By morning, I could hardly believe that it was time to go home already. This traveling stuff was exhausting and I felt like I could have slept the whole day away if I didn’t have to get back home.
“I have to work at three. Do you think we will be back by then?” I asked as I climbed out of the bed.
“Yep. Let me call down and get us some breakfast and see if your jeans are done.”
As he made his phone calls I jumped into the shower and quickly shampooed my hair and got out before he had a chance to join me. As much fun as a shower sex episode would have been, I was literally too tired to even think about it. Instead, I was drying off next to the shower when he knocked to see if he could come in.
“It’s all yours,” I said as I opened the door and let him in.
He was clearly disappointed, but he took it in stride and still hopped into the shower. I pulled on a fresh pair of undergarments and one of my clean t-shirts while I revisited the desserts we had from the night before. I stood over them contemplating if they were still good to eat and finally decided that they couldn’t be deadly just yet.
I was halfway through a piece of cheesecake when there was a knock at the door. Without thinking I hurried over there in hopes that it was the laundry service with my pants. When I opened the door there was a young pimple faced kid standing there and his mouth dropped open as he looked down at my bare legs. His eyes lingered on my lacy panties before he finally looked back toward my face.
“Your laundry,” he said as his face turned red.
“Thank you,” I said as I took the bag from him.
After closing the door I slipped into my jeans and only a moment later there was another knock at the door.
“You conveniently decided to take a shower when everyone was coming to the room,” I yelled toward Devin in the bathroom.
“Sorry, I’m just getting out if you want me to grab it?” Devin said as he opened the bathroom door.
He was wrapped in the small hotel towel as he reached for the door and opened it before I could respond. This time we had a little bit older gentleman who was holding our food on a large tray. I moved out of the way as Devin held the door and let him in.
“Do you want me to get rid of all of this?” The man asked Devin.
“Yes, please.”
“Wait,” I yelled and ran over and grabbed one last bite of the cheesecake. “This is so delicious.”
Devin laughed as he rummaged through his pants and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to me while the man finished picking up our mess from the night before. As Devin went back into the bathroom to get changed, I realized I hadn’t tipped the laundry kid anything at all. At least he got a good view since I was a jerk and didn’t tip him.
“Thank you,” I said as I handed him the money.
It was exciting to be able to tip someone ten whole dollars. I’d never given that big of a tip ever. Usually when I was out with my girlfriends I’d tip a dollar to the waiter or waitress who brought our drinks and everyone else would chip in a little too. But we were all poor. Ten dollars was pretty much our drinking money for the night, not a tip. And typically we tried not to have to spend our money at all and instead let the guys who were flirting with us pay for our drinks.
“I basically ordered everything they had,” Devin said as he came out of the bathroom.
His hair was slicked back like I’d never seen it before and it looked like he had trimmed up around the edges of his beard a little. He was as handsome as ever.
“Good because that day-old cheesecake needs some friends in my stomach, I’m starving.”
“Me too.”
We sat around the table and looked out at the city while we both ate as much as we could. I felt a little shaky as I was so hungry, so I tried to balance some protein with the fruit and carbs that were there. After a few bites of several dishes, I finally started to feel more like myself and took the oatmeal with me as I stood looking out over the city.
“Do you think they are going to let Izzy come live with you after Ashley gets sentenced?”
“I don’t know. I would hope so, but Ashley was pretty angry with me. I’m not sure she is in a good enough spot to see that it is a good idea.”
“Will you take her to court if she refuses?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good. I think you should,” I said as I kept looking out over the city.
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that though.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be great.”
“Whenever you’re done we can head to the airport. I think we should be able to get home by one o’clock local time. Do you need to go home before going into work?”
“Yeah, I’ll need to change. It takes about forty-five minutes for me to get in if I take the train, so that should work just fine.”
“The train?”
“Yeah, my car is broken still.”
“Oh, crap. I was supposed to get you one. I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about that. Wow, you must think I’m some sort of creep for promising you that and then totally not delivering.”
“I don’t think that,” I laughed as he got his cell phone out and started texting someone.
“Don’t worry. I’m taking care of it right now.”
“You’re taking care of the car thing right now?” I asked skeptically.
“Yes.”
I reached for his phone to see who he was texting. How was it possible he could simply send a text message and figure out how to get me a car? That was some next level stuff for sure.
“Who are you texting?” I asked as he pulled his phone back so I couldn’t reach it.
“None of your beeswax,” he laughed. “I promised you a used car with lots of miles and I’m going to deliver.”
“And dents. It has to have dents. No good used car doesn’t have them,” I laughed.
“Of course.”
He was smiling from ear to ear as he put his phone back into his pocket and started packing up our things. I really hated that I’d even agreed to let him get me a car. But it felt better than letting him give me money for coming with him on his lying trip to see his ex. Plus, I’d managed not to have to negotiate any other payments with him for this second trip and that was a relief. I didn’t need money to come with him.
