Page 10 of Fake Married to the Grumps

The sixteenth floor is the upper management floor. I’ve been in this conference room many times with my grandfather to sign deals with Sunny Aerospace.

Hart Holdings has partnered with Sunny Aerospace in the past, so owning an additional aerospace engineering company is a nice expansion.

I’m sure it’ll be easy to sell it to my grandfather because he always liked Nelly’s parents, Ken and Harper Sinclair.

“I’ve always liked the view from up here,” I say to Tom as I stare out of the window, admiring the heavy flow of traffic on the streets below.

I love the bustle of LA. Attending Stanford with Tom gave us the chance to explore the state together, and I didn’t think Tom would ever want to leave until he finished law school and decided to work in Manhattan where he would be closer to Robyn, the girl he fell in love with and later married.

“Remember all the fun we used to have here? You and me back in the day?”

Tom laughs as I turn to him. “I do,” his eyes light up as he adds. “You had that silly mohawk when we first met in freshman year, and I was so skinny that you teased me all the time until I finally worked up the courage to join you in the gym. It’s been ten years, man. A lot has changed since then.”

His comments make my smile solemn. “Yeah, yeah, seems like a lifetime ago.” The memories are fresh in my head. We were college freshmen at the time, and we quickly became best friends, happy to explore L.A. together like we didn’t grow up here.

My own parents were long divorced, and my grandfather didn’t want me too far away even at eighteen, so I chose to attend Stanford.

After my dad passed away in my sophomore year of college, the Sinclairs quickly became family.

Tom walks over to where I’m standing by the window. For a long moment, neither of us says anything as we stare outside. “I’ve thought about applying to the DA’s office here a few times because I miss this city.”

“I missed it too. The good ol’ memories,” I laugh as we turn serious again.

“You know all of this is crazy and fast too, Ethan. You can talk things over with your granddad and get him to change his mind.”

“That man’s hard like a rock. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about him, it’s that the man never changes his mind. Not when I wanted that bike for my tenth birthday and he refused, not when my dad decided on a divorce and left me with him even after gaining sole custody, and not when I told him I didn’t want to go to Germany for five years. The man’s a tough nut to crack, and he rarely ever changes his mind on anything.”

“It’s why all of this won’t hold anyway,” Tom answers with a slight shake of his head. “And Nelly … she’ll do anything for the company to stay afloat, but it’s not going to be easy for her to be fake married to you.

“I mean, we both know there’s no part of you that can keep to the terms of this—” He pauses and waves a hand. “Farce.”

The smile on my lips widens, and the familiar rush of warmth floods me. “You’re family to me, Tom,” I say to him as we face each other, and he holds my gaze.

“You’ve seen me through my worst moments and the best ones, too. I want to help, and I would do it if I didn’t need anything in return, but I do need this. I need Nelly because she’s the only one my grandfather would ever believe I would fall in love with after …” I trail off, unable to complete that sentence because of the slicing ache that cuts right through me.

It’s been over eight years, and I haven’t been able to forget what she did to me.

Julia Brene’s memory is like a thorn that still hurts each time I remember it. And most times, I prefer not to remember it. I met her in my third year of college and I thought I would spend the rest of my life with her.

“You know why Nelly chose St. Barts?” Tom asks. The smile on Tom's face is gone now. “It’s where she was born,” he continues when I don’t reply. “Mom and Dad were on a vacation, and she went into labor right there on the sandy white beach. I can’t forget the first time I saw her cute little face. I was a toddler myself, but I already knew I was going to protect her, so I stayed awake most of the night watching her cot in my mom’s private hospital room while my mom and dad slept.”

“Nelly is like a sister to me too, and I’ll never hurt her,” my words laced with emotion. “I care about her.”

“I know that. And I also know that she cares about you. I’d hate to see either of you get hurt, so just please … Try to be less you?”

“Are you trying to say I’m insufferable? And no woman wants to live with me?” This time my laugh spirals free, and he taps my shoulder before adjusting the lapel of his suit and heading towards the door.

Alone now, I drag in a deep breath, give the city outside one last glance, and head out the door too. Nelly is in her office, engrossed in a phone call, making hand gestures as she paces around in those killer heels.

I pause to admire her for a bit, letting the waves of adrenaline sweep through me.

She’s stunning.

My heart does a quick tremble as she suddenly turns and spots me watching her.

A sassy look crosses her face as she walks to the office door, tugs hard to close it, and shuts me out. A tiny chuckle escapes my lips. Nelly Sinclair is going to cause me a lot of trouble.

I make my way out of the office building, and a valet brings my Mercedes S-class to the front. He hands over the smart remote, and a familiar voice calls for me.

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