Page 24 of The Wedding Situation Romance

“I’m sorry,” I say. “It just seems like a lot of weddings for someone who thinks marriage is a ruse.”

“For your information, I happen to have four friends all getting married later in life because their first marriages failed,” he states.

“The fact alone that they’re all finding love for a second time should have you believing in love at least a little bit, don’t you think?” I ask.

“Quite the opposite. The divorce rate of second marriages is twenty percent higher than the first. Meaning, these will most likely fail. And when they need lawyers for those trials, I happen to know a guy,” Reid smirks at his own wit, and I just shake my head.

“You are truly hopeless, Reid,” I say.

“I like to think so,” he says with a wink.

And as fun as this conversation is, I am ready to wrap it up.

“Alright…so financially speaking–”

“You have your people send me the numbers. Expenses both currently and expected. I will negotiate. Enough funds to keep you presently afloat upfront, and a second, more generous check after the fourth wedding to fund you for upcoming clients. And, if you’re a good girl, I’ll even toss you some legal advice for tackling the whole government funding debacle.”

“How generous of you,” I say. But really, it’s more than I expected. Still, there are other things besides money that need to be discussed if I am really going to go through with this. Posing as Reid’s steady date to multiple weekends of my summer isn’t exactly a cheap trade. Dani’s wedding was proof of that.

“Alright, let’s talk relationship terms,” I say, and he nearly chokes.

“Relationship?”

“I thought you said you wanted this to look like a consistent thing,” I press.

“I meant more of a,I kind of like this girl and we’re seeing where it goes in an open-ended way,sort of thing,” he says.

“Either way, we need clear ground rules,” I tell him, pulling out my tablet.

“What’s that for?” he asks.

“A contract? Surely you can appreciate making it legal. There’s a lot of money on the line here–”

“You’re right, you’re right,” he says.

“Number one,” I say as I type. “And this is a very important rule. If you breach it at any time, it’s all off.”

“Sounds serious,” he says, watching me type. Then his brow furrows. “I’m sorry, does that say Reid may not smack Quinn on the ass?”

“Yes,” I answer, and Reid spits out a laugh. “I mean it. The last guy I was with did it all the time. I hated it. It’s degrading. And it hurts.”

“Alright,” he agrees, still chuckling. “I won’t smack your ass.”

“Thank you,” I say, moving on to the next rule.

“Unless you ask nicely,” he adds, and I shoot him a look to kill.

“Number two. You have to be nicer to me. At least in front of people. Our normal banter needs to be toned down a little if people are going to believe we like each other.”

“Well, that’s no fun,” he says. Then he swipes the tablet. “My turn. Number three, you can’t walk away from me and hide in the tulips every time I annoy you.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun either,” I mutter.

“Business never is, sweetheart,” he says, and I grab the tablet again.

“Four. Don’t call me sweetheart,” I smile hostilely, handing it back to him.

“Five. Don’t insult my career,”