Page 63 of Marry Me, Right Now

“That’s because you likely brought hundreds home.”

“Nope. Just two, including you. I rarely dated anyone for more than a few months. It became too obvious what they were after.”

“I’m sorry that girls wanted to use you,” she said, quite serious. “I wish they had seen you for you.”

I smiled. “But then you wouldn’t be here now.”

She nodded, then cocked her head. “I need to tell you something and this might be weird.”

“Go ahead.”

“If you had asked me out, I would have gone out with you if you were poor. Actually, more likely if you were poor.”

“That’s odd but nice to know.”

Mia bit her lip, looking a little ashamed as we walked into the villa and she kicked her shoes off. “I hate to say it, but I sort of lumped all rich people into the same group. But you don’t act spoiled at all. You work hard. You don’t waste as much money as some.” She looked up with a grin. “And you’re willing to change and grow. You’re not all fussy and judgey.”

Then she climbed up on the bed and began jumping up and down. “Hey Jacob, is this what rich people do?” She was giggling as if she were out of control.

“Only if they want to break their necks,” I said.

Her hair was flying, and she looked so happy and free that I didn’t want to stop her, but I didn’t want her to be hurt either. “Mia, could you please come down?”

“Isn’t this what a corporate wife does?” She was taking shorter bounces, but still laughing her head off.

“Mia, I don’t want you to fall. Could you please get down?”

She flopped on her back in the center of the bed, releasing a weird “Mmmphf,” noise.

I brought her a glass of water. “Let’s hydrate and get to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

She chugged half of the glass, then looked at me. “Hey, Jacob?”

“Yes?”

“Being rich is weird. Don’t you think it’s weird?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been anything else.”

She nodded to her water glass quite seriously. “It’s weird. I have so much more than my friends now. More than I ever thought I would. It’s tweaky.” Then she giggled. “Tweaky. That’s a technical term. I am hoping that you understand it.”

“Do you want me to find you a nightgown?”

“Nope.” She peeled off her dress so that she was wearing just a thin camisole and panties. “Jammies.”

Crawling into the huge bed, she threw a few of the extra pillows at me while I pulled off my jeans and t-shirt. I figured if she was sleeping in her underwear, I might as well do the same. It was certainly as comfortable as I was going to get without being naked.

Turning off the lights, I got into bed as far away from her as possible. She was being a little manic, and was likely totally overwhelmed after the stress of the wedding, the flight, and a little too much sugary booze.

She reached out to stroke my hair. “You’re a nice man, Jacob. I like you a lot.”

I turned, desperate to hold her. “You’re a lovely woman, Mia. I’m so glad I know you. Sweet dreams.”

“Mmm hmm,” she murmured, turning away and curling into a ball. In moments I heard her breathing become steady.

I knew that we’d both sleep better if I cuddled her, but didn’t want her to feel obligated to do anything that didn’t make her comfortable.

We were becoming close pretty fast, but it was an absolutely bizarre set of circumstances. There were no guidelines for such a thing. What sort of man marries a woman, and then realizes he has completely fallen for her? Although I had to confess, I’d been falling from the moment I met her. I just didn’t want to completely admit it, because I was a business first sort of guy.

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