About the Authors

ANDREA LAURENCE is an award-winning contemporary romance author who has loved books and has been writing stories since she learned to read and write. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to be able to share her books with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own happily-ever-after with her boyfriend and five fur-babies. You can contact Andrea at her website, www.andrealaurence.com

RACHEL BAILEY developed a serious book addiction at a young age (via Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck), and has never recovered. Just how she likes it. She went on to earn degrees in psychology and social work but is now living her dream—writing romance for a living.

She lives in a piece of paradise on Australia’s Sunshine Coast with her hero and four dogs, where she loves to sit with a dog or two, overlooking the trees and reading books from her evergrowing to-be-read pile.

Rachel would love to hear from you and can be contacted through her website, www.rachelbailey.com

SILVER JAMES likes walks on the wild side and coffee. Okay. She LOVES coffee. A cowgirl at heart, she’s been an army officer’s wife and mum and worked in the legal field, fire service and law enforcement. Now retired from the real world, she lives in Oklahoma, spending her days writing with the assistance of two Newfoundlands, the cat who rules them all and the characters living in her imagination.

What Happens in Vegas

Thirty Days to Win His Wife

Andrea Laurence

His 24-Hour Wife

Rachel Bailey

Convenient Cowgirl Bride

Silver James

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09593-8

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS

Thirty Days To Win His Wife © 2015 Andrea Laurence His 24-Hour Wife © 2015 Rachel Robinson Convenient Cowgirl Bride © 2016 Silver James

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Table of Contents

Cover

About the Authors

Title Page

Copyright

Thirty Days to Win His Wife

Dedication

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Epilogue

His 24-Hour Wife

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Convenient Cowgirl Bride

Back Cover Text

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Epilogue

About the Publisher

Thirty Days to Win His Wife

Andrea Laurence

To the Dedicated Soldiers of My Street Team Andrea’s Army of Awesomeness—

I can’t list all of you individually, but know that this

dedication is for you! Thank you for all the hard work

you put in to help make each of my books a success.

It may not seem like a lot, but every review you write,

every bookmark you hand out, every post you share

with friends…makes a difference. I am happy to reward

all of you with books and goodies because it’s worth

every penny to have you on my team. Thank you for

your support and friendship. You’re awesome.

(Obviously!)

Prologue

“Do you want to get out of here?”

Amelia Kennedy turned and looked up into the cool blue eyes of her best friend, Tyler Dixon. Of course he would be the one to save her. “Yes, please.” She got up from the banquet table and accepted his hand, happily following him out of the ballroom, through the casino and out to the glittering lights of the Las Vegas Strip.

Just breathing in the cool desert air made her feel better. Why had she thought her high school reunion would be fun? It was just a room filled with people she never liked, gloating about how great their lives were. Even though she couldn’t care less about what Tammy Richardson—cheerleader and all-around stuck-up brat—had done with her life, hearing Tammy brag had somehow made Amelia feel less enthusiastic about her own achievements.

It was ridiculous, really. She co-owned her own company and was very successful, but the lack of a ring on her hand and toddler photos on her phone made her the odd girl out tonight. This entire trip was a waste of her precious vacation time.

Well, not the whole thing. It was worth it to see Tyler. They had been best friends since the ninth grade, but recently they had both gotten so busy they were lucky to see each other once a year. The reunion was a good excuse.

They stumbled down the sidewalk hand in hand with no destination in mind. It didn’t matter where they ended up. Every step they put between them and the reunion improved Amelia’s mood. That, or—if her softening knees were any indication—the tequila was finally kicking in. A low rumble caught their attention, and they stopped outside the Mirage to watch the periodic eruption of the volcano out front.

They leaned against the railing, Amelia resting her head on Tyler’s shoulder and sighing with contentment. She really missed spending time with him. There was just something about being with Tyler that made the world seem better. There was a comfort and ease in his arms that she’d never found in another man. Although they’d never dated, Tyler had set the bar high for her future relationships. Maybe too high, considering she was still single.

“Feel better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you. I just couldn’t look at any more pictures of weddings and babies.”

Tyler wrapped his arm around her, chasing away the January desert chill. “That’s what happens at reunions, you know.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect it to make me feel like such a...”

“Successful, talented businesswoman in control of her own destiny?”

Amelia sighed. “I was thinking more along the lines of a relationship failure on the fast track to a house with too many cats.”

“Quit it,” he said in a stern voice. He turned toward her and tipped her chin up so she had to look him in the eye. “You are amazing. You’re beautiful, talented, successful... Any man would be lucky to have you in his life. You just haven’t found one worthy of you yet.”

