Page 15 of After this Summer
“I don’t want a handout, Beau.”
“You damn well know it’s not.” He all but snarls, a flash of hurt crossing his handsome face before he masks it.
“I screwed up and I failed, Beau. Can you understand that? I let myself get swept up in my dreams, andyesit was before I knew about the baby but I wasn’t smart about it. I thought I could trust her and I couldn’t and now…”
I can’t finish my sentence, the words cut off by my choked sob.
Beau doesn’t hesitate, pulling me close so my head rests on his shoulder as his arms tighten around me.
“You’re the most amazing person I know. Marry me. Let me take care of you and the baby.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“We can’t stay married forever.” He opens his mouth but I shake my head as I sit up. “You’re not marrying me because you love me, Beau. You’re offering to marry me so that you can provide for your child and that’s great. But that’s not what a marriage should be. And oh, my Lord, what will our families say?”
Beau presses his lips into a line like the words physically pain him. “We can just keep it between us if you want.”
I open my mouth and close it again because that’sridiculous,isn’t it?
9
BEAU
“My family would never forgive me if they found out,” Indie says as relief floods my veins.
“So, we’ll have a wedding, small and intimate. We’ll invite your family and mine and?—”
“And then what? We play house until the baby comes? What happens after that?”
Instead of answering right away, I pull her hand to my mouth, her skin soft as I press her knuckles to my lips.
“I’m crazy about you and I’ll respect whatever time you need, give you the space you want, but I won’t pretend that getting to call you my wife doesn’t do something to me.”
“It would be temporary,” she reiterates. Again.
“Sure.”
“Beau. It’s a business arrangement. That’s it,” she hisses, and I try like hell not to let the words get to me because this feels like all I’ve ever wanted.
“Way I look at it, Stunner, I have until the baby comes to make you fall in love with me.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you can draw up the papers and I’ll sign them. I won’t fight it. But we’ll agree to do what’s best for the baby.” I let her see the sincerity in my eyes and hope she can see the challenge there too. Because I have no doubt, I’m already falling for Indie. I just need her to see it’s safe for her to fall too.
I would have moved mountains to get to her today and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
“I don’t want you to resent me,” she whispers, my head already shaking as I press a kiss to her lips.
“Never,” I affirm, reaching for the straw wrapper on her hospital tray. “Indie Kade,” I start, twisting the paper until it’s in a long, tight line, “will you marry me?”
“Yes, but what?—”
Taking the wrapper, I loop it around her ring finger and tie it as tight as I can without it breaking and watch as the sweetest smile graces her lips.
“Do you want to know what we’re having?” she asks softly, tracing her fingertips over the makeshift ring.
