Page 38 of Their Greatest Strength

“The engagement will be announced publicly a week before the wedding. And leaking it makes it more authentic. One public announcement is more than enough in only a couple of weeks of time. Anything more than that and it will appear unauthentic. You won’t have to entertain anyone during the wedding or afterward. Security will be tight, we’ll make sure of that,” Graham explains, voice rigid.

“It will only be our families in attendance, right? I don’t want a big wedding,” I add.

My first wedding won’t be a real one, and I don’t want it to ruin my expectations of my second. If I’m going to do this, it’s not going to be anything overly special. I won’t be able to deal with the disappointment of my real wedding never living up to the fake one.

Jamie grips his pen in his left hand and scribbles along the side of his contract.Keep the wedding small.

“As long as we can have a heavy spread of photos for the press, small is fine,” Graham agrees.

We work through the next few pages before Jamie starts reading a paragraph he’s highlighted.

“‘The Parties agree that, for the duration of the marriage, Party A shall reside with Party B at a mutually agreed-upon residence, and both Parties shall make reasonable efforts to maintain the appearance of a cohabiting marital relationship in accordancewith the agreed publicity arrangements.’” He wets his lips and scribbles along the margins again. “I don’t want it in the contract that Blakely has to live with me. If she wants to leave at any time, she can do as she pleases while still fulfilling her side of the agreement.”

Nobody speaks for a moment, and I stiffen.

“If you don’t live together, it will spark questions,” Sadie cautions.

He doesn’t back down. “Let them question, then. It’ll only give them more stories to write about us. Isn’t that what you want?”

Graham’s nostrils flare. I think I enjoy knowing that Jamie isn’t intimidated by him enough to allow them to potentially take advantage of either of us.

“Fine. Once the paperwork is filed and you are husband and wife, you are not obligated to share a residence. However, you do need to do everything in your power to appear as though you do.”

“Done.” Jamie goes back to reading.

For the next hour, we don’t move from the couch. It lasts longer than I anticipated, and every minute that passed had me twitching to grab my phone to check on Nate. If Jamie hadn’t been the one interrupting every five minutes with a change to the contract, we’d have been out far earlier.

It’s impossible to be frustrated with him for that, though.

Especially when he ushers me out of the office and down the elevator again once we’ve finished.

“I’m so sorry, Bandit. I didn’t think it would take so long,” he mutters, exhaustion thick in his voice.

“It’s okay. There are no surprises in the contract now.”

“Yeah, at the cost of your entire night.”

I lean my back against the elevator wall and check my phone for any messages or missed calls. There isn’t even one.

“Aren’t you tired? You played today, right?”

“You didn’t watch?”

“I wouldn’t have known what was going on.”

He braces his hands on the railing and hums. “Teaching you football is number one on my to-do list. You’re about to be seeing a lot of the sport these next couple of months.”

“You told them not to ask whether or not I was a fan, didn’t you?” I ask, my gut telling me that the answer is yes. It was from the moment I realized nobody had brought up my knowledge or lack thereof.

His grin is wide and knowing. “I might have given them a bit of a rundown before you arrived. Sue me.”

I swallow, copying his stance and feeling the cool gold bars in my hands. “Thank you for everything you did back there. Not just for the fan thing.”

“I’m pretty much your fiancé now, Blakely. In two weeks, I’ll be your husband. I was just doing what a husband should.”

“Do you still want to drive me home tonight?” I blurt out.

His eyes grow wide. “I do. You’re going to let me see where you live now? Is this a fiancé perk that I didn’t know I was getting tonight?”

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