The Agreement (An Indecent Proposal) (9 page)

“So, my niece tells me you met the love of your life just
days ago and now you want to get married.” Nana shot me a knowing look. “I
understand you’re strapped for cash and in dire need of a dress.”

“Yes, this one.” Jude held up the Vera Wang dress that was
still draped over her arm. She hadn’t let it out of her sight. “But we cannot
afford it.”

Nana nodded, her wrinkled skin crinkling at the corners of
her eyes.

“You’re lucky. I’ve been a dressmaker for years. I’d be
happy to help to sew your wedding gown. May I?” She reached out for the dress
and then inspected the inseams before looking up. “I can do something like
this.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling utter gratitude. While she
continued to chatter with Jude, I asked for the restroom, the woman’s words
still ringing in my ears. Obviously, I couldn’t care less about instant attraction,
but in a twisted way, her words made perfect sense.

Someday I’d find someone worthy of my heart, but that moment
hadn’t come. My heart would stay out of my marriage to Chase.

This was the opportunity I had been waiting for, and now it
was time to commit to my decision of doing everything possible to uncover the
credibility of my mother’s last words to me.

Returning to our table, I expected Jude to be immersed in
deep and meaningful conversation, but to my surprise she had already paid an
advance for the dress, and Casey and she were now waiting for me.

All I could do was nod as I was asked to strip down to my
underwear, and Casey’s grandmother began to take my measurements while Jude and
Casey haggled over a price for yet another dress Jude insisted she needed for
herself as the bridesmaid. Trust Jude to use the opportunity to get a dress she
had always dreamed of custom designed. I knew she was going to use her gown as
a cocktail dress with that extra zing.

Thirty minutes later, Casey accompanied us out with the
promise my dress would be ready within five days. We exchanged phone numbers in
case one of us had questions, and then Jude left for the studio.

As I made my way back home I felt flushed with both
excitement and dread.

I was going to wear a knockoff dress.

Given that Chase and I were marriage shams, how fitting!

For the umpteenth time, I wondered how I got myself into
this situation. Under any other circumstances I would have run rather than let
Jude make all the decisions, but those weren’t normal circumstances. I needed a
dress that would fool everyone into thinking the wedding was real. And then
there was the excitement. I was getting married. And even though everything was
fake, I hoped the dress would be stunning and I’d look beautiful for Chase.

Our apartment was situated in a converted warehouse that had
been remodeled into affordable two-bedroom apartments. Ours was the one on the
first floor. By the time I reached it, my back was slick with sweat and my
clothes had
become two sizes too small, sticking to
my skin. I had barely unlocked the door when my cell rang.

The caller id showed an unknown number.

I slammed the door shut behind me
and slumped to the floor, suddenly exhausted and flushed from the heat outside.

“Can we talk?” It was Chase, and
judging by the urgency in his voice he wasn’t calling to enquire about the
progress of our wedding preparations.

I frowned. Alarm bells started to
ring in my head. It wasn’t like Chase to be formal. His tone ominous. Even
though we’d had a good time the day before, I couldn’t stop the nervous flip my
stomach did.

Something was wrong.

Or why else would he want to talk?

“Sure.” I hesitated. “What about?”

“Great. I’m just around the
corner. I’ll be over in five.”

And then he hung up, ignoring my
question. I stared at the phone, flummoxed. What the hell was that all about?
And how could he possibly be over in five minutes? Unless…

He was around the corner, literally, because an instant
later the intercom
rang.

Shit!

I peered around, panicky, suddenly
aware of the fact that I was a sweaty mess,
and in desperate need of a
shower. And not only that; the apartment didn’t look much
better. I jumped up and began to strip off my clothes
while simultaneously picking up Jude’s scattered interior design magazines and
clothes. I had barely made it to the bathroom to discard my armful of clothes
and magazines
when the doorbell
rang.

Someone must have buzzed him in,
because he was here. Right behind the door, inches separating us.

I stood frozen to the spot, unsure
whether to claim I wasn’t at home after all, or open the door, but pretend
that I was too busy to let him in.

The doorbell rang again, the piercing sound lingering in the
air. An instant later, Chase’s faint voice echoed over.

“Laurie
? I know you’re in there.
Open up.”

Was he angry? I had no idea, but I
didn’t like the sense of urgency and seriousness in his voice. He rapped at the
door. Once. Twice. With a sigh, I shrugged into a bathrobe and wrapped the cord
tightly around my waist, then pulled my hair up in a ponytail. As soon as I
opened the door,
Chase barged in, hot waves of anger wafting from him.

