Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Michael
The next morning
Every morning I woke up beside Britney, her nearness sent a thrill through me, and a smile grew as I opened my eyes. Somehow, I needed to show her that life with me was better.
The previous night, she’d said no to fake dating but then had me come to bed. Honestly, she seemed conflicted, but the time had come to persuade her the old-fashioned way.
I knew I wanted her, and I needed her to see that life with me was better than any other choice she could make.
For the time being, I slipped out of bed, having decided to make her breakfast. I wasn’t sure she enjoyed eggs or bacon, so I also fashioned the dough I’d made the previous night and stuck it in the oven so that we would have fresh bread.
I hummed and finished everything, taking the bread out the oven when she came out of the bedroom wearing a shirt. I placed the plates on the table and said, “Good morning.”
She came over, and I thought she’d kiss me. But then she covered her mouth.
I asked, “What’s going on?”
She ran back into the bedroom, shouting, “Get rid of the eggs!”
“Of course,” I said then heard her being sick.
I covered the pan to hide the smell and went into the bathroom.
She washed her mouth out, and when she finished brushing her teeth, she said, “Sorry about that.”
Now she seemed pregnant. I’d never seen her vulnerable, and it was sexier than I'd expected, but I said, “No more eggs.”
“Good plan.” She took my arm.
All that was left on the table was tea and bread. She sniffed the bread and nodded. Then she saw my phone, which I’d clicked off. She held out her hand and said, “Show me what you’re reading.”
Sharpness was another quality she had. I reopened my phone to a PDF and handed it to her, seeing no point to hiding.
Her eyes widened as she read, then she said, “Your sister is suing you for your money, claiming you made your fortune from your inheritance.”
“I didn’t use my inheritance for anything.”
“How did you amass a fortune on your own?”
“I bet Charlie I could race a car faster than him.”
“You? You started all this… on a bet?”
“I’m friends with his family, so they helped. Now, back to my family.”
“Oh yeah.”
I shrugged because what my sister had brought was a nuisance suit. “Primogeniture still exists. The title and money could never officially be Bernadette’s.”
She sighed and took my hand. “Is there a way she could win?” Her caring was sweet.
I shrugged. “If she could prove I was somehow mentally unfit, I suppose.”
She lifted her chin and said, “If my… our child is your heir, then your money is protected.”
“Yes.” I offered her the butter tray. “She would move down the list, and you’d ensure no one ever gets near him or her.”
“With my life.” She added some butter to her bread.
I sat straighter. My sister was bitter, but that wasn’t an issue.
“Hopefully, it won’t get to that,” I said.
She stared at me, and for a second, I was lost.
Then she took my hand and said, “Okay, I’ll marry you as you want, but we need rules.”
My heart sped up as though I’d already won. “Rules?”
She laughed. “Yes. Obviously, sex is staying between us.”
I let out a breath I’d been holding. “Good.”
She then tasted her meal and closed her eyes as she enjoyed her food. “And you need a year and a trip to England.”
Heat washed through me. We were back to fakery. I should have realized that sooner.
But I nodded and said, “I do.”
She sipped her tea and, for a moment, said nothing. Then she said, “Okay, but you can never, ever tell me you love me.”
I sat back and stared at her. She was serious.
My heart raced as I said, “What if it’s that I can’t tell you first?”
She stared at me like I was being strange and shrugged. “That’s fair enough.” Then she ate more bread and drank her tea. Just when I thought we were done with rules, she said, “Okay, and let’s keep separate accounts. I don’t want to ever start depending on you financially.”
I folded my hands on the table and said, “My offer of twenty-five million for you is to ensure you’re provided for.”
She pushed back her empty plate and asked, “Just because I have the baby I intend to have anyhow?”
And she would have the means to protect herself from scandal and support herself without lifting a finger the rest of her life. But I kept that to myself. “Yes.”
She stared down at the table then closed her eyes like she was praying or something. Then she sighed and said, “Then I’ll accept because I need to make New York work as it’s the only home I have.”
I poured her a second cup of herbal tea. “I thought we were going to your home first?”
She shook her head quickly. “Forget it. They only know me as a failure.”
“That’s impossible.” I was the last person who would ever think that.
She let out a laugh and started on the second cup.
I held her hand and said, “Okay, so I want to know this Smith version of you first so when we meet with my parents and my sister, I’m not surprised about anything they might say.”
She rocked, and her eyes widened. “Oh God. Is this required?”
Something had changed, and I wished she would tell me what. “Why?”
“I called home last night,” she said, her eyes glassy. She blinked and met my gaze. “My parents still think of me as a complete failure as a human being.”
She’d used the same word a second time. She must have believed it.
“That makes no sense,” I said.
She pivoted and cupped my face. “Your sister told you yesterday. It’s true I barely passed high school. I was actively trying to fail at that point.”
If that had been active, then it wasn’t a true failure, not that she saw that.
“That’s not who you are now,” I said.
She stood and said, “I like that you believe that about me. Look, if you really want to see me at my worst, we’ll go there first.”
That was a start. If I understood her, then I would have a better argument, so I said, “Excellent. Then we’ll come back and then pop over so we can squash my sister-led lawsuit.”
She offered me a handshake. “So we have a deal?”
I wanted more than a deal, but that was a start. As I walked her to the door, I asked, “Should we shop for real estate before or after we get back?”
She kissed my cheek and said, “I’ll text Kelly to get started, and you two can talk today.”
“Then we have a deal.”
She turned around and faced me with one hand in the air. “One more condition.”
I’ll miss her when she’s gone. “What’s that?”
She sighed and said, “I need a list of what’s expected of me as your marquess or duchess. What exactly am I supposed to do, exactly?”
Good question. I nodded. “I can have that drawn up.”
Her eyes widened. “You don’t know?”
I’d never asked my mother for a full list of things she did. I shrugged. “Not exactly, but I can have the lawyer I hired provide the full list.”
She went through her shoes, avoiding her signature heels. “I’ll definitely need that to study.”
I stopped her and asked, “Study?”
She blushed but then grabbed a pair of flats. “Why, do you shirk whatever responsibilities you have?”
I flinched and said, “I don’t. You’ll see when we get home, but I pay for everything already even if my sister has no idea. I always do what I think is best for everyone. Let us make our own decisions, or at least me. I’m not that bad at choosing what’s best in my life.”
She tilted her head. “You are? You’ve been pretending since we met.”
Part of me wished we never had to part. I’d never been confused like this before. “I only stayed a butler when Charlie brought you home because of us.”
“You’d have left?”
I nodded quickly. “I’d have changed addresses as it was pretty clear Hope never liked having me around.”
She narrowed her gaze. “That can’t be true.”
I pointed at her phone. “Ask her.”
“Okay.” She texted her friend, Hope did you not like having Michael around?
Neither of us moved. Then her phone beeped. She showed her screen, and we read. I like doing things on my own and going into the kitchen in my underwear if I need to so hell yes. Keep him there .
I’d been right—she was uncomfortable. But I stepped back and said, “That’s more graphic than I needed to know.”
Britney took a deep breath and said, “My friends and I aren’t always polite.”
I’d seen them together for a month, so I nodded and said, “I realized. What should we do to formalize the deal?”
She tugged her shoes on and said, “Get your lawyer to draw up the papers. Once you have them tonight, I’ll quit my job.”
That would be the start of the mission to spent the rest of our lives together.
I nodded. “They will be in writing when you return.”
“Goodbye,” she said.
“Goodbye.” I said but tugged her closer.
She batted her eyelashes, and her lips came up. So I kissed her. She was mine even if she didn’t know it yet.