“You don’t have to give me an answer tonight. I didn’t ask to see you because I expected one.”
“I know, but the sooner I give you one the better. And I can’t do that until I have a few questions answered.” Another woman might drag her feet and make Josh jump through hoops before giving him an answer. She had no intention of doing either.
“Ask me whatever you want.” Josh rested his ankle on his knee and draped an arm along the back of the sofa.
“How soon would you want to get married?”
“Within a couple of weeks. I thought we could tell people we got engaged while in Hawaii.”
Yeah, she’d expected as much. Then again, she wouldn’t be the first person in her family to have an exceptionally short engagement. “Where would we live? I can’t move to Maine.”
While she could do some work remotely, she needed to remain within commuting distance of the foundation. As far as she knew, the only house he had in New England was in Bar Harbor, a town more than five hours away, making a daily commute impossible.
“I’ve already considered that. We can either buy something in the area or I can move in here. Whatever you want. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“I’d rather stay here.” She’d moved in the middle of November and had no desire to do it again. Besides, it wasn’t like she didn’t have more than enough room here for two people. “We’ll need to have a prenup.” If she’d been entering into a marriage like her brother’s, she wouldn’t consider it. But this wouldn’t be anything like what her brother and Paige had. She needed to know that when it ended, she would be protected.
“Not a problem.” Josh picked up his coffee and took another sip. Once again, she wished his lips were touching her rather than the mug.
Looking away from his mouth, Courtney focused on a painting hanging on the far wall and sipped her coffee. So far, he’d given her all the right answers. But she had one more question she needed answered. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure how she wanted him to answer when it came to this one.
She’d slept with the man, so asking him if he expected them to be intimate shouldn’t bother her. Yet it did. Tightening her grip on the mug, she asked her final question. “How real of a marriage do you expect this to be?”
Setting aside his coffee, he slid closer to her. “When we’re in public, it has to appear 100 percent real. Except for Evan, not even our families can know the truth.” His hand closed around her shoulder as his thumb caressed the skin along the neckline of her sweater. Each pass sent another spark to the tiny fire growing insider her. “But when it’s just the two of us here, it’ll be up to you.”
She’d have to put some thought into whether or not they’d be intimate, because on one hand, sleeping with him while they were married might not be the wisest of moves. At the same time though, if she agreed to this, she might as well be able to enjoy the perks. Correction, not if, but when she agreed. It might turn into an epic disaster, but she intended to help him. Even before he walked in, she’d been leaning in that direction. The only thing holding her back had been the need for answers to her questions, which she now had.
“Do you—”
“I’ll do it,” Courtney said at the same time.
His whole face spread into a smile, and he cupped the back of her head before brushing his lips against hers. The feel of his mouth against hers again caused the fire inside her to go from a small and manageable one to an out-of-control wildfire. Before she could fully enjoy it though, he pulled away, his face a mask of seriousness.
“Are you positive?” Josh asked, his tone both cautious and optimistic. “You usually stay out of the media. If we do this, you won’t be able to do that. The tabloids will be all over us, Courtney. Not everyone can handle it.”
The last part of his statement had her wondering if the media had played a role in the ending of his relationship with Naomi. Other than to tell her Naomi was the mother of his daughter, Josh hadn’t given her any details about their one-time relationship.
“Trust me, I already considered that. I’ll be fine. It’s not like the media has never bothered me before.”
Josh’s smile returned, and the hand on her shoulder slipped down to her waist. “Thank you.”
He brought his mouth down on hers and pulled her in closer. Memories of him holding her close once again bombarded her, and she briefly considered inviting him to stay the night. Common sense kicked in before she could do something she might later regret. Before she allowed their relationship to become intimate again, she needed to know for certain it was what she wanted. Courtney couldn’t make a decision like that with his lips and body touching hers.
Ending their kiss, she moved her hand, which had found its way to the back of his neck, and put some much needed space between them. “We should talk about how we’re going to proceed.” She wrapped both hands around her coffee mug again. She couldn’t touch Josh if they were both occupied.
“If you agreed, Evan said he’d pick up an engagement ring for me. Since we’re going to claim I proposed weeks ago, it’ll be safer if I’m not seen by anyone shopping for a diamond ring.”
A twinge of disappointment bubbled up at the thought of another man buying the ring. But she couldn’t argue with his reasoning. It would look odd if anyone ever found out he’d bought the ring a day or two before they went public with their relationship.
“I’ll ask him to do it tomorrow. What size ring do you wear?”
Courtney didn’t shop for clothes or purses as much as some women, but she had a weakness when it came to jewelry, especially rings. Since there was no written rule stating an engagement ring had to be a diamond, she had the perfect piece to fulfill the role.
“Don’t worry about it. I have something I can use.”
The ten-carat oval ruby surrounded by fourteen solitaire diamonds had caught her eye the previous winter during a shopping trip in Manhattan. With so many options in her collection, she didn’t wear any one piece often, so no one in her family would remember seeing it on her prior to their announcement.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Besides, this way I can start wearing it tomorrow. If Evan purchases something, it’ll need to be sized to fit me, which won’t fit with the narrative that you proposed last month.”
“Okay. I’ll ask Pauline to prepare an announcement for the media outlets. Knowing her though, she already has one done.”
“You were confident I would agree.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“She was. Honestly, I didn’t know how you’d react.”
“In the meantime, we should both contact lawyers regarding a prenup.” She didn’t have a lawyer per se, but her cousin Derek worked in one of the largest firms in the city. He should be able to either help her out or get her in contact with someone who could. “We don’t have much time to plan. If you want, I can ask my uncle Mark to marry us. He did it for Derek and Brooklyn last year.” Sometimes having an uncle who was a Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice came in handy.
“Whatever you want is fine.”
What she wanted and what they needed were not the same thing, but Josh didn’t need to know that. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” She added calling her uncle to the mental to-do list forming. “I’ll let my parents know too. Don’t have Pauline release anything until after I have told them.”