Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Please call me Kevin,” Dr. Varma said, offering his hand and shaking Gavin’s energetically. “It is a pleasure to meet you. It is a great honor to meet the man who thinks that he can tame a lion.”
We both laughed. “He’s not taming me.”
“I truly am not,” Gavin said easily. “I like her just the way she is.”
“Bless you,” Kevin said with a chuckle. “You will always have your hands full.”
Gavin winked at me. “I intend to.”
I flushed and tried to roll my eyes through it. “You two are obnoxious.”
“She likes us that way,” Kevin said jovially. “Now, I assume you’re here to take her to lunch. Hand me those flowers, and I will find a place for them.”
I passed them to him. “Are you sure?”
“Get out of here before I change my mind. I remember being young and in love. Go.”
I held my hands up in surrender and followed Gavin to the elevator. “You know, you could have sent a text that you were back.”
“What? And miss getting to make your receptionist nearly faint? And meet your boss? Please. This was way more fun.” I poked at him, and he snagged my hand, kissing it. “Act like you don’t like it.”
But I did. I did like it. We’d only been officially dating for a few weeks. I’d only been back in New York for a matter of months. Still, my world felt upside down. Yes, we were having a fake wedding. But the very real dating, the very real wooing, was utterly unexpected. I liked every bit of that.
Gavin stopped at a sandwich place, and we grabbed things to go, heading into Central Park.
“While I have you,” I said after chewing a nice giant bite of my lox on an everything bagel, “I have some things we need to nail down.”
“Oh? Like you?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I wish. That’d be more enjoyable than wedding planning.”
“I thought the girls were in charge of most of it.”
“They are. Most of it. Which means I still have some decisions to make.”
The only thing we’d really talked about for the wedding before he left for Midland was how we were going to pay for it. I insisted, since it was my wedding, I would foot the bill. Plus, my parents had a wedding fund for me. But he scoffed at the suggestion and said he was paying. No questions.
It was a tremendous argument, but in the end, he won. I didn’t even know how it had happened. I never let anyone win in an argument, and yet Gavin had. He’d pushed me into this with the fake proposal. He’d suggested we go through with this. He was more at fault than I was for this turning out this way. And anyway, he had more money. Like a lot more money. And he argued, if I didn’t let him, he would probably pay everyone before I could get there.
So, I’d conceded. Bastard.
“Okay, English already decided on the color pattern. We’re going to figure out bridesmaid dresses. I’m having English as my maid of honor, Katherine and Lark as my bridesmaids. You’ll need three groomsmen.”
“Done. I’m going to have Court as my best man, Camden and Sam as my groomsmen.”
I checked that off my list. I’d already figured but thought I might as well ask.
We went through the rest of the long list English had given to me. It was easier, walking through the gardens and sitting by the lake, discussing it with Gavin, than doing it at home, alone. It was definitely more fun.
“Okay, last item,” I told him. “We need to figure out a prenup.”
He did a double take. “What?”
I blinked. “What?”
“What?” he repeated.
“I don’t know what you’re what-ing,” I said with a laugh. “A prenup. You know, a legal document that says the money you had before the wedding and the money I had before the wedding stay separate if we divorce.”
“I know what a prenup is. I’ve never met a woman who wanted one.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “I don’t want your money.”
“I know, but …”
“But what? A prenup is just a legal agreement that we’re not going to be dicks about the money we made before we decided to make our own shit legal. It’s not a big deal. Why do people make it a big deal?”
“Guess I was only dating gold diggers,” he joked.
But I could see that he was actually put out by this. He’d been made to think that even asking for one was a horrible idea. I could see it all over him.
“Did Margaret and Locke have one?”
“Yeah, but … that was different.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. You’re sure about this?”
“I’m frankly shocked you would marry someone without one.”
“No, no, I want one. I’d just never thought that someone I was marrying would suggest it.”