“Hello to you,
too,” I muttered,
closing the door behind him.

Ignoring me, he headed straight
for the living room and slumped down on the sofa, then turned to face me, eyes
blazing, his beautiful lips pressed in a tight line.

What the heck did I do wrong?

“Are you okay?” I asked, sliding
down opposite him with as much distance as was possible between us. “You seem a
bit upset.” Upset was an understatement. He seemed livid.

“Are you alone?” His voice was
hard as his eyes scanned the room in search for Jude.

 
I nodded and he
breathed out, but his muscles remained unnaturally tense. “We don’t have much
time.”

I regarded him, confused. “For what?”

“You went to choose a wedding dress,” he said reproachfully,
ignoring me again.

I nodded slowly. “Yes, Chase. I did.”

“Why?”

His question caught me off guard.

“Why?” I laughed. Had he smashed in his head or something?
“In case you have forgotten, we’re supposed to get married. I need to make it
look authentic.” A wave of shame washed over me at the cold look in his eyes.
He thought me desperate. Or maybe realization had dawned on him and now he was
having cold feet at the prospect of tying the knot with a complete stranger
who might decide to file for spousal support, or
worse—half of his belongings. Given that he seemed to own more than I
did, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the latter was the case.

Suddenly, my air supply was cut off and I felt as though the
ceiling was about to crash
down on me.

What was I doing, pulling him into
this mess with me? How the hell could I have relied on him to follow through
with the marriage?

I walked to the window and opened
it to let in the warm afternoon air, then turned around, watching him closely.

“What’s going on, Chase?” I asked.

“Let me rephrase,” Chase said, his
voice low but cold as ice. “One moment you don’t want this, and the next you
buy a dress. You haven’t thought this through, Laurie.”

“Believe
me, I have,” I
muttered. For years I had been
planning on getting
those letters in the hope that it would give me the chance to look into the
mystery that had consumed most of my life.

“No, you don’t understand.” Chase
let out a slow breath. “I mean you sent me a text talking about calling the
whole thing off. Are you sure you want to go through with this? Because you
seem to constantly change your mind, and I have no time for this. I have no
time for playing games.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He looked so unconvinced, my heart
dropped. Or maybe it wasn’t conviction, but disappointment with my answer.
Maybe he hoped I’d say that we were making a mistake.

There was my answer.

I crossed my arms over my chest
and regarded him coldly, waiting for him to take the first step.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head slowly.
“Look, if you don’t want to do this, it’s fine. You don’t even need to tell me.
Just get up and leave, and I’ll get the message. There won’t be any hard
feelings.”

His hard expression softened a little. “I never said that.”

“What are you trying to say, then, because I sure as hell
don’t understand you.
Do
you want out? Is that why you’re here?”

“I—” His words failed him. I could see it from the various
expressions crossing his face. Something bothered him. Something he didn’t want
to share with me. I hadn’t known Chase for long, but for some reason I could
sense that he was torn—confused, even.

For a moment, silence ensued between us. I bit my lip hard
until it burst between my teeth. My tongue flicked over a drop of blood inside
my mouth.

“How did you even know I went shopping?” I avoided the word
‘dress’ on purpose. Chase shook his head grimly, but remained silent.

There was only one possibility.

“Jude told you,” I said. It wasn’t a question; it was a
statement. “Either that, or you followed us.”

Chase looked up and our gazes met, and for a moment
something shimmered in his eyes. “I didn’t follow you.”

The dull pain in my head roared to
a full throbbing pulsation. So she had told him.

I didn’t like the fact that my
best friend was telling him things behind my back. Maybe
she was way
more smitten with him than I had realized. Or maybe she
hadn’t dropped the idea of asking him to help with the wedding costs. Either
way, I didn’t like it.

How dare she not tell me?

“She shouldn’t have talked to
you,” I said.

“She wouldn’t have if I hadn’t
called her.”

A pang of jealousy hit me in the
pit of my stomach. “Why did you?” I asked, even though it was none of my
business. I didn’t own him. We weren’t even in a relationship. His silence
worried me. Suddenly I could imagine Chase smiling at Jude with the same
passion he had invested in my smile, asking her on a date, or sending her
flirty messages.

“Chase?” My voice sounded choked.
“Why
did
you call her?”

“Because I wanted to surprise
you.”

