Page 34 of The Green Card Baby Deal

“No. She was happy about it. She was… relieved.” His tone was far more unsure than he thought he actually was. Then again, things were far from normal, and he’d never done well when forced to improvise. He was better with a day planner, his days scheduled to the hour. Clara had thrown him so far off course, he hardly knew where he was anymore. “I love her,” he murmured, “but she doesn’t want love. She doesn’t want anything. She’s the first person I’ve ever been with who didn’t want anything at all. I have no idea what to do for someone like that. What would you do for someone like that?”

He was being intolerably rude, dancing with one woman while pining for another. Luckily for him, Cher seemed far more charmed by the story than offended. The music slowed to a stop, and she led him to a booth in the corner. She brought both their drinks from the bar, and sat opposite him. “I can’t stand a sad billionaire.” She reached across the table and patted his hand. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.” She laughed.

Luis shook his head, ashamed he’d failed to purge Clara from his head. “I apologize. This isn’t what I meant to talk about with you. I was just trying to?—”

“Get her out of your head?” Cher finished his sentence so he wouldn’t have to. “No worries. I was just having a bit of fun anyway. Look, I don’t know what all you’re going through, but I can tell you a little something about myself and maybe it’ll help. I had my heart broken once. I was young and in love, and he didn’t want to get serious. So I pretended not to care. It was all pride, you know. I laughed at him and told him I was worried he was going to ask me out. I told him I was relieved he didn’t. It was cruel, but I’d been cut, and I wanted to swipe back. It was just pride.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, but I doubt that’s what’s happening here.”

“Really? Why? Because she didn’t cry? She’s a woman, Luis. All she’s done her whole life was walk that line to be everything everyone wants her to be. She knows how to build a decoy heart to distract you. No doubt, it’s made of stone. They all are. Cold bitches, they call us. But you know what I did after I laughed in his face — the boy who broke my heart all those years ago?” She leaned in, and Luis shook his head. “I went home and cried until I was hoarse from it. I felt like my life was over, like I’d never find love again. I don’t think I’d ever cried so hard as that. That stupid boy had no idea what he’d done to me, but… that was the whole point. Don’t you see? She can’t let you see what you’ve done to her. She has to be stronger than that.”

The truth behind Cher’s words hit Luis hard. She wasn’t lying — that was clear enough. She was laying her heart out on the table between them so he could see she meant what she said. “You really think that’s what’s happened? The marriage was a sham from the start, just a stupid business arrangement.” The alcohol must have gotten to him because he was definitely oversharing at this point. Ah, what did it matter anyway? His citizenship was secured. His company would continue to do well. He had everything lined up and perfect. Except her. “It was all an elaborate lie.”

Cher frowned at him. “That’s bullshit if I ever heard it. Look at you. You’re all broken up about ending an elaborate lie? I don’t think so. You’re in love. And me convincing you of that should tell you how deep you’re in it. Ten minutes ago, I was about to snag me a date with a billionaire, but I quickly saw how futile it was. Now, I’m pretty sure my best bet is to save you from a broken heart, and maybe you’ll remember me one day.”

Luis bit back a smile. Her honesty was refreshing, at least. “I won’t forget.”

“I swear your girl knows how you feel about her. You’re way too obvious. But you broke it off, and now her pride is hurt. If she’d felt nothing, she wouldn’t have put on the act. Trust me. The act was to show you her strength. She protested way too much. I’d put money down that she’s crying herself hoarse as we speak. She’ll never let you see it. But tomorrow, her eyes will be all puffy and red, and she’ll be feeling like her whole life is over. She’ll tell herself how stupid she was to put on the act, but instinct is instinct and she can’t be vulnerable like that.”

Luis gulped down the last of his beer and sighed heavily. “You’re a sweet girl, Cher.”

“I’m not sweet. I’m right.” She waved her bottle in front of his face. “Okay, I’ll prove it to you. Let’s make a bet. Fifty thousand.”

He gaped at her.

“I’m not going to lose,” she said. “That’s how sure I am. Go on back to her and tell her how you really feel. Find a way to do it that she can’t even begin to doubt. Don’t let her pride second guess a moment of it. Hit her with everything you’ve got, and see how she reacts. If she doesn’t throw her arms around your neck and marry you yesterday, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.”

“Then you’re out fifty thousand.”

“Pffft!” She kicked him under the table, clearly even drunker than he was by now. “I can’t pay that. It’s got to be an equal loss. Fifty thousand for you is nothing. If I lose, I’ll take you out to dinner or something. But I’m not going to lose. I’m getting myself a half a fortune tonight.” She began writing her name and number on a napkin for him, and he had the thought that this was probably the strangest way he’d ever gotten a woman’s number, and for the strangest reason, too.

“Make it a hundred thousand,” he said.

Her effort to hide her smile was a failed one. “You really don’t think she loves you, do you?”

“It’s not that,” he said, taking the napkin and slipping it into his coat pocket. “It’s just that, if you’re right and I win her back by telling her how I really feel, I’ll owe you that and so much more. She’s the mother of my child and the love of my life. And you’re right. I should have been fighting for her all along. It was her pride, and it was mine, too. I was stupid to let her go. I’ve never really fought for someone before, but that’s because I’ve never really had to. I would never have recognized it if it hadn’t been for you.”

Cher bit her lip and looked unsure. “Stupid of me, really. Wait until I tell my mother I danced with a billionaire tonight and instead of seducing him, I talked him into getting back with his fiancée.”

“No,” Luis assured her. “You tell your mother you passed a test tonight. You tell her you did everything right. You passed a test, and now all your dreams will come true. I’m going to make sure of it.”

CHAPTER 20

CLARA

For Clara, packing her things and moving, yet again, to Dawn’s place felt like the worst kind of chore. She’d given up her place when she moved in with Luis, not seeing how such a pragmatic deal could go wrong and wanting to commit to the bit completely. Now she had nowhere to go, but she was not about to lean on Luis’s charity for anything else. Her heart wanted to be strong, or at least to look stronger than it was, and the only person who she didn’t mind seeing her weakness right now was Dawn.

All her things were piled in her sister’s spare room, which would eventually become a nursery, and Clara couldn’t bring herself to unpack them. Just being in the room reminded her of the nursery she’d decorated with Luis — that kiss he’d given her after their flirtatious fight. He’d been so full of passion then, and she was more than a little certain he would have confessed his love had she allowed him to keep talking. But she hadn’t, and now she was kicking herself for it. At the same time, she wanted him to fight for her, so maybe knowing he wouldn’t was for the best in the end.

She took one last look at her piles of boxes and suitcases, and made her way to the kitchen with all that weight on her heart. Stan was there cooking dinner with Dawn.

“Oh, sit down, Sis,” Clara said. “You shouldn’t be working.”

“Not a chance.” Dawn turned and pointed a knife at her. “You’ll get it when you’re more pregnant and no one will let you do anything. It’s so boring. Stan gets it. Don’t you, Stan?”

“Not really,” Stan said without turning around. “I wish you’d let me spoil you more.”

“See?” Clara gestured to stan. “That’s what I’m trying to say.”

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