Page 9 of Pin-up Girl

I slid her my drink, and she took a sip. Silence settled between us.

“I’d give you my insurance if I could,” Aubrey said after a few minutes.

“Yeah. That would be cool.”

Her grandfather had founded one of the largest insurers in the state. Even though Aubrey didn’t like dealing with her extended family, she took advantage of the best-policy-even-money-couldn’t-buy policy she got because of who she was related to.

I didn’t blame her for that.

She took another drink of my coffee, and I did the same.

“Let’s get married.”

I nearly choked on my drink, and stared at her in disbelief. “What did you just say?” I must have heard her wrong.

Once upon a time, I’d dreamed of asking her to marry me. I was young and dumb and that was way back when. I’d learned since that she and I were better off friends. I would have lost her long before now if we’d taken things further.

But when she said those words let’s get married, a rush of heat and hope spread through my body.

I shut the reaction down without another thought.

“Let’s get married,” she said again. “You can have my insurance if we do.”

“No.”

She jutted out her lower lip in the sexiest pout. “Don’t you love me?” Her expression went back to normal. “Seriously though. Think about this for a moment as a real idea, rather than joke. Tell me why it won’t work.”

“We don’t love each other.” Good answer, me. Not.

“We like each other, and that’s more than a lot of married people can say.”

I couldn’t argue the logic. “What would we tell Dee? She adores you. And if she thinks we’re married… No.” I couldn’t break Dee’s heart like that.

Though, was that worse than telling her she had to go live with her mom and rarely see me?

“That’s fair.” Aubrey nodded. “But hear me out. We take the afternoon to pick up the license and stand in front of a judge. It’s only for legal purposes. Gives us the paperwork to show the insurance company. We don’t have to tell anyone.”

My heart sank at those last words. Honestly… this wasn’t a bad idea.

“You can’t let Regina win. Not ever, but especially not with this. She’s using Dee’s life as a bargaining chip. That’s so fucked up, I’m sick even saying it.”

“You’re right.” I would do anything for Dee, and fake-marrying Aubrey was far from a bad thing. Really, it wasn’t far from the top of the good things list. The worst part of the idea was that it wouldn’t be re— Nope. There were no bad parts. “Will it work?”

“Insurance will go into effect at the start of next month. If you can hold out for two weeks…”

I already had to wait at least that long to get on the calendars for all of the tests the doctor had ordered. A strange blend of hope and doubt swelled inside.

It would be fun to go down on one knee, but people talked…

Instead, I reached across the table and grasped Aubrey’s fingers. “Aubrey Lantrey, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

She grinned. “What are you doing this afternoon?”

“Tying the knot with the most incredible woman I know.”

“I hope she doesn’t mind sharing you with me.” Aubrey winked.

My chuckle was half relief, half uncertainty. Was this a bad idea? It felt too easy, but it didn’t matter how I examined the idea, I didn’t see flaws in it. “We just have to make sure we keep it from Dee.”

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