Page 7 of Keeping My Wife
“You can have everything you want in this notebook and then some.”
“Just like that? We haven’t even negotiated a price.”
“The price is me.”
My chest tightened. “I beg your pardon?”
She couldn’t know that was one thing I’d always wanted and never dreamed possible.
“All you have to do is marry me.”
Chapter 2
Maxine
Surely,I’d lost what was left of my mind.
Desperation made for insanity. I’d always been damn good at chaos.
“Hear me out.”
Cameron Murdock had grown up in all the best ways, not that it mattered. Okay, so that wasn’t exactly true. He wouldn’t be hard to look at for the year that I needed him to be my husband. If he said yes to my batshit plan.
I was about to say more when acouple from my grandmother’s inner circle walked into the living room. I didn’t need Mrs. Jacques to hear me right then. I grabbed Cam by the hand and drew him into the kitchen. I tried to ignore the quick jolt from the touch of his skin. It was rough, but warm and his hold was firm in mine.
He let me lead him into the kitchen which had to count for something.
“What the hell is going on, Maxie?”
I pushed him toward the kitchen island, but then another person came in. “You have got to be kidding me.”
His lips quirked. “Everyone wants a look at the Delacroix house.”
I glanced around and spotted the pantry. I hustled him back toward the door, my legs brushing his as he quickly walked backwards. Dear God, he smelled good.
Focus, Max.
“Maxie—”
I put a hand over his mouth, reached around him with the other and all of that warmth hit me like a force. My gaze darted to his and found a similar awareness. I pushed him through the door.
His caramel brown eyes narrowed as he pulled my hand away. “If you wanted to get me into a closet all you needed to do was ask,” he said on a low voice.
Startled, I realized how it looked. The little fission of...whatever this was needed to stop. Once we were inside, I backed away from him and dropped his hand. “Sorry, too many ears.”
He leaned against the counter in the large pantry and crossed his arms. It was the one space my grandmother had made sure to upgrade. The rest of the house might have been trapped in the early 1900’s, but the kitchen was mostly modern. Still, the space was tight enough that his scent appealed to me far too much. Sawdust, rain, and something I couldn’t name. Something sweet.
Again, he waited me out.
I only had a handful of vague memories of Cam. He was a couple of years younger than me. His brother Angus had been in my grade, and I spent most of my time with Eloise. Occasionally, hangouts overlapped with the rather large Murdock clan, especially in the summers.
I just remembered that his eyes made me do a few double takes over the years, but the age gap had been enough to keep me from thinking about it too hard.
“You going to give me a clue as to what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”
He thought I was beautiful?
Ugh, Max, you gotta catch a clue.This was about more than some ridiculous fizz between us. “So, this is going to sound crazy.”
