“Zoe didn’t tell you?”
I back-pedaled. Bianca couldn’t find out the truth about our marriage. I had to act like I knew what was going on. “They owed two hundred thousand dollars. It was paid off.” A surge of guilt rushed through me as I spoke those words. Zoe hadn’t lied. Her grandmother’s house really had been at risk.
“No.” Bianca’s voice was impatient. “Two hundred thousand dollars was the back taxes amount, and it was paid off. But Nellie Robinson still owes eighty-three thousand dollars in fines.”
“That’s not possible.” My palms were sweaty. “She would have told me.” Then I remembered Zoe’s words this morning. There’s something I need to talk to you about. She had tried to tell me. And knowing Zoe, she would have hated to ask for my help. But she’d tried to do so anyway. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I’m assuming it’s because you are loaded, and she is leery of being called a gold-digger,” Bianca said quietly. “Not all women care about money, Ryder.”
Zoe hadn’t. She’d gone out on a limb when she’d trusted me. And I’d thrown her trust and her love back at her face. I’d read an article and rather than give the woman I’d fallen in love with the benefit of the doubt, I’d instantly believed the worst of her.
Because once upon a time, my father had been in love with my mother, and it hadn’t kept him from hurting her.
Because deep inside, I was afraid that I was more like him than I wanted to be.
But my fear was no excuse. When push had come to shove, I had failed my wife.
I didn’t deserve a second chance. But I could still save the house that she cared so much about. It was the least I could do.
25
Zoe
In forty-five minutes, City Council was going to vote on Ryder’s project.
I’d spent all morning running around the city on transit. First, I’d gone to my old company, where I’d asked for my old job back. No surprise - they’d found someone to replace me. But they promised to let me know as soon as another vacancy opened up. “You know the systems in this place,” Marvin Knight, one of the friendliest partners, said to me. “We’re absolutely going to hire you back.”
“Do you know how soon you might have an opening?” I’d asked.
He’d shrugged easily. This was not a man who had ever worried about money. “Probably a couple of months,” he’d said. “It’s summer, Zoe. Take some time off. Travel. Work will still be here when you come back.”
“Sure.” I’d risen to my feet. “Thanks for your help, Mr. Knight.”
After that, I’d looked at a handful of apartments on Craigslist. None of them appealed, but I filled out a couple of applications. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and we needed to find a place as soon as possible.
Once all of that was done, I trudged back home, trying to keep my mind focused on the tasks at hand. I couldn’t stop thinking about the city council vote. Any moment now, Ryder would be striding up to the podium to make his case. What would happen? Would he prevail?
Enough, I told myself harshly. But it was easier said than done. The more I tried to avoid it, the more I remembered little things about Ryder. The light in his eyes when he talked about work. The soft smile on his lips when he kissed me. The rasp of his stubble against my skin. The sound of his voice as he told me to take off my clothes.
“Zoe, there you are.” My grandmother’s voice pulled me out of my daydreams. “I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up your phone.”
I’d left my phone behind at Ryder’s place. It wasn’t mine - Ryder had paid for a top-of-the-line smartphone. I made a mental note to find my old phone and reactivate it. “What’s up, grandma?”
She cleared her throat. “Ryder dropped by. He had something for you.”
“Whatever it is, I don’t want it.” Maybe he’d figured out by now that it wasn’t me that had leaked the plans. It didn’t matter. He’d been so willing to believe the worst of me, and I couldn’t allow myself to forget that.
“He also paid the rest of the tax bill.”
I looked up at that, but even that wasn’t enough to drag me out of my funk. “That’s nice,” I said dully. “Eighty-three thousand dollars is probably pocket change for Ryder Drake, and this way, he doesn’t even have to feel guilty about the way he treated me.”
My grandmother frowned. “That’s not worthy of you, Zoe. He came to apologize. He waited here almost all morning for you. He only left ten minutes ago.”
“He did?”
She nodded. “He did.”
The gloom lifted, and a small ray of hope peeked out. Ryder would have had a thousand things to take care of before the Drake Towers vote. But he’d come here instead, and he’d waited for me all morning? I didn’t know what to make of that.
Her gaze softened. “Why don’t you see what he left you?”
“I don’t think presents are going to magically undo the last few days.”
“Zoe.” Her voice was both gentle and firm, the way it had been all my life. “Ryder made a mistake. But you don’t have to make one as well. You can forgive, you know. You can choose happiness.”
Damn it, I was tearing up again.
He’d left me three things.
The first thing was a plan of Ryder Towers. The real plan, not the one the papers had leaked. And in this plan, the park was hard to miss, because it occupied most of the first floor, and continued in several terraced areas on the outside of the building. Fully integrated into the plans, transforming Drake Towers from beautiful to spectacular, the park was a design masterpiece.
The second thing was a note.
I have no right to your forgiveness, Zoe.
But I’m sorry. So sorry.
I’m sorry I hurt you.
I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.
And most of all, I’m sorry that when you said you loved me, I didn’t say it back.
Because I do. I love you, Zoe. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m sorry I fucked that up.
