A knock at the door dragged his attention away from his thoughts. Who the hell would interrupt the bride and groom on their wedding night? “Let’s ignore them,” he said, coming in for another kiss. The knocking intensified to a banging.
“Just answer it.” Daisy stepped away from his embrace, adjusting her gown to make sure she was still fully covered.
Against his better judgment he went to the door, prepared to ream out whoever was on the other side of it unless they had a very good reason for being there. Even if the hotel was on fire, he might still choose to fool around with Daisy instead of evacuate.
“Mason, what are you doing here?”
For the first time in memory, he looked nervous as he ran a hand through his gray hair. “Can I come it? It’s important.”
Cole allowed him in, then closed the door behind him.
“What’s going on?” she asked. The lust from a few minutes before completely gone, just like his hard-on.
“I have some news and I’m afraid you’re going to be rather displeased with me over it, though I must state I had no hand in it.” He faced them head-on. “The fake wedding was real.”
…
“The wedding was real?” Daisy asked, feeling light-headed and not from the alcohol or from Cole’s kisses.
“What the hell are you talking about?” The anger in Cole’s voice came through crystal clear even without a hint of yelling. He looked like a caged wild animal, searching for a way to break free.
“I don’t know how it happened exactly, but from what I was able to gather, the actor who was supposed to play your minister ate some bad shellfish at lunch and was indisposed in the bathroom. The church thought they were being helpful, and their minister, a real one, stepped in at the last second as a replacement.”
Mason paced the hotel room, looking increasingly distraught. “It was never my intention to have you marry for real. Never.”
“But who cares if it was a real minister. We have to agree to want to be married, right? Sign something legal and binding?” Cole looked frazzled as he paced the room, his facial features becoming more scrunched up with every passing second.
Daisy bit her lip. “We did sign something. That minister made us sign the marriage license in front of everyone. I figured it was a fake document. Holy shit, Cole, we’re married.” She giggled at the absurdity.
She’d wanted more than anything to get married to him for real and now she had. Somehow, she always believed she’d get married once, for love, forever. But after this fake wedding turned real, that was never going to happen.
And she had no one to blame but herself for agreeing to this mess in the first place. The ridiculousness of their situation made her smile. It was either that or cry again, and she was sick of crying.
“You think this is funny?” he practically spat out. “You think this is some kind of joke? Did you do this?”
The smile fell from her mouth. “Did I orchestrate the food poisoning of an actor so I could trick you into marrying me for real? Is that what you’re asking me?” Surely he wasn’t.
“Did you?” he demanded.
Tears stung her eyes as they crested her lids and spilled down her cheeks. Never would she ever accuse him of something so despicable. The fact that his first thought about this situation would lead him to accuse her made her feel sick.
For a second, she’d thought maybe they’d find a way to be together, as a dating couple, after their business deal was over and done with. How could she have been so stupid to ever think that maybe she could have a future with Cole when he clearly thought so little of her? When his first instinct was to attack her instead of lean on her?
“Screw you, Cole.”
“Daisy, wait. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
“You said it because you’re an ass.” She swiped at the tears staining her cheeks. “What the hell? One minute ago you’re ready to rip my dress off, and now you’re looking at me like I’ve trapped you. All because of some stupid ceremony? Really?”
“You know I never wanted marriage. I’m not like you, Daisy. I don’t believe in happily ever after. You knew that when we got involved again. Fake involved, whatever.” He focused on Mason again. “This can’t be real. This has to be a mistake. A practical joke, right?”
She sniffled and wiped her nose. She’d been stupid to think she would ever mean anything more than a business deal to Cole.
What was she going to do now? It wasn’t like she could stay here with him for the rest of the night. Not after all of this. But where would she go?
Anywhere he isn’t.
“You didn’t… I got here before…” Mason said.
“Before what?” she asked.
“Before we did it? Yeah. Thank God we didn’t consummate the marriage yet. That should make it easier to streamline the divorce. Right?”
Pain seared through her chest. “Yes, Cole. Thank God you didn’t do something stupid like think with your heart along with your dick for once. Whew. Really dodged a bullet there.”
Daisy pulled open the door to their wedding-night suite and let it slam behind her on the way out. She didn’t have a clue where she was going, but anywhere was better than trapped in there with her new husband who was already counting the minutes until his divorce. Awesome.
Really married or almost divorced aside, she was gone from his life. Forever.
Chapter Twenty
Cole stared at the wedding dress pictures spread on the desk in front of him. He was picking the ones that looked the best to go into the next issue of Exclusively Yours, but it didn’t matter how long he looked at them—none of them looked good enough. None of them compared to Daisy’s dress.
It had been two weeks since the fake-turned-real wedding. Fourteen days without contact from Daisy. Countless hours lying sleeplessly in his bed. Alone.
Two full weeks of misery.
When they’d been involved in their business arrangement, he’d sometimes longed for his old bachelor days again. He’d missed hanging out with the guys, drinking, partying, letting off steam after a long week. About halfway through their time together, he didn’t think it would be possible to miss anything as much as he missed the guys and the good old days of being a free man.