My heart began to pound harder as
I leaned back in shock, then surprise. A minute passed in silence, followed by
another.

“With what?” I narrowed my eyes,
not trusting him.

His lips twitched at the corners,
and for the first time
his anger seemed lifted, giving him the carefree
expression I had glimpsed before. And then it disappeared again and a frown
took its place. “Doesn’t matter now.” Sitting back, he ran a hand
through his disheveled hair, hesitating again.

He still hadn’t answered my
question why he was here. The realization bothered me.

“Just so that you know, Chase. You
don’t need to go through with it, you know. I promise you I’ll understand if
you want out.”

For a moment his expression brightened and I thought I saw
relief in his eyes. He wanted out. The realization hurt me more than I cared to
admit. I smiled bitterly as I realized just how much I had wanted to go through
with it all. Was it so bad that I had been looking forward to marrying him,
even though it was all fake, arranged to suit a
purpose?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

How could I have been so stupid
and let my guard down like that when it wasn’t even real? I should have trusted
my feelings. I shouldn’t have believed it was too good to be true. Too easy. I
should never have gone shopping for a dress. So many should and should-nots,
but the knowledge didn’t ease my anger.

Interpreting his silence as
agreement, I nodded.

“All right.” I sighed. “Then let’s
call it all off,” I whispered. “You can leave now.”

“Laurie?” He hesitated, looking
for words, and then his cell phone rang. Chase pulled it out of his pocket and
peered at the caller ID, his frown instantly deepening. For a second, he just
stared at it with the kind of mistrust reserved for an attacking cobra. The
ringing stopped, only to resume again. And still he seemed to harbor no
intentions of wanting to answer.

“You should take it,” I said
nonchalantly. “It might be important, you know.”
Like a secret girlfriend
, I added
mentally, realizing just
how bitter I sounded. He
could have as many dates as
he wanted. It was none of my concern. For all I cared, he could date Jude.
Actually, that one might hurt like hell, but there was nothing I could do about
it.

At least I hadn’t slept with him.
It would just have been a mistake; it would have left my heart scarred.

The phone kept ringing.

“It’s not important,” Chase said,
still staring at the screen.

“How do you know? It might be.” Why
the heck did I keep insisting? Because I wanted a sign—any
sign—that would shatter my stupid hopes. The kind of hopes I should never
have allowed myself to have
. When did that even happen?

Chase hesitated. I knew he had made a decision when his
shoulders slumped and he lifted the phone to his ear, pressing the green button
in the process. He didn’t say a word, just listened to the other end of the
line. The words were too muffled to
understand, but I
could tell from Chase’s angry expression that he didn’t like whatever was being
said. And then he muttered, “Okay. Got it,” and hung up.

That was it?

I frowned. Chase was a
professional actor. I could only guess that whoever had been on the other end
of the line had some sort of authority, like his agent or manager. Was it
possible that his agent had found out Chase was going to get married and told
him it was a bad move that could possible destroy his career?

Possible. I wouldn’t have been
surprised if that was the problem.

Regarding him, I bit my lip again
so I wouldn’t ask
the countless questions
burning
on my lips. Chase’s eyes refocused on me, his blue gaze as deep as an ocean
on a winter’s night, and just as troubled.

“You should have asked me about
the dress,” he began. “I would have come with you to help you choose it.”

Huh?

I blinked in disbelief, unsure if
I should be frank or play confused. I decided directness was the better way to
get answers.

“Is that why you’re so angry? That
you didn’t get your say in the matter?” I raised my brows. Was he turning out
to be a controlling nutcase? Did he have a problem with a woman taking charge
of a situation?

“No. That’s not it.” He shook his
head slowly, his eyes still ablaze with a spark of irritation I couldn’t place.
Whatever battle he
was fighting, he obviously preferred
to keep it to himself.

“What’s going on?” I threw my
hands up in exasperation. “Please help me understand, because I’m losing my
wits with you.”

Finally his expression relaxed and
he leaned back against the cushions.

“Look.” He drew a sharp breath and
looked up. “I just wanted to surprise you with a dress, because I thought you
would forget.”

“Oh.”

Had I been misinterpreting his
behavior?

“But it’s okay. You’ve obviously
made up your mind, so…” He shrugged, and a hint of a smile appeared on his
lips, veiling whatever was going on inside him. “Anyway, I’ve instructed a
friend of mine to get the necessary paperwork done by the weekend. If you don’t
mind.” He raised a brow. And just like, that his mood lifted.