Page 8 of Fake Married to the Grumps

Ethan arches a brow, but he doesn’t answer my question as he turns away. With his back to me, I notice the tense stance he has on and wonder what’s going through his mind.

“Not everyone,” he whispers. His expression softens when he faces me.

“Love isn’t such a bad thing.” I raise both hands in the air to prove my point.

Why is he so against it?

“You’ve been in love before, haven’t you? Wasn’t it wonderful? The best thing there is? I want that too.”

“Love makes things messy, Nelly,” Ethan replies. “If you want that, I won’t take it away from you. We can do this for a year and then get a divorce. That’s enough time to settle everything, and without love, it’s easy. No messiness or feelings attached … You’d have your life and I’ll have mine. None of that has to change.”

Sighing, I close my eyes for a moment and map out this idea in my head. “With no feelings involved, we would need a story.”

“Yes, and we have one. We’ve known each other and have been friends for a long time, Nelly. It’ll be easy to sell that I’ve fallen in love with a girl I’ve known for a long time more than a stranger.”

He forges on. “We’ll meet my grandfather first, tell him about you and how we want to have a quiet, civil ceremony for the wedding, then we take a week off for our honeymoon after signing a contract and getting married legally. We’ll live in one of my houses here in L.A. when we get back because this is where both our companies’ headquarters are located and …”

“Wait, what? Why do we have to live together?” I interrupt, a slice of panic cutting through me at the thought of existing under one roof with Ethan.

“We’ll be married, Nelly,” he says with a soft smile. “We don’t have to sleep in the same bed, just stay in one house. We’d have our separate rooms, of course, separate lives too.”

His explanation doesn’t completely soothe the uncomfortable feeling I have. Pretending to be in love with Ethan is one thing, and spending so much time around him is another.

It’ll be harder to shove aside these feelings he revives back in me.

I’ve vowed not to let him charm me ever again, and for five years I’ve easily kept that promise because he’s been out of the country.

Ethan doesn’t seem to notice my dilemma as he continues telling me his plans. “I’ll leak news of our marriage to the press and a few pictures we’ll take during our time away. We make it look as if we’ve been together for years, but in secret. It won’t be hard to pull off because we’ve known each other a while and we’ve gone around a lot … Remember those times? You, Tom, and I exploring the world one city at a time?”

“We can spin a story and let the world think we fell in love with each other during those years, but it took us a while to realize it. Everyone loves a sweet romantic story, don’t they?”

“Yes, but this is our lives, Ethan. It’s not just some story. What happens if we can’t fool your grandpops? What then? We just get divorced and act like nothing happened? How long do we even need to pretend for?”

“After I become CEO, we can stay together for a year, then call it quits. People get divorced all the time. My parents did, even though my grandpops claimed that they were so much in love when they got married.”

“When we get back from our fake honeymoon, our companies will merge and yours will become a subsidiary of mine. Your company will keep the name as well as remain mostly autonomous. This is a win-win situation, Nelly. You know it is.”

He brushes a hand over my cheeks, and his touch sends an electric current through me. The contact is short-lived as he heads for the door, but he pauses halfway to turn back to look at me. “I’ll see you around, love.”

“Wait,” I call before he gets to the door. Ethan turns to look at me, and the look in his eyes makes my pulse jump. “If I do this, then you need to promise me one thing. No unnecessary tender touches, or flirting … Not even a little, harmless wink. Got it?”

“You can’t disrespect me by going around publicly with all of your flings, either. Whatever you do, I don’t care, but it has to stay a secret, and most importantly, no feelings ever. I don’t want you falling in love with me.”

Ethan turns around and laughs.

“I think it might be you who falls for me first, love.” He grins before he slowly strides towards me.

“That’s never going to happen, I assure you.” I take a moment to arrange my train of thought before adding. “I get to decide how we end things after one year. We’ll say it was a mutual decision and no one’s fault.”

“Are you sure about that?” There’s a lightness to his tone as he smirks and moves closer to me. “I have a reputation, love … If we say I cheated on you, the world will bite on that. It’s not so unexpected that a man regularly termed as Casanova will betray his wife. You said it yourself …. I’m not capable of loving anyone.”

“I don’t want you to take the blame. Our divorce has to be civil and easy.”

Ethan reaches me, his smile growing wider as he gently brushes some strands of my hair away. “Sweet Nelly,” he whispers. “Divorces are rarely ever simple.”

His husky tone hints at more, but he only shakes his head while keeping one hand lightly over my cheeks. “But ours will be because there are no feelings involved.”

“Right,” I mutter, ignoring my breathlessness. “So, we have a deal?”

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