Now he was one again, and boy he was wrong.
Being without Daisy in his life left a void in his chest he hadn’t been able to fill.
He’d tried calling her, tracking her down, but to no avail. When he’d panicked that something bad might have happened to her the night she left him, he’d contacted Tonya, who assured him Daisy was just fine, on her own. She simply didn’t want to be found by him.
He’d lost her.
The only woman who’d ever really made him question what he wanted out of life. The only one who made him think that maybe there could be more to living than just one-night stands and short-term girlfriends. And yet he’d still freaked out like a rabbit in a snare when he’d learned his wedding to her had been real. His fight-or-flight response had taken over his rational thought, and before he knew it, he’d ruined everything he’d had with Daisy. Everything he wasn’t ready to see end.
That realization hit him in the gut like a sledgehammer even after two weeks of dealing with it. Would he ever feel like himself again, post-Daisy?
“There he is,” his father said, walking into the office without knocking. “I knew I’d find you here, working hard.”
Odd. His father had been almost as pissed at him since the wedding as Daisy had been, but for different reasons.
“You’re in a good mood. Decided I’m not a horrible son anymore? Or have you come here to try and preach to me about something else I’ve done wrong in my life?”
“The very opposite actually. I’ll admit, I wasn’t happy about this whole wedding fiasco of yours. I thought for sure you’d lost your mind once. And I was worried you’d made your choice concerning work and relationships. But then I saw the article this morning, and I knew I was w
rong about everything. I was wrong about you.”
He tossed a folded-up section of newspaper onto the desk, scattering the photos of wedding gowns Cole had been studying. The bold black headline read: “Married for Money!” with a picture of them saying their vows.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, dumbfounded. How had the paper learned about their arrangement?
“I’d say it’s brilliant, that’s what.” His father beamed, practically the picture of a proud parent.
First time in history, Cole noted with a stab of annoyance.
He ignored his father and skimmed the article. Actually, it was more like an interview. With Troy. Seemed his brother had accidentally found the contract Daisy had signed with Mason for the investment when he’d stopped at his future sister-in-law’s workplace and had decided to make a few bucks spilling the secret to the press. Good for him.
Shithead.
“That kid is more of a screwup than even you are. I have to admit, I’m strangely impressed he managed to figure this all out on his own and use it to his benefit. Well, not that he’s going to get a magazine, which I know he’s been dying for. But at least he got some money out of the deal, I’m sure.”
Cole finished reading the article then tossed the paper into the waste bin. “Well that’s just fucking lovely.” Sarcasm dripped out of him like venom.
“You better believe it is. I had no idea you could think so outside of the box. I never would have come up with a marketing scheme like this. I really didn’t think you had it in you.”
His father patted him on the shoulder, but he shrugged him off. He didn’t want his accolades. “I didn’t. It was all Mason Bridgewater’s idea. So if you want to be proud of someone, then I guess you better be proud of him.”
“Nonsense. It was you who saw a good opportunity and jumped on it.” He laughed. “But I have to admit, you had me worried for a while. I thought for sure you’d made the same mistake I had, trying to figure out a way to do more than you were capable of. Bentons aren’t cut out for anything more than work, and we certainly can’t add a wife into the mix. Not if we want to be successful at either one. I’m thrilled to see you made the right choice.”
Had he? Had he made the right decision by letting Daisy walk out of their hotel room that night? He’d been second-guessing himself ever since. He didn’t want marriage, but after this last two weeks alone, did he really want a future of one-night stands and meaningless girlfriends?
No.
“I don’t know, Dad. We weren’t like you and Mom together. It was different with Daisy. It was…”
Stable and predictable and everything I never wanted.
“Fake. A smart business tactic. A new and inventive way to market a wedding magazine,” his father offered.
Damn it to hell if Cole didn’t miss every single stable, predictable moment of their six months together.
“It was great.” He sighed, flopping back into his chair. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, and even less to his father, but it was true. Being in a relationship, even a fake one, with Daisy had been the best time he could ever remember in his life. He missed her.
“Goddamn it, Son. Just when I think you’ve finally grown up and become a man, you say something stupid. We are businessmen, not husbands. When will you realize that you’re not savvy enough to have both? Now maybe if you were some wiz at managing your time and balancing your life, maybe you could manage a steady girlfriend. But I guarantee you’d get bored of the same thing every night and then you’d stress yourself out looking for ways to cheat without getting caught. Trust me. You don’t have the stomach for that.”
Anger exploded in Cole’s chest. “Did you cheat on Mom?”
“I did what I had to do.”
“Jesus, Dad. No wonder Mom got rid of you.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about your mother. If you want to do that, hire a therapist, or better yet, go drinking with the boys and forget about it. Right now you need to focus on the best way to capitalize on this press with the magazine. Figure out how we can bend it to an angle that suits us.”
