Page 12 of Yours, Forever

It may be a simple home, and I may have been pretty sure I wouldn't stay there forever, but it was cozy, and mine. I was proud of it.

Max nodded, a modest acknowledgement to what would become his home in Laguna Island.

He arched an eyebrow my way. "What makes you say that I must have an extravagant life?"

"The suit, the expensive everything. Even your haircut looks like someone needs a master’s degree to handle it."

He gave me a charming smile. "Wait until you see the products I use."

"Are you planning to be in and out of town? We don't have a barber like the ones you're probably used to."

He shrugged and walked into the house, past the kitchen into the grand room; I followed him. "I'll probably have to fly out at times when I'm needed in person, but my lawyers can come into town as well. The internet is a wonderful thing, and I can attend most meetings virtually. I'll be fine."

"Wait until you see the guest room." I guided him to the side of the house, where three doors sat under an arched alcove.

One of the doors led to my room, the one in the middle to the bathroom, and the final one to what would become Max's bedroom.

I opened the door to the guest room and showed him in. "It's a twin bed in here."

The room was small, with the bed tucked against the corner, and a closet pushed against its feet along the same wall. The short wall had a glass door to the backyard, and the other long wall had a small desk. Spartan, for sure.

"I'll be fine." Max pulled the suitcase behind him into the room. He sat on the bed as if to try the mattress. "This is too important and temporary to care about such small things."

He frowned. Regardless of his statement, the mattress was nothing like what I imagined he was used to.

I leaned against the open door, hands behind my back on it. "How did this even happen? Aren't you shaken?"

"I've been preparing mentally for this for a few years. For me, I'm happy you had an extra room in your home; sleeping on sofa cushions would have pushed my limits. I was hoping it would at least be a sofa bed. Having my very own bedroom works wonderfully." He lifted his eyes to me. "For you, though… I get it. You were not prepared for any of this."

"Dropping in at my coffee shop like you did... quite dramatic."

His mouth tilted in a cheeky line. "I tried to come up with alternatives. What could I do? Text you? Call you? Would that have been better? Hey there, this is your husband." He added an arched eyebrow. "I might as well make an entrance. It's not like sending one of my lawyers with the papers would have ingratiated you to me."

I pursed my lips to hide my humor. "Fine, I get it. You did talk about a happy marriage. Which makes me think... why not marry someone you already know? How come you didn't have someone in your life you could ask to do this?"

"I didn't." The sparkle in his eyes diminished by two degrees. "I couldn't ask this of my close friends, as my dad would have seen right through it. There is no one else."

"No girlfriend or boyfriend or theyfriend? If you had so long to prepare—"

"No one. There's no one else in my life." His tone was assertive. "Or I wouldn't have taken to Vegas in an act of despair."

I studied him for a second longer. "Okay. I'm sorry."

He shrugged it away. "It's fine. I found you. Not only did I manage not to scare you away in Vegas, but got you to marry me. And now you agreed to remain married. That's all I needed."

We gazed at each other, a few seconds to place each other in our new life.

A hint of humor bubbled up inside of me. It was no more than a mask to my disbelief that these were the new circumstances of my life. "I went to Vegas needing a break. Something different enough that it would truly feel like a pause in the life I designed for myself. A parenthesis in the list of dreams and goals I am fighting for. I wanted a wild night—you must have said the right thing at the right time."

"And tonight? What made you say yes?"

I took a moment to reply. "I have no one to blame for today, but me and my dreams, making a high-risk wager."

"Maybe Daniel, a little bit." The quirk at the corner of his lips intensified. "But I'm glad."

"Five million dollars' worth of it, and much more for Laguna Island."

"Remember how I said I'm rich? It's fine. It's worth it, for what I'll do with all of it."