Page 39 of The Acquisition

"My point is," she continued, "I've known you a long time. Not once have I seen you stay with one woman longer than two or three months. Now you're asking me to help you marry a woman you haven't even gone out on a single date with?"

"C'mon, Care, you know what the situation is."

"I know whathersituation is. There are worse things in life than losing a large sum of money. She's young, well-educated, and owns her own business. Jana has the rest of her life to rebuild her fortune. I doubt it will even take her ten years. You do not need to play white knight and marry her, Colt."

My jaw clenched, and I took a deep calming breath through my nose. "I don't need a lecture, I need help."

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do." She was quiet for a long minute, and when I heard her sigh, I knew she was thinking about helping me.

"Tell me why you want to marry her. Don't feed me anymore bullshit about her getting her trust fund. I know what you've already done for her, helping her set up her business away from her father. What are you getting out of this transaction?"

"I don't know," I murmured.

"Bullshit," she snapped. "Tell me."

"A family!" I shouted. "I'm thirty-eight years old. I've got a daughter I only just found out about. I want a second chance."

"A second chance?" she asked me. I'd never told her about Jenny. Hell, I'd never told Beckett about her either.

"A second chance at having more." My voice was soft and filled with all the regret I'd accumulated over the last twenty-three years.

"Colter, you're one of the richest men in Seattle. What more could you need?"

"Things, Care. I don't give a shit about things. I want a family."

"Does Jana know you're using her situation to tie her down?"

I groaned. Not because what she said bothered me. I was using Jana's situation to get her into my life, but because I suddenly couldn't get the image of tying Jana up out of my head.

"Colter, so help me, if you are fantasizing about bondage right now, I'm going to come over there and plant my Louboutins up your ass."

"Then don't paint that picture."

"Be real with me here. Does she know you plan on having a real marriage?"

I've accepted she's not going to help me. Can't say I blame her, either. When Beckett told me about his arrangement with Evie, before I knew she was my daughter, I thought he was batshit crazy. Still, it felt good to unload everything to a friend.

"I've told her. She doesn't seem to believe me. She thinks it's primarily a business arrangement," I admitted.

"Primarily?"

"There's a lot of chemistry between us. She knows I want her. I've told her she'll be in my bed, but she thinks it's just an itch I need to scratch."

"Is she right?" Caroline asked.

"Fuck, you too? Is that what everyone thinks about me? That I only think with my cock?" I snapped.

"You know you have a reputation," she sighed.

"Are you going to help me or not?" I pushed.

"Will you at least let me draw up a prenup?"

My fist clenched by my side. I forced myself to release it as an idea formed. "On one condition. Set it up so that if she stays married to me for a year, she can walk away without either of us splitting up our assets."

"This is going to blow up in your face," she mumbled, then huffed. "I'll do it, because there's one way the trustees will release her assets without believing the marriage is real."

I nodded my head, but of course she couldn't see me. "It will be. Just get me a year with her, and it will be."

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