The Billionaire's Unexpected Baby(11)

Brooks's mom leaned down to kiss his forehead and then giggled as his dad grabbed her hand and hauled her toward the door.

Cole raised a drink in their direction. "Like I said, relationship goals."

Brooks watched them go, his mind warring between wanting to be bleached  until all remaining memories of the last hour had been scrubbed from it  permanently, and wanting to burn every second into his synapses so he  could have some sort of perfect marriage blueprint to follow.

Not that he and Leah were going to have a real marriage. But maybe, for  someday. If he ever found anyone else he wanted to marry. Though he  couldn't see that happening. He wasn't a marriage kind of guy-said the  guy sitting at his bachelor party. But he wasn't a real marriage kind of  guy.       

   





Then again, maybe he just hadn't found the kind of girl who made him want to be one.

The sudden image of Leah smiling at him with a come-hither look had him knocking back another drink.

What was he getting himself into?





Chapter Eight

Brooks stood with Leah in front of a guy in a courthouse and repeated vows he had no intention of keeping.

Well, that wasn't totally true. He'd keep them for a while. Maybe it was  more accurate to say he had no intention of keeping them permanently.  Cole handed him a ring and he slipped it on Leah's finger. Her hand  trembled slightly in his, and a wave of tenderness washed over him.  Okay, if he was ever tempted to do the whole marriage thing for real,  Leah would be the one to tempt him. He gave her hand a squeeze and she  rewarded him with a shy smile as she slipped on his own ring.

He still wanted to find a way to get her a big, fat rock. Once the  marriage was dissolved she could sell it. Stash away a nice little nest  egg. An easy and unobtrusive way of getting some money into her pocket  without handing her a wad of cash since she kept flat-out refusing that,  too. What ex-wife didn't want alimony? He needed to get the stubborn  woman to stop refusing everything.

Not that it should matter. The wedding was fake. The relationship was  fake. But Leah in that white dress … very, very real. In fact, the more  they continued, the more real everything felt.

He'd been half convinced he should call it off until the moment Leah had  walked into the room. There were other ways to deal with her problems.  If she was too stubborn to take his money outright-and judging by the  way she insisted they sign the ironclad prenup Cole had drawn up stating  she got nothing no matter why the marriage ended, he was sure he  wouldn't be able to convince her to take it any other way-then he could  always find her a job. Set up anonymous donations or scholarships for  the kid. Enlist Kiersten's help in making the woman see reason.

But then she'd walked into that courthouse room, in a white lacy dress  that floated around her knees, her hair pulled back with a simple silver  headband that left her brunette waves free to fall to her shoulders,  and he'd shut down any other thought in his head but making her his. It  wouldn't be forever. It shouldn't be forever, for her sake. But for a  little while he could pretend that a woman like her would marry a man  like him under circumstances other than extreme duress with her fingers  crossed behind her back.

"You may kiss your bride."

All other thoughts evaporated. This was the part of the ceremony he'd  been looking forward to. She didn't seem nearly as eager, glancing  around at their friends who'd been able to make it to a last-minute  wedding with a bright blush staining her cheeks. He took her chin in his  hands and drew her gaze back to him. She smiled and his heart exploded.  He barely knew this woman and he'd willingly lay the world at her feet  for one more of those smiles.

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, reining in the urge  to do much, much more. It would embarrass her and the day was hard  enough for her as it was. But later, when they were alone … they still  needed to renegotiate some terms. It was their wedding night after all.

"Congratulations," the officiant said. He handed them some paperwork and  looked behind them for the next couple who waited their turn.

Kiersten gave him a quick hug, standing on her tiptoes to whisper in his  ear. "I realize this isn't supposed to be real, but there is obviously  something going on between you two. If you hurt her … "

"That is the last thing I intend to do," he said.

"Good." She dropped back down and smiled up at him. "Well then … " She  wrapped her arm around Leah and led her out while Cole clapped him on  the shoulder.

