Page 30 of All Bets Are Off

I snagged the card and continued to glare. “Thank you.” I started back for the door. “Don’t wait up.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Olivia,” he yelled at my back. “You’re barely back on your feet.”

I had no intention of hurting myself. Drawing a line in the sand was another story. He was not my prince. He was just a means to an end. The sooner he realized that, the better we both would be.

TALLULAH WAS DRESSED FOR A PARTYwhen she met me in the sports bar downstairs. It was the first one I found—I didn’t spend a lot of time in the Stone Casino for obvious reasons—and I didn’t want to wander all over the place to find a quiet place to drink. I would have to familiarize myself with the casino tomorrow.

“This is new,” she said as she hopped up on the open stool next to me and looked around. “What are you doing here?”

Tallulah didn’t know, I realized. She hadn’t eavesdropped over our conversation at the daiquiri bar because she’d been busy. I left her with a promise that I would catch her up later. Well, this was later … and she wasn’t going to be happy.

I figured it was best to rip off the bandage and let her melt down on her own terms.

“I’m married,” I announced.

Tallulah blinked. Then she blinked again. “How drunk are you?” she asked finally.

I held up my hand so she could see the wedding band.

Her eyes narrowed and she snatched my hand to get a better look. Then she shifted her gaze to my face. “We’ll get you sobered up,” she said, deadly serious. “Then we’ll get the marriage annulled. This happens all the time here.”

I pulled my hand back and sipped my martini. “I’m not drunk. I wasn’t drunk at the time. I did it on purpose.”

“You got married on purpose.” Tallulah snorted. When I didn’t smile in return, she sighed. “I think I’m going to need one of those.” She gestured toward the bartender and pointed toward my glass. He nodded and smiled.

There were women scattered about in the bar, but it was mostly men. That’s why I selected it. I figured men were less likely to care what we were talking about. I didn’t need some sympathetic woman interjecting her opinion on the subject and perhaps telling the wrong person what she’d overheard. I wasn’t familiar with who was who here yet. I had to be careful.

Tallulah was quiet until her drink arrived. I could practically hear the gears in her mind grinding. People often underestimated her intelligence because of the way she looked. I happened to know that she was as brilliant as she was beautiful.

“Tell me,” she said in a low voice when I just continued to stare vacantly ahead.

That was my green light, so I floored it. “Zach needed a serious wife to help him with his father, and the Stone Group has really good insurance. We agreed to a fake marriage so he could figure things out and I could get my dental surgery. It’s done by the way. We spent our honeymoon at the nicest dentist’s office you’ve ever seen. Even the patient chair was leather.”

Her mouth fell open. It was hard to surprise Tallulah. I patted myself on the back whenever I managed it. This situation felt somehow different, though. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

“Nope.” I took another sip. I told myself, as long as I didn’t go in for any froufrou mixers, the alcohol was good for my mouth. Alcohol had healing properties, right? Yeah, I wasn’t so certain either. I was going with it, though.

“You’re married to Zach Stone?” Tallulah gripped my hand so tightly I thought she was going to break my fingers off. “What does he look like naked?”

That was not the question I expected from her. “How should I know? Did you miss the part about it being fake?”

“No, but I’ve read plenty of fake marriage romcoms, and I know for a fact that sex always becomes involved.”

“This isn’t a book. Plus, I don’t even remember anything after the wedding. I had surgery.” I pointed toward my face. “Remember?”

“Well, that’s a bummer.” Her disappointment was palpable. “Do you plan on seeing him naked after you heal from the surgery?”

“No. We’re not doing that.” I was firm.

“But you had a huge crush on him when you were a teenager.”

“So?”

“So … this is your chance to make fifteen-year-old Olivia—you remember her with her braces and unnecessary training bra, right?—really, really happy.”

She just had to bring up the fact that I was still wearing a training bra at fifteen. That late growth spurt I’d been subjected to had fixed that situation, too. Sure, I was never going to be mistaken for a showgirl, but I no longer looked like I was perpetually nursing mosquito bites on my chest either.

“It’s not going to be like that,” I insisted. “His father is demanding he grow up. I’m an accountant. I look good on paper. Plus, his parents know my parents. It’s not as if I’m an absolute stranger. We just told them we’d been seeing each other on the sly so as not to upset Rex, that eventually Rex found out, and on a whim we decided to get married yesterday.”

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