“Calm the fuck down,” he ordered, as though it was that simple.
“Calm down?” I parroted. “That’s easy for you to say since you’re not the one in danger of being deported!”
“Neither are you.”
“I beg to differ”—I stormed towards him and jabbed my finger in his chest, absently noticing how firm it was—“since an appointment at an immigration field office sure sounds like the start to yanking my work visa to me.”
“You know what?” he drawled. “Don’t calm down. Feel free to freak the fuck out because in the end that will work out even better for me.”
“What in the heck are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you and me, Zoe. You’ve been denying what’s happening between us for two, fucking long as hell months,” he growled, his eyes lit with determination. “You’ve used your work visa as an excuse to keep yourself away from me. Well guess what, Blondie? Giving in to me is your way out of this mess.”
“I still have absolutely no idea what you mean. Maybe you can dumb it down for me since I’m blonde and all,” I muttered sarcastically, not a big fan of his nickname for me.
“Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll make it as simple as one word—marriage.”
“What? No,” I gasped. “We haven’t even been out on a date!”
“And whose fault is that?” he countered. “It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying on my part. If I’d had my way, you wouldn’t have a single doubt about how damn serious I am.”
Gah! He was absolutely right, and it was so darn frustrating. I couldn’t blame him for our lack of dating history, but he was missing the biggest flaw in his plan. “Nobody is going to believe we got married for any reason other than me receiving that letter. The timing is too coincidental.”
“Not if you didn’t get the damn thing before we were already married,” he suggested.
“That’s impossible, Landon. I already received it.”
“Nobody but my baby sister knows you did,” he countered, moving towards the door and yanking it open. “Samantha! We need you in here for a minute.”
“What’s up?” Her gaze was worried as she peeked her head inside my office.
“If anyone asks, Zoe and I were already gone for the weekend when this arrived.” He stuffed the letter back in the envelope and handed it to her.
“Anyone, as in mom and dad? Or anyone, as in the authorities?” Samantha asked.
“Both.”
“You can’t ask her to lie for me,” I objected. “She could get into serious trouble.”
“Sure he can. That’s what family is for,” Samantha disagreed, flashing me a smile before turning to her brother with a calculated look in her eye. “It just means he’s going to owe me big later on.”
“Whatever you want, consider it done.”
“Hot damn!” she crowed. “You do know you’re probably going to regret it later, right?”
“Zoe’s worth it.”
“Holy crap,” I breathed out, not even knowing how to respond to the certainty in his voice.
“That she is,” Samantha agreed. “If I was a nicer person, I’d do this for you out of the kindness of my heart because I want you to be happy.”
“But we both know you’re too mercenary for that,” Landon chuckled.
“Pot meet kettle,” Samantha quipped. “Where should I say the two of you went when everyone asks?”
“Vegas.”
Holy crap, he was serious about marrying me to fix my visa problem.
Chapter 2
Landon
“We don’t even know each other, Landon. How would we convince anyone that we were together, much less decided to get married?” Zoe squeaked, looking a little shell-shocked.
I rolled my eyes. “Just because you’ve been stubborn and haven’t been on a date with me doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten to know you, Blondie.” I knew the nickname irritated her and my intent paid off when she went from looking freaked to annoyed. “You hate coffee, even the smell. You drink tea instead, with cream and sugar. You have a weird aversion to certain fruits, particularly peaches—”
“It’s the texture,” she cut me off with a slightly defensive tone.
“Good to know,” I grinned and kept going. “You chew on your bottom lip when you’re nervous. You love to read and judging from the blushes I see while you’re buried in a book, they’re steamy romances. You love your family, but they drive you mad. You’re incredibly brave. You have the softest, prettiest blonde hair I’ve ever seen, captivating green eyes, and plump lips that constantly bombard me with images of them wrapped around my cock.