Six months later, she came home from work one night to find her parents on the sofa and a note on her bed from Corbin that read, "Sorry, babe." She learned the next morning her bank accounts had been drained.
In the quiet of the wee hours, sometimes she regretted not pressing charges, but she'd been too embarrassed to tell anyone else the truth: that Liza had effectively unloaded her loser brother onto Merina and bolted.
Merina opened her eyes and met Lorelei's sweet, concerned gaze. "I don't know if that's a good argument, Lore. Maybe the lesson I'm to learn is don't trust a man who needs something from me."
Lorelei patted Merina's arm, then pulled her hand away. "Not like Reese is going to clean out your bank account, babe."
"Good point." She'd put that in Crane's plus column.
"I mean, come on. The last date you went on was with who?"
Her lips flattened. She wasn't answering that question. But Lore knew the answer.
"Big teeth martini guy."
Merina laughed, glad for the reprieve. "He didn't have big teeth!"
"They were really, really white, though. Which against his complexion made them look big."
"Yech." Merina couldn't help that reaction. In the blue lights of the bar, Daniel had been attractive and confident. Once back in his apartment, he was a little slimy. She'd had second thoughts, but then she'd been trying to get past Corbin, so she went through with it. "Well, getting on that horse wasn't beneficial."
"Should have been perfect," Lorelei said thoughtfully. "With his horse teeth and all."
Merina laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach. Lorelei joined her. Once they sobered, Merina sniffed and sighed and admitted the part about Crane's offer that was eating at her.
"It's not the way I saw myself getting married for the first time."
Not that she'd always dreamed of a poufy gown with bridesmaids and groomsmen flanking her on either side. She had been fairly certain marriage would come as a natural part of a long-lasting relationship. The right long-lasting relationship. Certainly not part of a business agreement. She wrinkled her nose.
"That's fair," Lorelei admitted.
"Marriage is supposed to be forever. Engagements are supposed to be overly romantic. Like State Street in the snow around Christmastime," she said of her parents' engagement.
"I hear you. My dad took my mom up in a hot air balloon."
Merina smiled. "And your mom is terrified of heights." She'd heard the story from Lore's parents before. It was always a boisterous story filled with laughter. "But shouldn't it be like that? Uniquely us?
"Honey, getting married to a billionaire to win your family's hotel back is as unique as it gets. Not everyone has drop-dead romantic weddings. Look at me." Lorelei, ever the pragmatist, shrugged. "Vegas and Malcolm McDowell," she said of her ex-husband. "Life is a series of events. We're never sure which opportunities are going to come our way."
"I've told myself the same thing. It's only six months, right?"
"Six short months. Malcolm and I lasted six years. Try explaining that breakup to everyone." She shouldered her purse, a sign she didn't have the time or the desire to talk about her own closet-dwelling skeletons. "I have to meet a client at Starbucks. Another coffee for me. Hopefully I can maintain rather than behave like a hyperactive squirrel."
"Your blood type is caffeine. I'm not concerned." Merina's smile faded. "Thank you for coming by. You can bill me."
"Fine." Lorelei pulled open the front door. "You owe me a dirty martini with extra blue-cheese-stuffed olives." She winked and stepped out into the crisp morning air, then added, "Take the deal, Mer. He's being fair and there is nothing in there about consummation." She shrugged a petite shoulder. "Unless you want there to be."
At her best friend's sly smirk, Merina shook her head adamantly. "I wouldn't sleep with that jerk."
"Well, if I were you, I'd negotiate some jewelry and nice outfits out of it. You will probably have to succumb to a few public kisses, but then you're off the hook and the Van Heusen is yours in the divorce."
"Jewelry," Merina said drily as she leaned on the doorjamb. Because she was not going to admit she'd just pictured Reese Crane's firm mouth surrounded by stubble and wondered how good his lips would feel on hers.
It'd been a while since she'd dated anyone. A longer while since she'd had a good kiss. What was that guy's name who met her for drinks a few months back? Darryl? Dylan? Well, whoever he was, he hadn't been a good kisser.
"Oh, and get some shoes out of it too." Lorelei kissed her hand and waved good-bye. As her Mercedes pulled away from the curb, Merina considered the very real opportunity she'd been handed. Maybe this was her chance to do like her best friend said. Win back the VH, keep their staff intact, and move out of her parents' house with a clean break.
By fall, she could be sitting pretty, the entire debacle a part of her past.
At the kitchen table, she shoved half the muffin into her mouth and swept the prenup into a stack while she chewed. She cradled it to her chest and finished off her coffee.
"Okay, Mer," she said as she watched the wind blow the budding trees outside, "you can do this." But as she looked down at her cell phone, she imagined it'd grown teeth. What was she supposed to do? Call?
Text him?
She didn't owe him an answer until tomorrow, but she wasn't putting off this decision another minute. She'd already spent more time fretting and less time sleeping than she could afford.
If the options were lose the VH—watching her parents be forced into retirement and their staff file for unemployment—or marry Reese Crane, Merina would marry the man.
So. Maybe the best way to handle this was the most succinct way.
She opened the old text message from Reese and punched in one word. Then she stared at it for the count of three, took a deep breath, and hit SEND.
* * *
Fine.
Reese narrowed his eyes at the one word sitting on his phone's screen.
Fine? He assumed that was Merina's way of saying yes. Not the most heartfelt acceptance of his offer, but then he hadn't presented the proposal in a heartfelt way.