And the third thing? My engagement and wedding rings.
I looked down at what I was wearing. A gray pantsuit, pale blue blouse. The kind of outfit you wear when you ask for your job back. It would have to do. I reached for my rings and I slipped them on my finger. I had just thirty minutes to get to city hall. I was going to be cutting it really fine.
My grandmother was right. I could hold on to my pride, or, if I wanted, I could choose happiness.
“Grandma,” I yelled out, clattering down the stairs in a perfect storm of noise and confusion. “I’m going out. Don’t wait up for me.”
As I ran out of the door, I caught a glimpse of her. She was wiping tears from her eyes, and she’d never looked prouder of me.
26
Ryder
Before I met Zoe, today’s meeting to vote on the Drake Towers project would have been the most important day of my life.
Today, I’d barely managed to be on time. “Where’ve you been?” Laurel hissed at me when I walked in. Manny didn’t say anything; he’d just looked relieved that I’d shown up, as did the rest of the team.
What could I say? That I was hoping to see my wife, to tell her how very sorry I was? That if she gave me a second chance, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy? That the short month we were together was the happiest time of my life?
I couldn’t get Zoe out of my mind. Little scenes of our daily life would keep flashing in front of my eyes, and it took an effort not to crumble. The way she’d lean against me when we watched a movie, her feet tucked under a blanket. The way she’d chew on her lower lip as she was studying, a cup of coffee always within reach. The way she’d smile when I walked into a room, delighted to see me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to Laurel. “Do you have an agenda?”
She nodded. “The city’s going to vote on some kind of parking ordinance first, and then we’re up. There will be twenty minutes of open discussion that anyone can participate in that. Brad Wexle
y is here,” she gestured discreetly in his direction, “and I’m sure he’ll have some kind of rabble-rousing speech ready. After that, you’ll have an opportunity to respond, and the council will vote.”
“So I get to make the final argument.” This should have filled me with triumph, but all I could muster was faint enthusiasm.
“You do. Make it count, Ryder.” Manny gave me a shrewd look. “You okay? You look out of it today.”
No, I wasn’t okay at all. “I’ll be fine.”
The parking ordinance people made their presentation at the podium while we waited in the audience. Once they were done, we were called forward. I walked up to the front with Laurel and Manny. Had Steve still been working for me, he would have been part of the pitch team as well, ready to answer any detailed questions on the project that might come up.
But Steve wasn’t here, because Steve had walked out in a huff, and had screwed me over as he left. Once this vote was over, I vowed to myself, I was going to do something about that. If Steve thought he was going to get away with what he had done, he was very, very mistaken.
I took a seat on a chair close to the podium and watched as Brad Wexley take the stage. “Members of Council,” he started. “Ladies and gentlemen. Let’s just address the elephant in the room, shall we?” He fixed me with a smug smile. “We all saw the plans in the Toronto Star yesterday for the park that Drake Towers is going to put in. A park they committed to building, might I add.”
He paused theatrically. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who was confused at this supposed ‘park.' In Toronto, we have many fine parks. High Park, Humber Bay, the Scarborough Bluffs.” His voice rose in cadence. “What Drake & Partners has proposed isn’t a park, ladies and gentlemen. It’s no more than a glorified sidewalk. And the citizens of Toronto deserve better than that.”
He continued on his rant, but I wasn’t listening anymore.
Because Zoe had just walked in, and my heart had stopped beating.
Unmindful of all protocol, I rose from my chair right in the middle of Brad Wexley’s speech, hurried past all the city councilors, and went up to Zoe, who had taken a seat in the back of the audience. Heads swiveled as I passed, and I felt the entire room’s eyes on me.
None of that mattered. All I cared about was Zoe.
“Hey,” she said, with a small smile on her face. “Everyone’s looking at you.”
“Let them.” My gaze dropped to her hands, but I couldn’t see if she was wearing her wedding rings or not. “I love you, Zoe. I’m so sorry I was a fucking idiot.”
Her smile grew wider until it covered her whole face. “I love you too, Ryder.” She flung her arms around me, hugging me tight. “Don’t be an idiot again,” she sniffed into my shoulder.
“Never again,” I vowed. I could have stayed there forever, with her body soft against mine and her breath tickling my ear, but she disentangled herself, her cheeks flushed. Brad had finished speaking, and the audience was clapping. “I think,” she said, “that you are up next.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Knock them dead, Ryder.”
“In a minute,” I muttered. “Right now, I have an extremely inconvenient erection, and I’m trying to get it to go away.” I slanted her a stern look as she smothered her giggles at my plight, and gave my dick a mental talking-to as I walked toward the podium.
This was it. It had taken Drake & Partners almost twenty months to get to this point. And with Zoe in the audience, I felt invincible.
I was ready to win.
27
Zoe
I was nervous.
This project was everything to Ryder.
Ryder, on the other hand, didn’t look like he shared my anxiety. He looked completely hot. Custom-tailored suit, hand-made shoes, and he wore it all with an effortless air of command.
As inappropriate as it was, I was getting a little bit turned on.
