Page 9 of The Billionaire's Wife

My response seems to throw him for a moment, but he quickly regains his composure. “You’re right, I suppose,” he finally says, although the words sound like glass coming out of his mouth.

I nod curtly, internally satisfied by his admission. But just then, another thought comes to mind. Something that hadn’t even crossed my mind in the whirlwind of the last twenty-four hours.

“Who’s going to watch Betty when we’re away?” My eyes widen. “Or Howard?”

Alec’s eyebrow quirks upward. “Howard?”

“My dog. The golden retriever you met yesterday.”

He nods. “Ah. Yes. I was planning on hiring a service to take care of Betty while we’re away, as well as all your other dog walking clients. I’ll add Howard to the list. Just let me know your dog walking schedule and I’ll pass it along.”

Oh. Well, I guess he’s thought of everything. “That sounds … good,” I manage.

After a few beats of awkward silence, Alec adds, “If you haven’t had dinner yet, you’re more than welcome to stay. We can order in and discuss more of the details of our arrangement. It’s something we’ll have to do sooner or later anyway.”

Way to really sell the night. But he’s right. And we might as well spend a bit of time together before going off on the trip. After all, we do have to pretend that we’re married. We need to at least seem comfortable around each other.

I nod. “Sure. Why not?”

Alec pulls out his phone to order us dinner, and I reach down to pet Betty, still in complete and utter shock as to what I’ve agreed to do.

Chapter 6

Alec

“I can’t believe you’re actually going through with this,” Aiden declares.

I zip up my suitcase and turn to face him. He’s standing in the doorway of my bedroom, an exasperated—yet amused—expression on his face. “Well, considering I’m about to go pick her up in a few minutes, you should probably believe it,” I answer.

“You’re really paying a girl to pretend to be your wife for the weekend.” He trails after me into the kitchen where I pour myself some coffee in a travel mug. It’s a statement, but it’s still posed as a question.

I sigh in frustration. “What else should I do, Aiden?” I ask. “Go back to Marcus and say, ‘Yeah, remember that wife I introduced you to? Turns out that was all fake, and she’s actually just my dog walker.’ That’ll go over well.”

Aiden purses his lips. “Asher’s really stressed about this, you know,” he finally replies.

“Asher’s always stressed about everything.”

Aiden snorts.

I hold up the coffee pot in offering, but Aiden shakes his head. “But your dog walker?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Ella’s her name,” I’m quick to add.

“Isn’t she a bit young? I mean, is Marcus going to buy that?”

“He did the other day.”

“Yeah, but once he meets her. I mean, she’s a lot younger than you.”

I bristle, shooting him a look. Although, I suppose he’s right. Now that I think about it, I don’t actually know how old Ella is. I know she’s out of college. But only recently. Which would make her … young. At thirty-seven, I know I’m not exactly a spring chicken, but age gaps aren’t that unusual. “It’ll be fine,” I snap at Aiden.

He rolls his eyes.

“You’re going to be ready to head out soon?” I ask Aiden, eyeing him up and down and wondering why he isn’t in his own apartment packing a bag. We’re all flying down to Florida today. Asher, Aiden, Olivia, Lilly, and Ella and I. And while the jet is owned by us and we technically can’t “miss our flight,” I don’t want to be delayed by someone dragging their feet—which Aiden is known to do.

“Yep, packed last night.”

I pass him, grabbing my suitcase from my bedroom and rolling it out into the hall. “Well, good. I’m off to pick up Ella. I’ll see you all at the jet.”

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