“Yeah,” I say simply.
We share a look of understanding, and she goes on. “We’ll give as few details to the press as possible.”
I hadn’t even thought about giving the press details at all. Sure, I played pro hockey, but I wasn’t one of the superstar players. Hockey fans in Houston know my name, but that’s about it. Living with the limelight Libby’s been in her whole life will be entirely new to me.
“We’ll plan an intimate, family-only ceremony—or should we run off somewhere and elope on a beach? Probably that. Super romantic, fewer lies to our family…” She’s thinking out loud at this point, but she stops again and turns to me. “Is your mom going to kill you if you run off and elope?”
Probably, but Libby doesn’t need to hear that right now. Especially since I agree that running off to elope is the better choice. I can’t stand up in front of my mom and make marriage vows to a woman I don’t love, to a woman I barely know. “It will be fine. I agree we should elope.”
Libby stops in front of me and puts her hands on her hips. “And we will have to make some strict rules.”
Unfortunately, she looks very hot as she says this. She’s eyeing me with fierce hazel eyes and a determined expression.
“Of course,” I manage to say.
“All physical affection is only when we’re in public.”
“Obviously.”
“And we will make a plan for the level of physical affection as per the event.”
I am completely unsurprised that this woman has been running a private investigations firm successfully. Planning our PDA based on the event is an attention to detail I can only dream about.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees and looking up at her. “Exactly what type of event would require, say … a kiss?” I ask, my tone playful.
She narrows her eyes. “No flirting in private, Jordan. Remember?”
I straighten, holding my hands up in surrender. “That was not flirting. I was simply trying to … clarify. Make sure I’m fully briefed on the details.”
She drags a hand down her face. “This is probably a big mistake.”
I stand and put my hands on her shoulders gently. “If we start out the relationship by saying how we kept everything a secret to keep it out of the press, it’s going to be fine when we’re not very affectionate in public. Plenty of celebrity couples keep things chill in front of the cameras, right?”
She lets out a breath and nods. “Yeah. You’re right.”
I tilt her chin up to look at me. “Everything’s going to be fine, Libby Bennet. What are you afraid of?”
She says it so quietly I can’t be sure, but I think she says, “You.”