"You just won me a ton of money," he said with a grin.

Brooks raised an eyebrow. "And how did I do that? More importantly, where's my share?"

Cole chuckled and nodded back at Harrison and Chris who were pulling up  the rear. "Harrison bet that you'd never go through with it."

"You bet I would?" Brooks snorted. "I'd have bet with Harrison."       

   





"Naw. I have a feeling about you two." He nodded up at Leah who was climbing into the limo behind Kiersten.

"Don't go getting all attached," Brooks said. "This is only temporary."

Cole nodded, a smug smile of monogamous wisdom plastered to his face that had Brooks itching to knock it off.

"Oh, before I forget," Cole said. "Here. The boys and I got you a wedding present."

He slapped a string of condoms into Brooks's hand. "Probably not necessary, I know, but hey, we have high hopes for you, buddy."

"You guys are dicks."

"Yeah, that's why you love us."

"Nothing is happening tonight. The last thing we want is to complicate an already complicated relationship."

"Why? You might enjoy being married."

"Not everyone is cut out for marriage, you know."

Cole laughed outright at that. "Says the guy who just got married."

"That's … it's not … shut up."

He jumped into the car before Cole could say anything else.

The dinner their friends graciously treated them to seemed never-ending.  He appreciated the gesture, but the whole situation was weird.  Celebrating something that had literally been set up to be broken. But  hey, free dinner. No complaints on his part. His eyes, though, strayed  often to Leah. Better yet, her eyes strayed often to him.

By the end of dinner, he felt like they'd been playing footsy all night,  only it wasn't nearly as satisfying as the real thing because they'd  never actually touched each other. And he wanted to touch her more than  he'd ever wanted anything. That was saying something. He was a greedy  guy. There were a lot of things he wanted.

And he'd give them all for one night with her.





Chapter Nine

Leah stood beneath the hot water of the hotel shower, letting the jets massage the ache from her scalp.

How a somewhat impromptu fake-ish wedding had turned into such an  affair, she had no idea. Well, that wasn't totally true. She was now  married to a billionaire. Who was friends with billionaires. Who liked  to party like billionaires. Whereas she would have done a quick  courthouse wedding and a nice dinner at a Sizzler somewhere, they'd paid  a fortune for the nicest restaurant in town, dropped enough on dinner  to pay her rent for several months, and still felt like they'd gotten  off cheap.

She wasn't complaining. The night had been memorably beautiful, and fake  or not, she appreciated having a nice wedding. Hell, it might be the  only one she ever got. It was just … different, that's all. She didn't  know if she'd ever get used to it.

Her wedding ring brushed across her bare skin and she looked down at it.  Another thing she'd never get used to. She was married now. A "Mrs."  She could have a whole new name if she wanted it. In fact, her employers  would expect a name change. The thought unsettled her, like she was  suddenly supposed to be this whole other person because she'd said "I  do" to some guy she barely knew.

She almost had to laugh at herself. She was having a baby with a man she  barely knew and was newly married to a different man she barely knew.  Her mother would be so proud. She completely blocked out any thought of  how that conversation was going to go down. She'd deal with it later.  Right now, she had to walk out into that massive hotel suite and say  good night to her husband.

Not how she pictured her wedding night going, especially when she was married to a man like Brooks.

She'd known extremely good-looking men before. Not just handsome men,  but Chris Hemsworth, Jason Momoa, over-the-top hot men. And many of them  had a bit of a cocky swagger about them that let the world know they  knew exactly how hot they were. But Brooks didn't have that. Oh, he  joked about how hot he was. The man was a master flirt, but something  about the way he said it made her think that deep down inside, he didn't  believe a word of what came out of his mouth.

The water flowed over her in hot rivulets, sending tingling sparks  through her over-sensitized body. She seemed to experience everything at  a heightened level lately. Smells, sounds … touch. She let her hands  trail down her body, sucking in a breath at the sensations that rippled  down.