city. And we can be home Sunday night in time for you to call and schedule your surgery Monday.”
See the city? She didn’t want to see Chicago. She wanted to spend the day in bed with her hot, would-be-by-then husband.
Then again… she kind of wanted to see the city. Her parents and grandparents both always wanted to travel and had never been able to. She was excited about the idea of the plane and everything that this would entail.
“That sounds good.” Then she tipped her head. “Will it look suspicious if we get married, and three days later I’m scheduling surgery?”
He shook his head. “Zoe saw your attack today at the bakery. We’ll just say that it happened again and the surgery was emergency.”
“But Cam knows we went to urgent care,” she pointed out.
“Cam won’t say anything,” Grant said easily.
“You’re sure?”
“I totally trust him.”
“Oh, I do too. But will he know he shouldn’t say something?” Josie wanted to know.
“I’ll fill him in.”
“So, Cam will know our secret. That we’re married for the insurance.”
“Yes. But he’ll have to help with the paperwork and everything anyway,” Grant said. “I’m hoping he can pull strings with one of the judges.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Grant moved to stand in front of her and tipped her chin up with his finger. “What’s wrong?”
She shrugged, feeling silly. “I just… I know it’s not going to be real, but I thought if we were the only ones that knew that then maybe it would… feel a little real.”
“It’s going to be real, Jocelyn,” Grant said. “The marriage will be real.”
“But it’s not…” She took a breath. She was not going to whine to him about how they weren’t in love. He knew that. And he did not want to be stuck, even temporarily, with a crazy, love-at-first-sight believer. “It’s not like we want to get married,” she finally said.
He crouched in front of her, taking her chin between his finger and thumb. “I do want to marry you. Maybe the reasons aren’t entirely conventional, but the desire to be your husband is real.”
She so appreciated him not saying maybe I don’t love you but… She smiled and leaned in, putting her lips against his. “Okay.”
He kissed her, then pulled back. “By the way, I’m staying tonight.”
“Good.”
“But no sex.”
She pouted. She knew that made sense. Her side was achy, and she was still freaked out, and things between them were a little weird. Mostly good weird, but still weird. Still… Grant in her bed all night without any of that?
“You need to rest tonight,” he said, smiling at her disappointed expression. “You’ve had a lot of pain, and it’s been emotional, and you need your sleep.”
He was even taking care of her now.
“And I’m going to text Aiden and have him tell Zoe that I’m whisking you off to Chicago tomorrow and that you won’t be in.”
“No!” She gripped his wrist. “No. Seriously, Grant. I have to work in the morning. It’s our busiest time, and it’s too late for her to get her mom to help fill in.”
“She knows you weren’t feeling well.”
“I would have told her by now if I couldn’t be there,” Josie insisted.
Zoe depended on her. Yes, it made taking time off and sick days complicated, but Buttered Up was Josie’s too. Not officially. It had been in the McCaffery family for three generations and the family was… traditional. Okay, that was a nice word for set in their ways. Stubborn. Stuck.
Still, Josie loved Buttered Up and working with Zoe, and she truly felt as invested in the bakery as if it was partly hers.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll rest, and I’ll eat carefully in the morning. We can head to Chicago in the afternoon.”
He didn’t look happy but he nodded. “Fine. But we’ll leave right after the morning rush. Not afternoon. Maggie can get there by then.”
It was a compromise. And Grant coming in and whisking her off for a surprise getaway would be an easier sell than Josie planning a trip. That just wasn’t something she would normally do. She’d never been on an airplane. Never been to a city bigger than Des Moines. Never gone out of town with a boyfriend.
It would also play into something is different about Grant and Josie that would help when they came back married.
“Fine, but you have to come in as if it’s a last-minute-surprise romantic trip,” she said. “You have to basically kidnap me.”
He gave her that half smile. “Hmm. Should I bring handcuffs and a blindfold?