Page 40 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

He was doing it for Olivia, and for her family.

And it occurred to him that — although she would have preferred him to be in a real marriage — Aunt Marge would have approved of what he was doing. She would have understood that Charlie’s siblings didn’t need any more money. The house would benefit Olivia so much more than it would them.

I’m going to give her half what we get for selling it, he thought.

He wouldn’t tell her that now. He would let it be a surprise. But once the place was sold, he would write her that check. It would change her life forever, and the thought that he would be able to do that for her made his heart sing.

“Charlie,” Cait snapped, bringing him back to the moment.

“What?”

“When the six months are up, are you going to divorce that woman? Or are you planning to stay married to her for a longer time than that? Tell us what you’re going to do.”

“That woman is my wife, and she has a name,” Charlie said. “If you want to talk about her with me, show some damn respect.”

“This is real, Charlie. Time is running out.”

Hearing her say that made Charlie’s stomach clench. His sister was right, of course. Whatever he decided to do, one thing was very true — his time with Olivia was finite, and every day brought them one step closer to the end.

It was a fact that he found increasingly difficult to face.

“I’m not going to divorce her,” he said, feeling every inch of the lie as it left his mouth. It hurt to say it, knowing that it wasn’t reality. It made him feel like the worst person in the world.

But telling the truth would be worse. Telling the truth would mean ruining the plan he and Olivia had made. It would mean that she wouldn’t get the money, and it would all have been for nothing. He couldn’t let that happen, no matter how much it hurt him.

“I have to go,” he told his siblings. “I mean, if we’re finished with the interrogation.”

“Charlie, just think about what you’re doing, all right?” John said. “We don’t want you to regret anything. That’s all.”

Too late.

In all actuality, Charlie thought as he walked to the car, it was unlikely that John — or any of them — cared whether he was left with regrets. They were just trying to manipulate him, to make him feel anxious so that he would confess to something and they could lord it over him. He knew them well enough to know that their primary concern was not for his well-being.

But he couldn’t help taking his brother’s words to heart all the same. Hewouldbe left with regrets, because he had never intended to get in this deep.

He found Olivia waiting by the car as she had promised she would. “What’s up?” she asked him. “What did they want to talk about?”

“Oh, you can imagine.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “They were just trying to get me to admit that our marriage isn’t real. Again.”

“They really don’t want to give up on that.”

“No, they do not.”

She examined him closely. “Are you going to be okay when the truth comes out?” she asked him. “I do worry about that — leaving you alone to fend them off once they know they were right all along.”

“I can handle them,” Charlie said. “I always have.”

“No, I know youcan,” she said. “It isn’t that. I just…”

“What?”

“I guess… I wish I could stand by your side for it.” She blushed. “That’s probably stupid. It’s just that we’ve been through this whole thing together, and I wish we were going do deal with that part of it together too.”

“It’s not stupid,” Charlie said.

“No?”

“Honestly, I sort of wish the same thing.” He hesitated. “But it can’t be that way. You understand why, right?”

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