Even though I didn’t like the lying, I did want Devin to get his daughter back and knew it was important to him. I would have helped him without him paying me a cent and I think he knew that.
We took our time as we made our way down the elegantly adorned hallway and back to that glass elevator that I’d come to love. I pressed my body against the glass as we moved quickly toward the ground and felt the rush that I was sure the whole reason behind that glass elevator.
The valet brought our car back and we were back at the airport in under a half of an hour. I wasn’t sure how the whole car rental thing worked for Devin, but he was able to leave the car right there at his jet as we boarded. They didn’t have him sign anything and he definitely didn’t have to go out of his way and bring it to the normal car rental counter.
We boarded the plane and got comfortable on the couch that we had sat on before. The pilot and co-pilot were going through their checklists as Devin felt his phone ringing. He glanced at the number and then quickly picked up the call.
“Hello,” he said as he looked anxiously at me.
He listened silently for a minute as the other person talked. His face was sunken in and serious so he had me a little worried over who it might be. I still didn’t know all that much about his life, so there could have been dozens of possible things that someone could call and tell him.
“Of course. I’ll bring them the following weekend. But Lilli won’t be able to come, she has to work.”
Devin listened again and I knew it was either Izzy’s grandparents or Ashley. Because of the calm tone in his voice I assumed it was Mr. or Mrs. Edwards. He shook his head no as she talked even though she
clearly couldn’t see that.
“No, she has missed work for two weekends and it’s important to her. She will not be there,” he said firmly.
The firmness in his voice must have appeased them.
“Goodbye,” he said and hung up.
“What happened? Who was that?”
“Ashley says she will meet with me again and consider drawing up a document for a temporary physical custody. That was her mother on the phone.”
“Wow, that’s so perfect. I knew this would all work out for you. Congratulations,” I said as I hugged him.
But Devin didn’t seem as excited as I thought he would be. He pulled me off of him and we both looked at the Pilot as he stood near the door to the cockpit.
“Ready to go?” He asked Devin.
“All ready. Thanks,” Devin said as he gave the pilot a cheesy thumbs up.
“What’s wrong?” I asked after the pilot closed the cockpit door behind him.
“Ashley is insisting that I bring pictures from our wedding,” Devin said as his face drained of its color.
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what to do now. I’m so close to getting her to agree. Maybe I could have someone Photoshop something? I don’t know.”
Devin looked so perplexed as he mulled over possible solutions. The problem didn’t seem all that hard to me though. Basically, he just needed to put a tux on and take a couple pictures with me in a white dress. How hard could that possibly be?
“So we will take some pictures. That’s easy.”
“Wedding pictures? Come on Lilli, that’s ridiculous. I can’t ask you to do that.”
The plane started to move faster and faster as we accelerated down the runway. I grabbed onto Devin’s arm and held on tight as I felt the wheels leave the ground and the nose of our aircraft point nearly straight up in our steep climb.
“It won’t be that hard. We can go to a bridal store and I’ll try on a dress and you can try on a tuxedo. We can go out back by some flowers and take a picture. Bam, done.”
Devin laughed at my idea, but it was a good one and he knew it. He held onto my arm and pulled me in close for a kiss.
“You are way too good to me. I’ll get a professional photographer to meet us and we can buy you whatever dress you’d like.”
“You don’t have to buy me a dress. What on earth will I do with a wedding dress when we are done with it? I can’t exactly wear it for a real wedding after wearing it for a fake one,” I laughed.
“You can do whatever you’d like. Maybe donate it to someone in need or something like that?”
“Yeah, I could do that. Okay. So you arrange things and I’ll go find a dress. Is that good?”
“Actually, I think I should come with you dress shopping. Then I can buy it right away and we can get the pictures done the same day.”
“Oh, no, you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”
Devin seemed amused by my statement, but I was serious. I didn’t care if it was a fake wedding or not, he wasn’t going to get to see my dress until the photo shoot. It was as close to a real wedding as I’d ever gotten and I didn’t need any bad luck coming my way. Or any more bad luck than I already deserved for the lying I’d done so far.
“Okay, if you insist. I can put a card down at the wedding shop and you can pick out whatever you’d like. Then we can set up the shoot on a day you have off of work.”
“Perfect. I’ve got Wednesday off. I’ll pick the dress out on Tuesday with Anna. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds like my dream wedding. Everything done and paid for within two days. It couldn’t be any more perfect.”
I knew he was joking, but I was a little sad that this wasn’t all for a real wedding. Not that I wanted to marry Devin at that moment or anything like that, but I’d hoped to be trying wedding dresses on for my own happy day, not for a day that I was pretending to be married. It was a little emotional, so I decided to cuddle up next to Devin and get some sleep for the rest of the trip. It was easier than thinking about how all this was going to be over soon.
