Chapter 6: Forever With The CEO: Chapter 6

My brother’s words kept percolating in my mind for the whole damn week. It was a crazy idea. I couldn’t understand why I simply couldn’t get it out of my mind. I’d called Hugo to ask him what that was all about, and he told me that the simplest solution often worked best, but that he was still working on building a case for Allison. He insisted that starting a smear campaign against the grandparents should be the last resort. After I had time to cool off, I agreed. Kids knew when something was wrong. I knew that only too well.

I hadn’t been shell-shocked when the news came out that Dad had another family. On some level, I always intuited that something wasn’t right: his comings and goings only on the weekend, the fact that he knew stuff about children our age, such as which stickers were on trend, which TV series, and so on. I never truly understood how Mom couldn’t tell and believed my father’s lies that he wouldn’t marry her because his parents wouldn’t approve. How had she not gotten wind that he was married?

Then again, I shouldn’t judge too harshly. Mom hadn’t had all the tools we have today. You couldn’t look up someone’s life with a few clicks. And Dad had been careful. There had never been a mention of his other family in any newspapers. I’d never know how he managed to keep a tight lid on that, especially when his wife was at the helm of Whitley Publishing. It was bizarre, but that information had never been public. It was as if neither we nor they existed… until we were front-page news. Once the scandal broke out, he ran away.

I’d made my peace with all of this a long time ago, though. I wasn’t quite sure why I was now reminiscing about everything again. Probably because of this whole custody thing. But right now I had plenty of things to do. I planned to open five more branches of Whitley Fitness this year throughout the country. We had enough in Boston, but there were plenty of areas in the US that I wasn’t covering yet.

I was tempted to put the marriage option on the table for Allison, but it was insane. A marriage of convenience, I supposed. No one could know the extent of what we would be doing because if it ever got out that it was a fake marriage, that would defeat the entire purpose.

Nah, it was a shitty idea. I’d like to help Allison out, but I didn’t think I could do it. It would be too big of a lie.

When I went to bed later that night, the idea was still playing in my mind. But I couldn’t share it with Allison. It was crazy.

The next morning, though, I gave in. I woke up at six on the dot, and it was the first thought that came to mind.

Fuck it. Just get it over with, Nick.

I called Allison even before I got into the shower. I had a golden rule: if an idea kept popping into my head repeatedly, it meant it needed my attention.

“Good morning. I hope I’m not calling too early,” I said when she answered.

“No, I’ve been up for over an hour. But what’s wrong? Any news from the lawyer?” She sounded frantic. Of course she would be—I was calling at the ass-crack of dawn, after all.

Jeez, Nick, way to freak her out.

“No. Not at all. Is this a bad time?”

“Yes, actually. I’m trying to bribe the twins into having breakfast so we can leave.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. But after you drop them off at daycare, could we grab a coffee near your office? What I want to talk about won’t take much time.” This was not something I wanted to propose over the phone—no pun intended.

“Why?”

“I want to discuss some things.”

“Nick, you’re scaring me.”

“No reason to be scared, I promise.”

“Okay.” She still sounded wary. “Sure, we can grab coffee. That means I can skip it now and focus on getting them fed. There’s a coffee shop on the ground floor of my building. We can meet there.”

“When?”

“One hour, give or take.”

“Perfect,” I said before hanging up.

This was crazy. Utter and total lunacy. I couldn’t explain to myself why I kept obsessing over it. Those kids deserved a good home, and Allison could give them that. I saw her with them. She genuinely cared about them. I couldn’t believe that their grandparents wanted to take them away from her, away from Boston. They lived in Montana in a small town. Everything would change for the twins.

As I stepped into the shower, the enormity of the situation hit me. Am I really going to suggest to Allison that we should get married? What’s gotten into me?

And yet, even though I was in complete disbelief, I was already starting to imagine how being married to her would work. My entire body stood at attention—including my pulsing cock.

Fucking hell, I couldn’t be thinking with my dick when it came to this. This wasn’t about me wanting Allison—although there was no doubt about that. Saturday evening, it took all of my self-restraint not to touch her, not to flirt. Being married to her would never work. But I just had to suggest it, to put it on the table. We’d both have a good laugh and agree to never speak of it again. I was sure of it.

***

Allison was already at the coffee shop when I arrived. She was sitting at one of the tables, sipping coffee.

