14. Wade

The sound of the front door to the office opening and closing was enough to get my pulse pounding. I was more nervous than I thought I'd be. My palms were sweaty, hands fidgety, and all I could think of were the millions of ways this could go wrong. But she'd agreed, and if today went well, I'd pay off her bills by the end of the evening. I was more committed to this than she was.

Her brown mess of curls bobbed as she walked past the window of her office door. Don't show her you're nervous.

A gentle knock at my door made me lean back into my chair instead of sitting up. This would be casual. No shouting, no arguing, no teasing. Well, maybe some teasing.

"Come in," I called.

The handle turned and the door opened slowly, a timid-looking Ray stepping into my space. Her wide black slacks fit snugly around her waist, drawing my eyes toward her torso and up. The thin, black button-up she had on hugged her breasts and was tucked into her pants, sleeves rolled up to let the bottom half of her forearms breathe. She'd done her makeup, bold on the eyes and subtle on her plump lips, her hair tied up in a ponytail that swished from side to side as she stepped up to my desk.

"Hi, Wade."

I motioned for her to sit and she followed the instruction. "Morning, Ray."

Her lips quirked up at the edges. "My dad used to call me that. Morning-Ray." She crossed her legs and smoothed out the fabric of her pants as I tried my best not to watch her hands. "I suppose you want to talk about the deal."

I nodded. "I figured it would be best to go over it in person. Ideally, it won't be an in-office thing as I'd rather keep this between us. It'll get out eventually, I'm sure, but until then…"

"I get it."

"Perfect," I grinned. I sat up in my chair, resting my elbows on the desk. "So, first things first. I think you and I need to learn a little bit more about each other. We can't sell that we're in a loving relationship if we don't even know the bare minimum. I think the best way for us to do this is to go on a few dates. We can get a bit more comfortable around each other and learn what makes the other tick."

A muscle in her jaw twitched. "I don't want to go on dates with you."

"I understand that, but we'll need to get our names out there," I explained. "We can't sell that we've been together a while if the media has never seen us. And we can't pretend to be in love if we feel awkward interacting."

"Can't you just tell me everything I need to know here and then we can play the part at the wedding?" she asked, her nose scrunched as if she couldn't fathom the idea of going out anywhere with me. To be fair, the one experience we did share wasn't great. "We can take a photo together somewhere and leak it ourselves."

I shook my head. "No. I know how this will work best and I need you to trust me on that. One of my best friends has done something similar and I'd like to follow his path." I didn't dare mention that Jackson and Mandy were married now and had a kid. Didn't want to scare her off. "I need you to be on board with this. I'll try to make it as painless as possible for you."

Rolling her lips between her teeth, she seemed to mull over what I was saying. "Fine. But there"s very little chance that I won't complain."

A chuckle bloomed in my chest. "I'd expect nothing less."

"Is that all?"

"No. We'll also need to get you comfortable staying the night with me since we'll be sharing a room for the wedding. Don't want you hesitating outside the door and flagging up questions in front of the families. Ideally, we'll go on a few dates until you're comfortable, and then you can stay at my house for a night before the wedding to make sure you're okay with that. We've still got a few weeks to prepare for that."

"Absolutely not," she hissed, her eye twitching as she leaned forward in her seat. "I'm not sleeping with you. How is that helpful?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Ray. I said staying with me, not sleeping with me. I don't expect you to want to fuck me," I laughed. I played with my lower lip as I watched her expression turn from irritation to anger, knowing damn well this was devolving into potentially dangerous territory. "I won't say no if it comes to that though."

"Such a fucking ass," she breathed. "Is that really necessary? Can't we just sleep in separate rooms and claim we're waiting until marriage?"

I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped from my gut. I swear, for a woman so smart, she truly could overlook the obvious. "Do you honestly think that my family or my sister's fiancé would believe I'd ever wait until marriage? I'm trying to clean up my reputation, Ray, not give everyone I know a heart attack."

"I don't want to do that with you," she said, enunciating every word, as if to make it more believable. I'd seen the way she looked at me. Maybe she didn't want to spend an evening alone with me, but I knew damn well if it was anyone else in my body she'd leap at the chance.

I couldn't help but see the statement as a challenge. "Shall we see how we get on and then make that call later?" I suggested, unable to keep the grin on my lips at bay.

She sighed, relinquishing control, and nodded. "Fine. But you have to pay for a twenty-four-seven caregiver for Mom on those days."

"That's not a problem, as I said before. If you'd rather, I can get her into a facility?—"

"No. She's happier at home."

"Understood."

Slowly, easily, a silence fell over us. I almost didn't want to break it, seeing it as good practice for us becoming comfortable with each other, but in reality, it was more her that needed to adjust. I knew I would be fine with all of this, as long as I knew enough about her. Being around women was second nature to me.

