temporary. You can have your own room. We can live our own lives, but you’re honestly the only person that can sell this.”
I pulled my hand back, breaking the physical contact. The Earth had just opened up beneath me. This wasn’t exactly how I had expected to be proposed to even if I had abandoned romantic notions years ago.
“Why me? Why does it have to be me?” The words came out as a whisper.
Kyle stared at me long and hard. His gaze was unwavering. His eyes deep and infinite. “Because of who you are to me. Who you’ve always been to me.” He swallowed. “No one will question that I would want to marry you. Particularly Josie. This entire town watched me make a fool of myself over you for years.”
There was a lot to unpack there. And if I were in a proper frame of mind and not totally blindsided, I’d be slightly giddy by his admission. But I didn’t know if I could do what he was asking.
He wanted us to fake a marriage. To pretend to be in love.
It sounded like a plan destined to end in misery. My misery.
“But it wouldn’t be real; I promise you that. Don’t think I’m putting pressure on you to make this into a real marriage. I wouldn’t do that to you,” he went on in a rush. “Just think of it as one friend helping another out. And you’d be really helping me, Whit. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I hope you’ll think about it. For Katie. And for me.”
“It wouldn’t be real,” I repeated dully.
“Of course not. But I don’t think it will be too horrible for you. I’m not that bad of a guy.” His lips quirked into the shadow of a smile before disappearing. “Please, Whitney. I can’t lose my daughter. I know this is unfair to put on your shoulders. We haven’t been in each other’s lives for years. But I trust you and your heart. I know you care about Katie. I’ve seen how you are with her. And I think you must still care about me; otherwise, you would have thrown your water in my face ten minutes ago.”
“So, you’re telling me that you’re hinging your custody case on our ability to sell a marriage to the courts?” I didn’t know what I was feeling. Freaked out. Yep. Overwhelmed. Probably. Maybe a little sad. Most likely.
“Well, we like each other. We’re friends. We’ve known each other forever. I was more than a little in love with you for a long time. We could sell the shit out of this, Whit,” Kyle begged.
His casual reminder of how he used to feel for me made it more than clear that that was not how he felt anymore. And damn that hurt.
But I cared about Kyle Webber. I cared about his beautiful girl. I didn’t want to see him lose her to Josie. It wasn’t right that that was even a possibility.
What did I have to lose? It was a temporary fix to a very big problem. I could do it. For Katie. For Kyle.
“I’ll understand if you tell me to get lost,” Kyle hedged, seeming to prepare himself for just that.
“I wouldn’t do that,” I said.
“You can think about it—”
“I don’t need to think about it.”
“Oh. Okay.” Kyle winced, bracing for a blow.
“Let’s get hitched,” I said, throwing my hands into the air.
Kyle sat there looking dumbstruck. “Are you serious?”
“As a grave,” I retorted.
Kyle sat back with a thud. “I really thought you’d tell me to go fuck myself.” He blinked a few times, shaking his head. “You mean it? You’ll do this?”
“I told you I’d do anything to help you, didn’t I?”
Kyle laughed without humor. “I’m sure you weren’t thinking becoming Mrs. Webber was part of that.”
“Yeah, okay, so maybe not, but I truly care about Katie, and I don’t want you to lose her. Let’s sell the hell out of this, Kyle.” Even though my heart hurt a little at the idea of a fake marriage with him, I meant it when I said I’d help him in whatever way I could.
It was only for a little while. What harm could it do?
God, I was an idiot.
Chapter 9
Kyle
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Mom argued, rooting through her jewelry box until she found the tiny black velvet box she was searching for.
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard this since I had shared the plan with her and Dad.