She smiled sheepishly when she noticed me. “Sorry, I got a head start on the coffee. Turns out it was a bad idea to leave my house without having a cup.”

“No problem.”

“It’s self-service. Do you want to grab one?”

I sat down. “No, I’m good. I’ll get it later.”

She frowned. “Nick, you’re scaring me again.”

“I’ll get right to it. Then you can tell me how crazy this all is, and we can put it behind us.”

Her eyes widened. “I’m listening. This doesn’t sound very encouraging, though.”

I leaned back in the chair, studying her. She looked stunning, as usual. Her hair was falling over one shoulder. It was a sexy look on her, preppy but also hot. Because I was sitting at the very edge of the table, I had a view of her legs too. Her skirt wasn’t short, but her legs were endless. And they looked amazing in those high heels.

“Nick!”

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Right. When we spoke about what Hugo told you, I was at the gym. My brothers and I started talking about it, and they suggested, jokingly, that we could get married.”

Her mouth fell open, her right eye ticked, and then she shook her head, wincing. “Sorry. I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I don’t get it.”

“It would make sense. You need someone who’d make a good impression on paper, right? I have a solid business. More than solid, honestly, but I don’t want to brag. I have assets. You’ve known me for a long time, so it wouldn’t seem like you just picked me up off the street.” I hadn’t even realized I’d been thinking these points through until I said them out loud.

For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. Then Allison began to laugh.

“Oh, Nick. You truly are good at lifting my mood,” she said with a smile. “This was good. It’s brightening up my morning, which started by the kids having a tantrum and throwing milk on me.”

“You wouldn’t even know it,” I said. “You look fucking perfect. And, Allison, I know it’s insane, but I wasn’t actually joking.”

She frowned. “Nick, come on. I’m pretty sure it’s not what Hugo had in mind—me just marrying someone for the sake of being married.”

“I think that’s exactly what he meant, but he didn’t lay it out like that.” Because he was a lawyer and legally that wasn’t the soundest advice.

I swallowed hard. Allison looked at me as if I’d grown a second head. I was fixating on her lips, and I had to stop it because she was going to notice.

“I don’t think this is going to—”

A loud beeping sound interrupted us. She glanced at her phone.

“Shoot, I have to take this. It’s my assistant. She never calls me unless it’s important.”

“Sure, no problem.”

She put her phone to her ear.

“What do you mean, they’re already here waiting for me? The meeting is supposed to start in fifteen minutes.” She sighed. “Okay, I’ll be right up. Yep. No, I’m already here. I just grabbed a coffee.” She listened and then responded, “Okay, yes. Sure.”

After hanging up, she pursed her lips. “Sorry to cut this so short. Not sure why they want to start this meeting earlier.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Do you want to drop by the house tonight?”

Did that mean she was considering it?

I flashed her a smile. “Pizza night?”

She laughed. “Why not? I always say Mondays are a special kind of hell. Everyone deserves a treat at the end of it.”

I was going to file that information away in my brain.

She rose to her feet abruptly. I swear to God, I nearly groaned. Fuck my life, she was sexy. How could anyone focus around her? With her standing in front of me, I had an even better view of her legs. An image flashed into my mind of me bending her over right here on this coffee table, hiking her dress up to her waist, and making her mine.

“Nick, you okay? You seem lost in thought.”

No, I’m just fucking lost in a fantasy. The way she said my name only fueled it further.

“Go ahead with your meeting, and I’ll see you tonight.”

She laughed, and I detected a hint of nervousness. “I’m really sorry you came all the way here and I only had, like, fifteen minutes. I swear it was supposed to be half an hour.”

“That makes me feel really special,” I teased, standing as well. If I had those legs right in front of my eyes for any longer, I was going to lose my composure for sure.

I watched her intently as she walked through the glass door leading to a marble lobby. I’d definitely lost my mind, but I was pretty sure she was considering my offer. After the initial shock and disbelief, I didn’t think she was completely discarding the idea, at least.

My pulse quickened. I’d always followed my instincts and done things spontaneously, but this was on another level altogether. Yet I wasn’t feeling sorry for sharing my thoughts with her. Not even one bit. She was ready to fight for those kids, and I wanted to help any way I could.

Another image flashed in my mind of Allison here with me and the coffee shop completely empty. This time, I took her in my arms, ordered her to wrap her legs around me, and pressed her against the nearest wall, exploring her in all the ways I wanted.