she said. “You should worry about me. Right?”
She closed in on me and I stepped back.
I bumped into Vince, then got out of his way too.
Callie laughed.
She was eating this up.
She was pushing at me.
Challenging me.
She knew nothing about me and my feelings on the subject of marriage. Or engagements. Or even relationships as a whole.
Vince patted my back. “Something wrong, Jackson?”
I looked at my uncle. “You’re fucking serious with this?”
“Yeah,” he said. “One million dollars. Get married. See how it works. You two have to get along. You have to make it so everyone sees it as real. It’ll be a shock at first, but oh well. You’ve been having a secret fling for a long time, okay? And you decided to just get it over with and get married.”
“Hear that, Jackson?” Callie called out. “A secret fling for a while. You better get ready to spoil me. I’m a pain in the ass.”
“Oh, I know that, sweetie,” I said.
Vince laughed. “This is going to be fantastic to watch.”
“What do you get out of it?” I asked.
Before Vince could answer, Callie spoke.
“He gets us,” Callie said. “It’s a power play, Jackson. You’re not smart enough to see it. He’s buying our cooperation for one million dollars. It’s worth it to him because he’ll make more off us working together rather than fighting to be apart. And his secret hope is that we find a way to actually get along so we can keep this up for a long time.”
“Fuck, she’s brilliant,” Vince said. He grabbed and squeezed my arm. “Are you sure you can handle her?”
I gritted my teeth. “Oh, I’m fucking sure I can handle her.”
Vince laughed and walked away.
Callie took a step and I blocked her path.
She put her hand to my chest and pushed.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” I said to her.
“Neither do you,” she said back to me. “Want to carry me out of here, husband?”
She snorted and laughed at me.
I grabbed her hips.
I felt the curves… those fucking curves…
“We’re not married yet, Callie,” I said. “You can walk your ass out of here.”
“Why? So you can watch it?”
She pushed at me and walked around me.
I took a breath and looked down at the table.
There was one drink left on the table.
I grabbed it and threw it back, chugging the top shelf whiskey.
Okay, let’s go get fucking married.
I changed into something a little more formal.
Something that didn’t smell like drinks and strip club.
I splashed a little cologne on my neck and grabbed a beer out of the fridge before leaving my apartment.
When I did, Callie was walking out of hers.
She looked at me and gasped. “Go inside!”
“Why?” I asked.
“You can’t see the bride before the wedding,” she said.
“Really?”
“Jackson…”
“Fuck,” I whispered.
I stepped back into my apartment and left the door open.
I listened to Callie as she fumbled around to shut the door and them trampled down the hallway.
She was really drunk.
So was I.
Vince too.
This was the exact kind of thing Vince lived for. Putting two people like Callie and I on the spot like this. To get married? For money?
I wasn’t going to ever back down from a challenge, or from Callie.
She wasn’t going to get a win here.
I’d marry her fine ass and then drive her crazy until she begged for a divorce.
And then I’d happily sign those papers and laugh at her as she realized just how bad she had messed up her life.
I left my apartment and the hallway was clear.
It smelled like Callie.
My nose tingled.
The smell shot straight down to my dick.
I caught myself almost throbbing, ready to get hard because of her smell.
Outside the building, there were three cars waiting.
One for Callie.
One for me.
One for Vince.
Vince stood outside one of the cars.
“Ready, nephew?” he asked.
“You know, this isn’t going to work, right?” I asked.
“How so?”
“We need a marriage license,” I said. “We’re not in Vegas. We’re not in a movie either where those kinds of details are left out.”
Vince laughed. “Have a drink with me.”
He opened the back door to the car and brought out two shot glasses.
The last thing I needed was another drink.
“This is to you, nephew,” he said. “I hope you can survive this. You’ve met your match with Callie.”
“I can survive a fake marriage,” I said.
“It’s not going to be fake, Jackson,” he said.
“How so?”
“We’re going to that little chapel on the other side of the city.”
“Big deal,” I said. “You still need the license.”
Vince got closer to me. “You’d be surprised what money can