That was a nice thought, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d been on a fruitless quest for Mr. Right since she’d come of age. “Thanks, Ty,” she said anyway, as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in the lapel of his suit.

He held her tight, resting his chin on the top of her head. It was a simple hug. One they’d shared a hundred times before. But tonight, somehow, it was different. She was suddenly very aware of the movement of his hard muscles beneath his shirt. His cologne tickled her nose, so familiar and yet so enticing in the moment. It made her want to bury her face in his neck and inhale the warm scent of his skin. Run her palms across the rough stubble of his jaw...

A wave of heat licked at Amelia’s cheeks, and she realized it had nothing to do with the flames shooting across the water beside them. There was a warmth curling in her belly, a need building inside her. It was a familiar arousal, but one she’d never associated with Tyler. He was her best friend. Nothing more.

But in that moment, she wanted more. She wanted him to show her how beautiful and talented he thought she was with his hands and his mouth instead of his words. It was a dangerous thought, but she couldn’t shake it.

“Do you remember graduation night?”

“Of course,” she said, pulling away to put an end to the physical contact stirring the blood in her veins. She couldn’t forget that night. They had suffered through family parties, and then they’d snuck off together to camp in the desert. Amelia had driven them out to the edge of town, where they could finally see the stars. “We drank wine coolers and stayed up all night watching for shooting stars.”

“Do you remember the pact we made?”

Amelia thought back to that night, the details blurred by a combination of time and fuzzy navels. She remembered them pinky swearing something. “What was it about? I don’t remember.”

“We agreed that if we weren’t married by our ten-year reunion, we would marry each other.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, the moment flooding back into her mind. In their eighteen-year-old brains, twenty-eight was nearly ancient. If they weren’t married by then, all hope was obviously lost. They’d sworn they would save each other from a lonely middle-aged existence. “Twenty-eight sure doesn’t feel the way I expected it to. I still feel young, and yet sometimes I feel like the oldest, most boring person I know. All I do is work. I never have adventures like we used to have together.”

Tyler studied her face, his light brown eyebrows drawing together in thought. “Do you feel up for an adventure tonight? I guarantee it will cheer you up.”

That was exactly what she needed—the kind of night that would make for a great story. “I am definitely up for an adventure. What did you have in mind?”

Tyler smiled and took her hand in his. The touch sent a surge down her spine, and she knew she’d agree to anything when he smiled at her that way. Then he dropped to one knee, and she realized she was in for more than she’d bargained for.

“Amelia, will you marry me?”

One

“Amelia,” Gretchen pressed, “tell me you didn’t elope in a Las Vegas wedding chapel.”

Amelia took a deep breath and slowly nodded. Her stomach was turning somersaults, but she managed to get the words out anyway. “I did,” she admitted. “The details are a little blurry, but I woke up married to my best friend.”

“Wait.” Bree held up her hands in disbelief. “Did you just say you’re married? Married?”

Amelia looked at her two friends and coworkers, not entirely certain she could repeat the words. It had been hard enough to say them the first time. She actually hadn’t admitted it aloud until that very moment. The past few weeks it had all seemed like a fuzzy dream, but with Gretchen and Bree staring at her as though she’d grown a second head, it was suddenly very, very real.

“My high school reunion didn’t go the way I planned,” she explained. “I thought going back to Las Vegas would be fun, but it wasn’t. Everyone was passing around pictures of their wedding days and their kids...” Her voice trailed off.

The sad state of Amelia’s love life had hit her hard that night. She’d been in the dating scene for ten years with nothing to show for it but a string of almost-but-not-quite relationships. It wasn’t for lack of trying—she put herself out there time after time, but with no luck. She refused to settle for anything less than a timeless love, and it seemed just out of her reach.

Her hectic career hadn’t helped matters. She’d spent the past few years since college focusing on building the business she and her partners had founded, From This Moment. Running a wedding facility was a stressful job, and her area of expertise—catering—was no small task. Between menu tastings, prep work and wedding cakes, the wedding day itself was the least of her troubles. She loved her job, but it left little time to seriously dedicate herself to finding the love and family she’d always fantasized about.

She was only twenty-eight. Hardly old-maid material. But then she’d gone to the reunion and found that her schoolmates had left her in their familial dust. Even dorky Dave Simmons had come with his wife, and she’d been certain he’d never find a woman. Not even having Tyler there—equally single—helped. He was single by choice, too happy to play the globe-trotting CEO to have the burden of a serious relationship.

