person to do something like that.
I reach the steps of the courthouse and wait. It feels like I’ve been standing there forever when I see a cab pulling into the long, winding drive. It rolls to a stop in front of me and I swallow, tasting my heart in my throat. The back door opens and I breathe in, waiting for her to get out. With one foot on the ground, she steps out from the cab in a flowing white dress. I frown, confused as all hell because it’s not Liv.
“Tara?” I ask.
She beams up at me. “Let’s get this show on the road, handsome.”
“What?” I shake my head, confused. “What’s going on?”
“Look,” Tara says, hand on hip, her expression all business. “You need a wife and I’m doing a friend a favor,” she explains with a shrug. “A divorce next to my name is going to be a great pick-up line. Sugar daddies love a poor, young divorcee.”
A small smile creeps onto her face, which angers me, because I see nothing amusing about this. I don’t want to marry Tara. I want Liv. I shake my head, convinced this is a joke, and Liv will pop out from inside the cab and yell ‘surprise!’ Of course, she doesn’t.
“Where’s Liv?” I demand.
Tara sighs and looks around. Spying a bench not far away, she walks to it and sits down. I have no choice but to follow because I need answers. I glance at the time again, my stomach twisting into a mass of knots. I have so many things fighting for the spotlight in my thoughts, it’s making me dizzy.
“What the hell is going on?” I give Tara a pained stare, praying she’ll give me a straight answer for once.
“Liv overhead your conversation with Jake,” Tara says flatly.
“What conversation?”
“Uh, the one where you told him she’s a hot piece of ass that knows how to please a guy and that you’re going to win the bet?”
My blood runs cold. Tara looks like she wants to slap me across the face, and frankly, I don’t blame her. How the heck did she overhear that? I was in my room. Unless she decided to come back after all…
Shit.
“She thinks it’s all about the bet, that you don’t have any real feelings for her. And honestly, I don’t blame her. You’re a real ass, you know that?”
I shake my head because it wasn’t like that.
“She must have heard that and ran off,” I think out loud.
“Do you blame her?” Tara growls. “This thing is,” she continues, “she was going to screw you out of your business. Pretend that everything was all fine and dandy until the last minute and then leave you hanging.”
My mouth drops. “What?”
“Relax, bud. She felt bad about doing it. So, here I am.” Tara shrugs. “She begged me to step in and help out.”
“She’s got it all wrong,” I say. I feel sick.
“Oh really, so you didn’t say that?” Tara’s tone is laced with sarcasm.
“Yes, but it’s out of context. If she’d kept listening, she would’ve heard me say to Jake that I didn’t care about the bet. That Liv meant more to me than keeping this out of the media. That’s what I wanted to tell Liv at the restaurant. I was never going to marry her. I’m too in love with her to risk what we have just to win some stupid bet.”
I gotta go find her.
“Hey. Where are you going?” Tara calls out after me as I sprint away from her.
“To find Liv,” I call out over my shoulder.
I can’t let her go on thinking that winning is more important than she is. Since the moment I met her, she changed my view on everything. I don’t want my happily ever after if it doesn’t include her. I hail a cab and climb inside.
“Where to?”
I pause, realizing I have no idea where she is. I scrub my face with my hands. What am I supposed to do now? Then, out of nowhere, Tara’s face appears in the window. She tugs open the door and for once, I’m glad to see her. She’s the only person I can think of who might be able to help me right now.
“Where is she?” I ask.
“She went home.”
“Great. Now I get to have this conversation in front of her mother and probably Jake.”
Tara thinks for a moment, then her eyes light up. “I have an idea.”
She pulls her phone out of her handbag and dials a number.
“Who are you