"Shall we have the first date tonight, then?" I asked.

"Tonight?" Her eyes blew wide as if I was springing this on her without warning, as if we hadn't just agreed to spend time together up until the wedding. "I'll need to call the caregiver and see if she can stay late."

"That's fine. Pay her extra. I'll get payroll to send you another advance."

Unblinking, she stared at me as if in awe. As if she didn't believe me. "You sure?"

"Yes," I grinned. "Now go call her then get to work, Ray. You've got a lot of scheduling to do."

————

"How are you not hungry? It's six o'clock."

"I don't normally eat until late," she quipped, her jacket tucked in close around her neck as she leaned against her car. She still hadn't gotten the window fixed. "I'm not exactly dressed for a fancy restaurant, anyway. And I'd rather not have the same issue I did last time with my car since it's snowing."

"Then ride with me," I insisted. I patted on the back of my car for emphasis.

She looked between my car and her beat-up old Toyota, temptation glinting in her eyes. "I don't like to ride with people. If something were to happen with Mom…"

I chewed on my lip, mulling it over, and nodded. "If something happens with your mom, I'll get you where you need to go. Riding around in that thing is just asking to break down."

She snorted. "This thing is better than nothing. Unless you want to add getting me a new car to your growing list of money you'll be spending to keep me in this deal, this thing will have to do."

"I'll get you a new car if that's what you want." It wasn't even a question. If she needed it, if she had to be somewhere in an emergency and she broke down in the freezing cold, she'd be fucked. I would happily dish out an extra thirty thousand.

Her laugh caught me off guard. "Very funny, Wade, but I don't need you to buy me a new car. I'm sure I can afford to get this one fixed soon enough."

"Then ride with me, at least."

She leveled a gaze at me and leaned into the trunk of her car, rummaging through boxes and bags of items, pulling out a black, unbranded sports bag. "Can we go to the recreation center?"

I stared at her bag, begging it to grant me x-ray vision to see what was inside. Convince her. "We can go to the rec center for our date if you ride with me."

Her grin widened. "Deal."

————

The car ride had been short and awkward. Ray had spent half of it staring at the monitor she kept on her at all times, and the other half fiddling with the buttons on the main dashboard, trying to get her seat heater working and refusing my help.

This was going to be so much fun.

As it turned out, Ray's idea of a date where we got to get to know each other was her skating laps around me on the ice rink. In truth, however, I wasn't complaining—the look of her in those fucking leggings was enough to make my head swim, and every time she passed me, she unintentionally gave me a view I'd drop to my knees for if my right one wasn't so screwed.

"Ray," I called, grabbing her attention from the other side of the rink. Her caramel eyes collided with mine across the empty space as she skidded precisely to a stop. "Come here."

Her blank stare morphed into something more daring, her lips slanting up at the edges. "You come here."

For fuck's sake. I hadn't been able to peel myself from the wall yet—one of the many reasons why she'd lapped me so many times—and she knew damn well that I had little to no confidence skating across to her. Of all the extreme and winter sports, ice skating had never appealed to me. I'd only done it a handful of times, not finding a thrill in the activity. "Ray," I growled. I dug my nails into the wall, the rented skates on my feet barely doing anything to keep me upright in comparison to her sharpened, owned ones.

"What?" she cooed, her feet gliding forward effortlessly to the center of the empty rink. "You've barely moved since we got on the ice. Do you need me to teach you?"

I steeled my jaw and found my balance to the best of my ability, forcing my feet to work for me like they did on skis. It couldn't be that different and I didn't remember it being that hard. But then again, the last time I'd been in ice skates I'd been seven years old, and I'd had one of those penguins you can push around for stability. Didn't have a penguin now. "No more than you need skiing lessons," I grumbled. I took a deep breath and pushed off the wall toward her.

Her answering grin as I managed to keep my balance was enough to excite me that much more. Why do I care if she's impressed? "Good job. It's like rollerblading if you've done that before. Easier to stay upright if you keep moving."

I resisted the urge to put my arms out to either side for balance as I slowly glided past her. Didn't need to look any more like a fool than I already did.

"Push out with one foot at a time, just a little angled. You'll find your rhythm," she continued. She was by my side in an instant, spinning and skating backward to watch me as I tried to follow her instructions without falling.

"How are you so good at this?" I asked. A deep cut in the ice made me wobble, my arms going out to either side instinctually, and within a second she'd stopped, closing the distance between us, her body far too close to mine, and gripped onto my biceps to steady me. "Thanks."