There was a knock on the door, followed by a voice he’d been longing to hear. “Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might want these as soon as possible.” Daisy walked across his office and handed him a large, thick envelope. The large, dark bags under her eyes said she hadn’t been sleeping any better than he had lately, but she looked more put together than he felt. At least a few times in recent weeks, he’d come to work with a tie that didn’t match his shirt or wearing sneakers with slacks. Aside from a smudge of eyeliner where she’d possibly wiped her eye, she looked just as gorgeous as he remembered.
“What’s this?” he asked, standing to accept the package.
“Divorce papers. I had Mason use one of his connections to fast-track them. It was pretty simple since there’s no property to divide or anything. I’ve already signed them, so once you do it, then we’re done. It’s over.”
“Why do you need a divorce for a fake wedding?” his father asked.
“You didn’t tell him?” she asked, sounding shocked. “Turns out the engagement was fake but the wedding was real. We’re married. At least until he signs those papers.” She turned to leave.
“Dee, wait.” He came around the side of the desk, reaching out to her. “Why haven’t you been taking my calls?”
“Take a hint, Son. Don’t embarrass yourself,” he said with a chuckle as if any of this was actually funny. “Besides, it’s for the better.”
“Dad, stay out of this.”
She stopped, her hand on the doorframe as if to steady herself. “I ignored your calls because we’re over. I only came here today to make sure you knew that. We want different things in life, Cole. It’s okay. Really. I don’t want you to try to be something you’re not just to be with me.”
His father nodded approvingly. “Smart woman.”
Cole ignored him. “But we didn’t even get a chance to talk this out. You left after the wedding before I could say anything.”
Daisy sighed. “Honestly. You didn’t need to say anything. Your reaction to the news told me everything I needed to know.”
“Son, do what’s right and sign the damn papers. You can be free today.”
Cole felt himself snap. “Enough! Shut up and let me talk to Daisy without your running commentary.”
“If I don’t give you my opinion once in a while, then all you do is make the wrong choices. You’re finally in a good place, and I’m trying to make sure you stay there and don’t go screwing it all up again.”
“He is not a screwup,” Daisy said, facing William Benton head-on. “I’ve known Cole for quite a while now, and I’ve never seen anyone who works harder than he does or who cares more about his business and his employees than him.”
“What do you know? You’re clouded by your emotions like every other woman.”
“You have no right to speak to her that way,” Cole said. He pulled back his shoulders defensively.
“You have no right to speak to either of us the way you are.” Daisy’s voice was calm and calculated. “I may be a woman, but I am also an accomplished wedding gown designer and business owner. I have never let my emotions make business decisions for me before, nor do I plan to let them now. I used to wonder why Cole worked so hard every day, but now I know why. He was obviously trying to impress you. Although why he would need to, I have no idea. You might be his father, but you’re also a jackass. Thank God Cole only got his good business sense from you and none of your other less desirable qualities.”
William scoffed. “This is what you’re trying so hard to keep? You have worse taste in women than you do in ties.”
Cole opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it. “He’s not trying to keep me. And even if he were, there’s no future for us. Because he doesn’t want the same kind of future that I want, and I love him enough to let him be happy, which is more than I can say for you.”
“Wait a mi
nute. You love me?” he said. His heart pounded against his ribs.
She shrugged. “Sign the papers. Good-bye, Cole.” And with that she walked out of the office.
He sank into his chair in a daze, still gripping the package of divorce papers in his hands.
She loves me.
The thought sent a spike of excitement through him. He’d known her feelings for him were stronger than what he’d said his were, but he’d never imagined she might actually love him. Was that really possible? After everything they’d been through together, after everything he’d put her through over the course of their two relationships, did she really love him?
“Get it over with so we can move on to other things.”
Cole set the package on his desk, unopened. “I think I’ll deal with that another time.”
“Deal with it now so it’s done. Nothing better for the soul than making a clean break. Take my word for it. Don’t drag it out. It’ll only get messier if you do. If she’s willing to part ways so easily, now’s the time to take her up on the deal.” He nudged the paperwork across the desk.
“I’ll sign them if and when I’m ready,” he said through gritted teeth. He wasn’t in the mood to be strong-armed by his dad. Again.
“Make it official, and I’ll give you Prime Outdoors,” his father countered.
“What?”
“That was the other reason I came here today. To give you the magazine you’ve been working for since I thought you’d proven to be the guy to run it. But if you can’t even sign your divorce papers, which should be the easiest thing in the world, well… Sign them and prove to me I wasn’t wrong about you. Prove to me you are committed to the magazine one hundred and ten percent.”
Finally, after all the work, he was getting the magazine he’d wanted all along. All he had to do was the one thing he thought he wanted—not be married to Daisy anymore.
Was that what he still wanted? He’d been so lost without her the last few weeks. Then she came into his office and she’d said she loved him. She’d even been ballsy enough to stand up to his father. No one had ever stood up to his father on his behalf before. Then she’d offered to give him what he’d always really wanted: his freedom, without commitment, without any kind of bargain.
The Wedding Hoax Page 17