Page 7 of The Fake Fiance's Billionaire Adversary
She chewed her bottom lip. “A proposition? What does that mean?”
“Just hear me out. Like I said, I think it’ll solve both our problems.” He glanced at the table. “Any chance you’d let me sit down again?”
She hesitated and then waved him toward it. “Sure.”
He slowly walked to the same chair he’d used before and sat, his shoulders slumped forward just a fraction. Unlike last time when it seemed like he was ready to take on a bear.
Trying to figure him out was much like putting a puzzle of the sky together. Just when she thought she had the right piece, it didn’t fit.
She crossed the room and sat across from him. “All right. I’ll hear you out, but you’ve got a tall mountain to climb.”
Scrubbing his face with his hands, he set both elbows on the table and held his head. “I know. I doubt you’ll even agree to it, but…and I hate to admit this, but I’m a little desperate.” The last word came out just above a whisper.
This guy wasn’t used to feeling like this. His rough, calloused hands spoke of hard work, determination, and a man who finished what he started. It earned a little respect from her, but just a little.
“Okay, my interest is definitely piqued now.” She scooted down in the chair and put her feet on the seat of another, crossing her feet at the ankles. “What is it that you think I won’t agree to?”
He lifted his head and set his arms on the table. “I have a decent-size family. There are four brothers and a sister. We’re all fairly close, and after my sister got married last year on New Year’s Eve, she decided to make it her mission to get us married off.”
A tiny bark of laughter bubbled out. She couldn’t have heard that right. “What?”
He touched his hand to his forehead, exhaling sharply. “Why am I even doing this?” He started to get up, and Reagan quickly straightened and grabbed his hand, stopping him.
Tingles of electricity raced up her arm so quickly that she shivered and yanked her hand back. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect you to say that.”
He caught her gaze and held it. Whatever anger she’d harbored toward him earlier had turned to mist and floated away. Hunter was hurting, and if there was one thing she understood, it was hurt. “All right, spill it. I’m guessing it’s a bit of a problem with the way you’re acting.”
His gaze dipped to the floor. “I told my sister I was engaged earlier this year. I didn’t want her meddling or trying to fix me up. It just slipped out, and before I knew it, it was this giant lie that I didn’t know how to fix.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with me? Or were you just needing someone to talk to?”
This time when he caught her gaze, she felt the shift in his mood. “I need a fiancée. If you will agree to accompany me home for Thanksgiving, pretending we’re engaged, I will give you the money to bring your mortgage current, along with the other vendors you’re late paying. I’ll also throw in a new roof and new porch.”
Did he just say what she thought he said? Pretend to be his fiancée? “Are there cameras somewhere? Are you punking me?”
His entire body seemed to slump forward. “I wish I was, but no. It’s just for the weekend. When we get back, I will tell them in a few weeks that we broke up. You’ll never have to see them again.”
“You can’t find any ex-girlfriend or woman at home that will be willing to go through with a charade like this?”
Shaking his head, Hunter said, “No, I honestly haven’t had that many girlfriends. I’ve been working since I could pick up a hammer. My schedule and my life don’t exactly work for a relationship. And my mom knows all the girls back home. If I’d been engaged to one of them, she’d know it.”
“So you need someone your family has never met.”
“That’s about the gist of it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “How is this going to help you get my property? If I take the money and get ahead, I’ll never sell.”
“This isn’t about finding a way to get your property. I would rather you have a way to keep it than to see someone else destroy it. At least this way the place is preserved, even if it isn’t mine.”
Reagan didn’t know what to think. She’d been asked a lot of things, but being someone’s fake fiancée had never been on her radar. “I don’t know…”
Hunter nodded. “I figured you would need to think about it. I know if the roles were reversed, I’d have to do some hardcore mulling myself.”
“That’s an understatement. You’re asking me to help you lie to your family. Are you sure that’s something you want to do?”
The lines around his eyes and lips deepened, and he hung his head. “Not really, but,” he exhaled heavily, “I don’t want to meet someone on the internet either. I have no problems with them or people wanting to use dating sites. I just don’t want that.”
She took her lower lip in her teeth. The vibe she was getting from him was that this wasn’t his normal way of doing things. “Would it just be easier to come clean? If they love you, they’ll understand.”