Then he started his presentation. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “There’s been a lot of talk about Drake Towers in the last two days.” His voice was dry, and a few people tittered in the audience. “So let me introduce you to the real Drake Towers.”
Gasps filled the room as an image of Drake Towers went up on the TV screen. People started whispering to each other when they say the park Ryder had designed. Soaring trees, swooping waterfalls, and a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor space, this was like nothing they had ever seen in their lives.
Brad’s shoulders slumped as he took in the audience reaction. He wasn’t a fool. He knew he’d lost.
Ryder had this.
I wasn’t nervous anymore.
Yet I still crossed my fingers in my lap as the councilors voted.
One by one, they pressed the buttons on the screens in front of them, and the votes flashed up on the TV screen dominating the room. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. No.
Then it was Bianca Russo’s turn. “Councilor Russo?” the woman in the front prompted. “How are you voting today? Yes, No or Abstain?”
The seconds ticked by, and Ryder held his breath. None of the Russo block had voted yet - they were all waiting for Bianca’s signal.
Then her response flashed on the screen.
Yes.
And my husband had won.
After the vote, Ryder took his entire team out for drinks. “Join us,” he said, fixing me with a questioning look. “Please?”
I pretended to weigh my options. “Will there be wine?”
A slow smile spread across his face, and a tremor of desire swept up my spine. “I think I can arrange that,” he said.
“What about cheese?” My brow furrowed. “Will there be cheese?”
His eyes gleamed with a very familiar amusement. “Many kinds of cheese, my little mouse.” He clasped my hands in his own and pulled me close to whisper in my ear. “I’m going to get you tipsy tonight.”
A shiver went through me as his stubble rasped against my skin. “Why’s that?”
“You get horny when you’ve had a few drinks.”
“Silly Ryder,” I giggled. “I don’t need a drink for that. I’m horny right now.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. “First, I get a hard-on right before I need to address the City Council, and now I have an erection in front of my entire team? Zoe, you are going to be the death of me.”
“Poor Ryder.” I kissed him on his lips, aware that his team was gaping discreetly at us. “So what you are saying is, the sooner we go to the bar, the sooner we can get home.”
“My clever wife.” He nuzzled at my neck, and my knees almost buckled. He thought I was going to be the death of him? He was going to be the death of me.
“And what happens when we get home?”
I was prepared for dirty talk, for an explicit description of what he was going to do to me. But instead, he brought my palm up to his lips in a tender kiss. “When we get home,” he said, “we are going to live happily ever after, for the rest of our lives.”
A wave of love washed over my heart, and this time, I didn’t shy away from my feelings. “Okay,” I said, smiling as I gazed into his warm eyes. “Let’s do that.”
And we did.
Lovely reader, thank you for reading Temporary Wife.
If you enjoyed Temporary Wife, may I recommend checking out my contemporary romance story MAX? It’s a friends-to-lovers romance that’s light-hearted and funny. Flip the page for an extended preview of MAX.
A Preview of MAX by Tara Crescent
She put me in the friend-zone. I want out.
Rule #1: Never hook up with a woman who is looking for a relationship.
Rule #2: Always do breakups in a public space.
I have a reputation.
I’m a player. Three dates and I’m out.
I don’t do commitment. My idea of a romantic evening involves making a woman cry out in toe-curling, window-shattering pleasure.
Until I meet Charlie.
She’s beautiful. She’s funny and she’s feisty.
I shouldn’t care, but with Charlie? I’m playing for keeps.
CHAPTER 1
Max:
I should never have broken Rule Number One. Don’t hook up with a woman who is looking for a relationship.
In my defense, I didn’t know Abby was looking for a boyfriend. We met in a bar. I’d just finished a set. She bought me a drink and asked if I was doing something later that night. “Hopefully, you,” I said, and despite the horrible pickup line, we ended the evening at her place.
So far, so good, right? Wrong.
Three dates later, Abby wants to be in a relationship. She’s asked me if I have plans for the Labor Day weekend. She’s hinted that she’d like to meet my parents. The other night, she came over and watched a romantic comedy on my couch.
It’s time for Abby to go. Call me an asshole if you must, but I don’t make romantic weekend plans. I don’t take women home to meet the family, and my apartment will forever remain a Jennifer Aniston-free zone.
Which brings me to Rule Number Two. Always do breakups in a public space. It’s much easier and cleaner that way.
Opposite me, Abby’s eyes brim with tears. “But we had a connection, Max,” she wails. “My psychic even said you were the one.”
Oh for fuck’s sake. Insert eye-roll. “You have a psychic that you take relationship advice from?”
Heads swivel to look at me. Shit. That came out louder than I intended. The blonde sitting at the table next to me looks up, and at the bar, Joe frowns in my direction and gives me his patented ‘don’t cause a scene, asshole’ glare.
Causing a scene is the last thing I want to do. I’m a big fan of uncomplicated. “Abby,” I say, holding up my hands in a placating gesture. “Come on, I’ve been honest with you from the start. I’m not looking for anything serious. You want casual sex? I’m your guy. But that’s all I’m interested in.”
Temporary Wife : A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance Page 10