Page 96 of The Deal with the Playboy

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“That is what friends are for.”

I should be happy he used the wordfriends, but deep down I want to be more than friends. I want him to be my husband for real, but he will never want me the way I want him.

If I keep this up, I’m going to break my own heart by wanting someone who isn’t capable of love.

Jasper

I’m so obsessed with Poppy. I’m doing things I would never do, like go over her business plan without charging her. Dropping everything on a whim just to get her coffee, making sure she eats during her lunch breaks. When she started her period, I even went to the drugstore to buy her tampons. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night, pulling her to my chest, and I don’t know how to handle it all. I don’t know where I’m supposed to go from here. I haven’t been like this since I was with Gemma. In the next few months, I’m signing my contract to get my uncle’s business and it has everything to do with her.

I decided I’m not going to divorce her after I sign the contract. I want to stay with her, and I don’t want to fuck her over.

Today, I have a surprise for her, and she doesn’t know what it is. I show up to our home and twirl my keys around my finger as I make my way to the living room. She’s curled up on the couch, flickering through Netflix. Her eyes beam at me, and she sets the remote down on the entertainment unit.

“Why are you home so early?” she asks me.

Normally, I stay at the office until eight or nine, but today I decided to come home at five.

“I have a surprise for you.”

She jumps up from the couch. “What is it?”

“It’s two surprises, actually. Get dressed,” I tell her. “We’re going out on a date tonight.”

She crinkles her nose. “Date? Not a pretend date?”

“When was the last time we went on a pretend date?”

She taps her fingers on her chin, her eyes going from the marble floors then back up to me. “Since before we were married…” She runs her fingers through my hair.

“Hurry up, we’re going to be late for what I have planned for you.”

“What should I wear?”

“A nice dress, and flats.”

She nods and disappears to the bedroom.

Once we’re in the car, I drive out of the garage, and instead of resting my right hand on the joystick, I rest it on Poppy’s thigh. She glances up at me, her cheek turning a light pink, but she doesn’t move my hand away. We pull up to an abandoned building. It’s a bit run-down but I can hire people to clean it and get it up to date.

“Why are we here?” she asks.

“I bought the building for you.”

She looks at me, baffled. “W-what?”

“This is the building you said you wanted, right?”

Tears form at the corners of her eyes, and I use the pad of my thumbs to wipe them away. “Why are you crying, Angel?”

“No one really took the time to show any interest or invested in my dreams.” She glances at the building again. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“I figured since I can’t give you kids, I might as well make it up to you by giving you something else you want.”

I reach onto my back seat, pull out a folder and hand it to her. “I redid your business plan. It was kind of amateur, except for the marketing strategy. You did good on the plan. The construction workers will be here to fix the building up, and in the meantime you have to work on getting your license from the state.” I grab her hand. “You’re officially fired.”

“You’re firing me?” she gasps.

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