A heavy silence filled the air between us. There was nothing but frozen, hazy breath as her eyes locked onto mine, something clearly going on inside her head.

But then she was letting go, pushing off again, and skating backward while watching my feet. "It happens. No need to be embarrassed."

I nodded and dug the front end of my skate into the ice. What did Ray call that? The toe pick? She'd said not to take off with it, but it was the only use I could think of for the jagged front edge. I pushed my way forward toward her, balance coming a little bit easier this time. "You didn't answer my question."

Her lips pursed and she changed direction again, this time coming toward me and skating in a circle around my slow-moving frame. "I don't see a point in talking about my personal life at work."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Of course. Can't be having any fun at work."

"There's no point," she snapped, her gaze angled anywhere but at me as she resumed her backward position again. "We both have reasons we're doing this. There's no point in muddying the waters."

"You know the point of this date is to get to know each other more," I pressed. "How are we going to do that if you won't tell me about yourself?"

"You know enough about me. I know nothing about you."

"Surely a quick Google search would tell you some things." I angled myself toward the wall, realizing seconds before impact that I had no idea how to stop. I slammed into it, knee, hands and stomach. The ache in my knee flared for a second, making me wince, but by the time Ray had circled and come to a far more graceful stop beside me, it had calmed.

"You're surprisingly hard to pin down online," she quipped, leaning onto the wall instead of clinging to it for support like me. "Tell me."

I wasn't about to lay down my entire life story. There were things that could be kept close to my chest until the time came, things I could keep entirely that no one would dare bring up. But I could give her the basics. "My name is Wade Thomas Colchester," I started, flashing her a grin that dared her to make fun of my middle name. "My parents are Frank and Arlie. They divorced when I was around twelve, I think? Chloe was nine. Mom remarried a year later and her husband's kid, Zane, is our stepbrother. Chloe's pretty close with him. Dad never remarried and he lives it up as the single playboy."

Ray chuckled, her gloved hand covering her lips to hide it. "Like father like son. I'm surprised your sister didn't want him to clean up his act, too."

"Dad's kind of a… wild card," I explained. Instinctually, I pulled her hand from her face. I didn't want her to hide her amusement. "Plus, he's not really in the familyanymore. Mom's the one that comes from money, anyway. We all took her last name. He's not as connected as he used to be, so I guess he's not as much of a liability."

She rolled her eyes as she shifted in her skates, leaning back against the wall. "Should've known you came from old money. You definitely have the air of someone like Tom Buchanan."

"You did not just compare me to Tom fucking Buchanan," I laughed. The motion swayed my balance, and before I knew what was happening, my feet were sliding out from under me, the wall offering no support whatsoever. I could feel the crack in my ass as I collided with the ice, but Ray's answering laugh was enough to take the sting out of it. "I'm nothing like him."

Something seemed to shift in her hard exterior. The smile she had when she laughed, all teeth and gums, was genuine for once as she dropped to her knees next to me. "I don't know, Wade. You seem to be surrounded by beautiful little fools. Peaked early in life. And I'm positive Daisy calls him a brute at some point…"

Peaked early in life. The comment didn't sting as much as it used to, especially not when it came from her. I'd let her insult me if it meant she'd keep giving me the genuine side of herself. "Comparing yourself to Daisy Blunder Bunny? If only I were Gatsby instead."

Ray's smile slowly faded, a natural end to her fit of chuckles. "I don't know. I guess I could be Daisy. I'm fickle, tough to please, and I'm so goddamn bored with my life." Hurt flickered across her face, contorting her features like it had when she'd walked into my office begging for an advance. "I shouldn't have said that. I love my mom and I'll take care of her until the end, it's just… it's a lot sometimes."

"I get that. It's normal to feel that way." The chill of the ice against my rear and legs was nothing when I had her to distract me. I wondered if it was seeping into her leggings, bringing her back to reality. "Tell me about her."

She rolled her head against the wall of the rink as she turned to look at me. "About Mom? I mean, you already know she's not well. Early-onset dementia. Things were easier when Dad was around to help, but he died almost three years ago. He was so good with her."

This. This was the Ray I wanted to keep near me, the Ray I needed. Sure, her serious demeanor was what had sold me, but she was real. She wasn't vapid and empty like the majority of girls I usually spent time with. Selling a relationship with someone like Ray was believable at worst and perfect at best.

Maybe that was selfish of me but at least she was someone I'd actually enjoy being around for an extended period of time.

"Can I ask what happened? With your dad?"

She rolled her eyes as she dug the heel of her blade into the ice. "I highly doubt anyone's going to ask you how my dad died, Wade."

"I doubt they would and I'd fucking punch them for prying," I deadpanned. "You don't have to tell me."

