Usually, my go-to people when I needed advice were my family or the Winchester clan. Ryker and Cole were younger than their sisters, and I was smack dab in the middle. I was as close to Tess and Skye as I was to my sister.
My fingers were itching to grab the phone and call my sister or one of my brothers. But Hunter was right. I couldn’t involve them or the Winchesters, though I could imagine their reactions. My family would have a lot to say on the topic.
Amelia would probably tell us both to not even think about going through with this. Despite being in her seventies, she didn’t want to retire. She’d worked her way up from teacher to principal and still ran the school with an iron fist. Tess would hand us our asses for taking this risk. Skye would insist Hunter check out every other option.
Ryker and Cole would laugh and give us thumbs up. Cole would probably tease Hunter relentlessly about giving up his bachelor status—even if it was temporarily. Ryker would too, but since Cole worked with Hunter, it wasn’t easy to escape his teasing. Not that Ryker was easy to escape either. His office wasn’t far away from Hunter’s. He was a successful Wall Street analyst.
I blew out a breath, pouting. I couldn’t involve anyone in this.
Clearly, this decision wouldn’t be rational, but emotional. The lawyer in me struggled with that. But it all boiled down to whether I’d leave Hunter in the lurch or not. If the one time he truly needed me, I’d turn my back on him and tell him to take his chances with the immigration services.
By dinnertime, I still hadn’t decided anything. I felt like I needed more details, and yet I couldn’t come up with them on my own.
What would our life together look like? How often would we have to be seen in public?
As husband and wife, we’d be expected to show some PDA. My skin tingled at the prospect. And therein lay my problem. Could I live with Hunter for three years, pretend I was head over heels in love when we were in public, and not actually fall for him?
At five o’clock, I still wasn’t sure about my course of action but canceled my evening plans. I wasn’t in the mood to go out.
I wondered what Hunter was doing tonight. Was he on a date? My stomach churned unpleasantly at the thought. I circled back to my sheet of paper, crossing over the words “pros” and “cons.” The new title was Demands and Conditions.
I had no problem coming up with a lengthy list. I was a lawyer, after all. Setting up a framework and boundaries was second nature to me.
After I wrote down everything I could think of, I surveyed the list, biting the end of my pen. Hunter would think I was out of my mind.
I jumped when my phone started buzzing. Hunter was calling. No time like the present to bring this to his attention, but I couldn’t work up the courage to answer. I could barely bring myself to write down some of the conditions. How was I supposed to say them out loud?
I fretted so long that the phone stopped buzzing. But I couldn’t put this off. If I was going to go through with this, I needed all the facts. Drawing in a deep breath, I called him back. He answered right away.
“Hey. Are you still out?” he asked.
“What? Oh... I stayed in. Wasn’t in the mood for anything. I’ve been thinking about what you said....”
“I’m listening.”
“So... I made a list of things we should discuss.”
He laughed. “You have a list?”
“Hey. Don’t mock me. I think better when I see things in writing.”
“Hit me up.”
“First things first. We’d sleep in separate rooms.”
“It wouldn’t be real, Josie. Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to share my bed.”
“I’m glad we clarified it.”
“What’s the next point?”
“I just want paperwork. No wedding.”
“Amelia will flip her shit. Mom too. Your family too. Why no wedding?”
“Because when I do wear a white dress and walk to the altar, I want it to be real.”
“That’s fair,” he said after a few seconds. “Do you want anyone to be at the courthouse, or just the two of us?”
“Amelia would disown us both if we didn’t invite her, so I don’t think we’ll get away with that. It would make my family happy too. And your mom.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn’t work. “Crap. I don’t think we’ll get away just with a courthouse wedding.”
“I don’t think so either. We’ll need a party. This is pretty much the only wedding anyone’ll get for me.” I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to marry, but this wasn’t the first time he’d made his thoughts on the subject clear.
“Party’s fine,” I muttered, even though I’d secretly hoped we could just spring it on everyone that we got married in secret.
“What’s the next point?”
I cleared my throat, tapping my pen against the sheet. There was no point beating around the bush.
“Neither of us can see other people during the duration of our engagement and marriage. You’re well known in business circles. If anyone gossiped that you’re sleeping with someone else behind my back, I’d be everyone’s laughingstock. The reverse is true for you. And it would give the immigration services serious reasons to suspect we’re just putting on a charade.”
There was a long pause, and I was convinced this was a deal breaker for him.
“You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that,” he said finally. “Why don’t I take you out to dinner and we’ll go through the rest of the points on your list?”
“No need.”
“You canceled your plans because of me, future fiancée. The least I can do is make it up to you.”
I grinned, flipping on my back, deciding on the spot to go through with this. “When you put it like that, it sounds like a great idea. I’ve already eaten, but I won’t say no to dessert and cocktails. Take me somewhere fancy.”
“Demanding fiancée.”
“I’m still your girlfriend for now, right?”
“You’re right. Demanding girlfriend.”
Hot damn, I liked the sound of that.
“Any other demands?”
“I’m in the mood for crème brûlée, and I want a great view. Oh, and a comfy sitting area where we can plot after we eat.”
“You’re enjoying this already,” he teased. I actually was. And more than that, I was happy that I could help Hunter.
“Big time, almost fiancé. Big time.”
Chapter Four
Josie
I almost regretted asking Hunter to take me somewhere fancy, mostly because our idea of fancy differed. As a lawyer, I was a high earner, but I was nowhere in his league. Hunter’s paychecks had at least two more zeros than mine, and he wasn’t shy about spending it. He’d brought me to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan.
That was the beauty of New York; you could find anything you wanted. We had a spectacular view of the Empire State building, and I was captivated by all the lights.
That building had been the height of sophistication for me when I first moved here as a doe-eyed teenager. Honestly, it still was. Sometimes I still felt as if I was in a movie when I walked around New York.