Chapter 16
Devin
I couldn’t have asked for a better person to help me with everything that was going on with Ashley and Izzy. Lilli was so willing to go above and beyond. I really had to thank her the best way I knew how.
She made me promise to get her a used car with lots of miles on it. But that left a lot for interpretation and I had Jacob go get a car from the dealership that I’d purchased my Infinity from. Luckily, he wasn’t busy that evening and as we landed back in Chicago a text message came through from him saying he’d purchased the car and drove it over to my house and parked it in my driveway. He put the keys under the front mat of my house.
I was bursting with excitement as we drove home from the airport. I couldn’t wait to give Lilli her car. She was going to be mad, but I also thought she might enjoy the car too. Jacob sent a picture of the car and I glanced at it quickly and then put my phone away.
“Why are you smiling?” Lilli asked.
“No reason.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re up to something.”
I just smiled as I drove up to my house and pulled next to the white Infinity G60 convertible that Jacob had brought over. It was two years old, so it qualified as a used car. But it looked pristine and shone brightly against the sun’s rays.
“What is that?” Lilli asked as she frowned at me.
“It’s your used car,” I said as I tried to hold back my smile.
“Um, I clearly said used, with lots of miles and dents in it,” she said as she crossed her arms. “You spent too much on that. I won’t accept it.”
“It has thirty thousand miles on it. That seemed like lots of miles to me,” I argued. “And it clearly is used since it’s two years old.”
“Devin!”
“Oh, but it doesn’t have dents. Just a second.”
I popped the trunk of my car and went around and grabbed the crowbar from it. I walked back toward the convertible and took a minute to admire just how pretty it was before I swung the tire iron up and then banged it against the back fender.
“What are you doing?” Lilli said as she jumped out of the car and stopped me from hitting the convertible again.
“I’m denting it for you,” I said.
“You can’t just hit it. My goodness, Devin this is so pretty,” she said as her hand glided along the vehicle and up toward the driver’s seat.
“So you don’t want me to dent it more?” I teased.
“No,” she shook her head as she opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.
I hurried over to get the keys from under the front mat and climbed into the passenger seat. The black leather was warm from sitting in the sun and that was the only downside I could see to the car. It was in the perfect condition, and as Lilli started it up, the engine purred like it was meant to be with Lilli.
“How will I ever explain this to my parents?” she said as she rolled her eyes at me.
“The all-American loan?”
“Oh my gosh, they aren’t going to believe that someone gave me a loan for this. Plus, I can’t lie to them. I’m going to tell them I won it,” she laughed.
“That’s a better lie.”
“Maybe I could get a loan for a car like this. How much was it?”
“I’m not telling you,” I insisted. “But you could get a loan. You’d just have a big car payment. They give car loans to everyone. They can always come and take the car back if you don’t make your payments.”
“I don’t want my car repossessed,” Lilli insisted, as if we weren’t totally making up this scenario.
“You won’t. You’re a responsible young lady.”
“Fine, I’ll have to go with it. But I’m telling them I went on a date with you too. It will balance out the lying.”
“Of course, but don’t tell them about our wedding on Wednesday,” I laughed as I got out of the
car. “Maybe you should drive around in this for a little bit before you go home?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” her eyes lit up as she put her seatbelt on and backed out of the driveway. “I’ll see you Wednesday. Don’t forget to put your card on at the wedding salon.”
She waved as she pulled away and I couldn’t stop smiling. Lilli looked so good in that damn car. I was really happy she had agreed to accept it. She deserved to have a reliable vehicle to get to work in. No matter what was going on between the two of us, I owed her big time for giving up her last two weekends to help me get custody of Izzy. It was a huge deal for me and I couldn’t thank Lilli enough. The car was a small thank you and certainly the perfect fit for her.
***
The next few days flew by as I tried to cram a whole week worth of work into just a couple days. I made sure to stop by the local bridal salon that was just down the block and gave them my credit card and said that Lilli would be coming in to purchase a dress.
The ladies seemed surprised that I was willing to let her spend any amount and even tried to convince me I should put some sort of budget on Lilli because it would make it easier for her to make a decision. But I honestly didn’t care how much she spent on her dress. I was already asking so much of her just by asking her to take the photos, so the least I could do is let her wear something that made her feel wonderful.
“What’s the most expensive dress that you have here?” I asked.
“Well, we have dresses that are nearly fifty thousand dollars,” the woman said as she pointed to a special area with sparkling diamonds on the dresses.
“Okay, my budget is fifty thousand,” I said as I signed the necessary paperwork and left the salon.
I couldn’t help but smile as the women’s jaws dropped open. They should have realized that money wasn’t a problem when I gave them my black American express card. But it was still fun to see their excitement and as I drove away I saw them all talking about me and getting excited. I hoped that mean when Lilli showed up to try on dresses they were going to be extra nice to her.
The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance Page 17