Her fingers toyed with a loose thread on her sweater, tugging it free as the silence fell again. "They said it was a mugging gone wrong," she said quietly, her voice a little softer, a little weaker than before. My chest squeezed. "Dad was a bus driver. He didn't make a lot but he loved it. Not nearly as much as he loved Mom, though."

I didn't dare say a word.

"At the end of a shift one night, some guy hid between the seats and rode the bus all the way back to the depot. The cops think he was hoping to steal the money from the ticket sales that day. They got him on the CCTV footage threatening my dad with a gun, telling him to drop the bag and leave the bus. Dad tried to talk him down, but it… it didn't work. The kid panicked. He shot him, grabbed the bag, and ran. They never found him."

Words evaded me. There was nothing I could say, nothing I could do to make that kind of pain go away. No amount of money in the world would erase that from happening.

"Mom got a lot worse after that. The doctors said she was depressed and that depression could lead to a decreased mental state for her, but obviously, there was nothing we could do to fix that. I was convinced the heartbreak would take her out within months, but, as you already know, she's still here. Sometimes she forgets that Dad's gone and that opens a whole new can of worms."

She found a new thread and tugged on it until it broke free, unraveling a few more in the process.

"They had a really great relationship. It was the kind of thing I always looked up to. I told myself I wouldn't marry someone if I didn't feel the way my parents did for each other."

I wanted to hug her even if it meant she'd throw me off.

"Are you even listening to me?" she snapped, her head whipping in my direction faster than I could blink.

"I—" I started, cutting myself off before saying something stupid. I forced myself to think, to carefully choose my words first. Don't fucking tease her. Not right now. "I was listening. I just don't know what to say."

"Sure you were." She kicked the ice again, sending a chunk flying. "Why do you care anyway? Do you know this much about all of your bunnies' families?"

"No," I answered. And it was entirely true. I couldn't think of a single interesting fact I knew about any of them. "I never asked."

Her scoff was enough to tell me she was dissatisfied with my answer. "Figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you don't give a shit about any of them," she laughed. Gone was any trace of the real Ray hidden behind the mask. All I had now was an ice princess. "They're just a warm hole and a good lay to you."

Great. So that was how it was going to be now.

"Tell me they're anything but. Go on," Ray hissed, every part of her icing over as she leaned toward me, one hand on the ice and the other in her lap. "Lie to me, Wade."

That feral, needy, desperate side of me that hadn't been satiated in nearly a week came out in full swing before I could stop it. "Why?" I purred. My freezing, nearly numb hand met her face, cupping under her jaw and pulling her closer. I tried to ignore the jolt that came from my skin on hers. "So you can pretend you don't want to be one of them someday?"

Her breathing went shallow as her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. "I would never want that."

"No?" I challenged, squeezing the sides of her jaw just a little bit tighter. She could wiggle out if she wanted to. But she wasn't. "You wouldn't want me between your thighs?"

"Wade—"

I pulled her closer, my face just an inch from hers, and dropped my voice. "Don't deny it, Blunder Bunny. You'd fucking drip at just the idea of my breath on your skin, my fingers inside of you, my tongue in every goddamn place where the sun doesn't shine."

I could count the flecks of gold in her irises as they calmed, staring directly into mine. Her breath was jagged, uneven, and fuckmy cock was already flooding with blood.

"Are you imagining it?" I rasped. She didn't dare answer. "Imagining my cock filling you up? Imagining nothing but your every need being satisfied as I fucked you? Imagining the words you'd whimper for me, the little moans and mewls you'd make as I made you come over and over again?"

"I—"

"You know why they're so obsessed with me, Ray?" I continued. Lifting her chin just slightly, I turned her head to the side, let my lips brush against her ear. I could feel the shiver that ran through her body. "It's not because of my money. It's not because of my gold medals. It's because I give a shit about their pleasure and make them feel things they didn't know men were capable of."

I dragged my thumb across her lower lip simply because I could, feeling the tremor in it. "Wade," she whispered, locked and frozen.

"So fucking frigid. Tell me you don't want that at least a tiny bit," I whispered. "Lie to me, Ice Bunny."

Within the span of a second, she wriggled from my grasp. She pushed herself to her feet shakily, her breaths staggered, her eyes frenzied, her balance off. "I'm not your bunny," she croaked, pushing the hair from her face. "I… I need a minute. Get off the ice."

Biting my lip to hide the undeniable smirk on my face, I crawled the two feet to the exit, pulling myself up onto solid ground that didn't feel like it would fall out from under me. I'd give her space. Give her time. Watch as she skated lap after lap, faster and faster, working off every ounce of adrenaline I'd poured into her in just a few sentences.

Maybe this would be harder than I thought.