Marriage of Inconvenience(Knitting in the City Book #7)(74)

I nodded, trying to separate my instinctive and gleeful first impulse from logic. I needed to think this through rationally, carefully. What were the long-term implications of sharing a space with Dan? I needed to consider not just right now, but also the future.

As though reading my mind, he reminded me, “I have a guest room. You can have the master or the—”

“No. I’m not taking your room. The points you make are good ones. It’s just, it would be one thing if this marriage—if things were completely fake between us. I mean, I know the marriage is fake. But we’re, we—”

“We dig each other.”

“Right.” I couldn’t stop my grin.

“And you’re worried about what happens if things don’t work out between us.”

“I guess so.” But that wasn’t quite right.

His expression turned thoughtful, but it looked carefully thoughtful, giving me the sense he was working to keep his features blank.

Dan reached for my hand and placed the key in my palm, encouraging my fingers to close around it. “There is one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Wally.”

“Wally?”

“Yeah. I could really use your help with Wally. I’ve been traveling a lot, and I know it’s hard on him.” Dan scratched his neck. “And, you know, he likes you, so . . .”

Was he . . . ?

No.

Did he . . . ?

No way.

Is he trying to guilt me into moving?

I stared at Dan, at his handsome face’s practiced innocence, and my mind gasped.

He is!

I couldn’t believe him. He was using his dog to manipulate me!

On principle, I knew I should be upset.

But in reality, I was completely charmed.

Try to make sense of that, I dare you.

Subduing my smile, I endeavored to wipe my features of anything that might give me away. Instead, I said, “Yes. I’ll do it. I’ll move in.”

Dan nodded, his expression still meticulously thoughtful. “Good,” he said, covering my hand with his. “You should start boxing things up tonight. Stan will help, and Nicolas is already on his way.”





Chapter Fourteen





A Public Company: A business company that has issued securities through an initial public offering (IPO) and is traded on at least one stock exchange or the over-the-counter market.





—Investopedia





**Dan**





I was a bastard.

And I couldn’t even claim to be an honest bastard. Not this time.

Fiona had her baby Friday night, Ava Evans Archer.

Janie had her baby Saturday morning, Desmond Daniel Sullivan, if you can believe it.

Now it was Monday, over a week later, and I was on my way back to the States after meeting with our clients in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. A freaking Australian tour.

And I was a bastard.

I knew what I’d done. I wasn’t one of those cumcakes who had illusions about the ends justifying the means, or any of that wishy-washy bullshit. I was a jerk bastard and I’d manipulated her into moving in with me.

Note, the placement of man in the word manipulate. Coincidence? Nope.

I wanted Kat safe while I was gone. I didn’t want her cousin sneaking in and carting her off while I was halfway across the world. So I’d laid a guilt trap and she’d tripped into it beautifully.

I hadn’t even felt bad.

Okay, I kinda felt bad.

All right, I’d felt really bad.

And I would tell her the truth when I got back from the future in the land of Oz. Telling her over the phone wasn’t an option, as I didn’t want her changing her mind. Plus, the time difference had been a killer. When I was waking up, Kat was going to sleep and vice versa. My early morning meetings and late night dinners made it worse.

Texting proved to be sporadic, but more successful than trying to arrange a call. We replied to each other when we could, adding random thoughts and carrying on an unconventional conversation, with a ton of gaps in response times.

I was so damn tired, and the only thing keeping me awake was the anticipation of seeing Kat within the hour. As I buckled in for the landing, I scrolled through our messages from the past week for maybe the hundredth time.

Dan: Just landed in Sydney. What day is it there?





Kat: It was the middle of the night on Sunday when I received your message, now it’s Monday morning. How are you? How was your day? I hope you are well and you were able to sleep on the plane.





Kat: Steven says hi. He is forcing me to type this. He told me to tell you he has video of us kissing at the Clerk’s office and he’s using it to blackmail you into giving him a raise.





Dan: Tell him to put it up on YouTube so I can watch it. How are you? How was your day? Are you up yet?