“I was feeling sorry for myself. My best friend, Tyler, kept bringing me drinks, and eventually we decided to blow off the party and go down to the Strip.”

“Skip to the part where you eloped,” Gretchen pressed, with an odd mix of wonder and glee on her cherubic face. She enjoyed living vicariously through others.

Amelia shook her head. “It’s kind of a blur, but Tyler reminded me about this stupid pact we made on graduation night. We swore that if we weren’t married by our ten-year reunion, we would marry each other.”

“You didn’t!” Bree said, her large blue eyes growing wider by the minute.

“We did.” She couldn’t believe it either, but they’d gone through with it. When Amelia woke up the next morning, the giant diamond ring on her hand and the naked man beside her in bed had confirmed her worst fears. The night before had not been just a vivid dream. It had really happened. She was married to her best friend.

“We did it for a laugh, you know? In high school, the two of us were always coming up with crazy ideas. I think Tyler was trying to cheer me up, offering to marry me so I wouldn’t feel like the single one at the reunion anymore. It seemed like a brilliant solution at the time.”

“It always does,” Gretchen noted, as though she’d had her share of impetuous experiences.

“What the hell kind of liquor were you drinking?” Bree asked at last, sliding away the bridal magazine she’d been reading to plan her own upcoming nuptials.

“Anyway,” Amelia continued, pointedly ignoring Bree, “the plan was to annul it as soon as we can. He lives in New York. I live here. It’s obviously not going to work long-term.”

Work? What was she even talking about? Of course it wasn’t going to work. She’d just married her best friend from high school! Tyler. She knew everything there was to know about him and she was certain Tyler was not husband material. He worked too much, he traveled constantly and he had a bad habit of falling off the face of the earth for weeks at a time. She loved him, but she couldn’t count on him. And yet, here she was. Married to him.

“So far the annulment plan isn’t panning out the way I’d like. Turns out you can’t annul a marriage in Tennessee just because it was done on a whim. New York may have better laws, but if not, that means a full-on divorce. Either way, Tyler has been traveling too much to start the process. I’ve only gotten a few texts from him in between stops in Belgium, Los Angeles, India... I haven’t even spoken to him on the phone since I left Las Vegas.”

“So do you think he’s really busy, or is he avoiding you?” Gretchen asked. “I would think that might be an awkward situation to deal with. I can’t even imagine sleeping with one of my guy friends from high school. If the sex was bad it would be hard to face him later. If the sex was good...that might be even worse.”

“The sex was amazing,” Amelia confessed, quickly clamping a hand over her mouth. Had she really said that out loud? She shook her head. The words had spilled out because they were true. Tyler had been the most talented and attentive lover she’d ever had. Their wedding night had easily left her top five encounters in its dust. She wasn’t entirely sure what to think about that.

“Well, then,” Bree noted with a smile twisting her lips. “Do tell.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “I’ve already said too much.”

“Maybe he’s dragging his feet in the hopes of getting some more of that sugar,” Gretchen suggested.

“There’s no more sugar to be had. That was a one-night thing and we both know it,” Amelia argued, even as she felt the untruth of her words. She wanted more, she just knew she shouldn’t. “He’s just busy. He’s always busy.”

Tyler obviously wasn’t that concerned with fixing this. In the few texts she’d received, he’d told her to relax. If annulment was off the table, there was no rush, so unless she was madly in love and needed to marry someone else right that minute, it wasn’t a big deal. He, of all people, knew about her relationship struggles and knew that the odds of that were extremely low.

But it was a big deal to her. Especially considering the extenuating circumstances. She couldn’t even wrap her brain around that, so she continued to ignore it. It wasn’t a pressing issue...yet.

“So you’re really just going to walk away from the man that gave you the greatest orgasms of your life?” Gretchen frowned. “I don’t think I could do that, even if I couldn’t stand the guy. You and Tyler love each other, though. It’s not much of a hop from friends to lovers, is it?”

“It is a huge hop over a massive chasm, I assure you.” Amelia knew for certain they shouldn’t go there again. Tyler had been her best friend since ninth grade, but she had never really allowed herself to consider anything between the two of them. For one thing, there was no way she wanted to risk their friendship in an attempt to take it to the next level. If it failed—and the odds were that it would—she’d lose the most important person in her life.

For another reason, there was a big difference between being friends and being lovers. Being friends was easy. She tolerated Tyler’s jet-setting, bossiness and extended radio silences just the same as he tolerated her romantic drama and pickiness. It wasn’t a big deal because as friends, it didn’t impact them directly. Dating someone magnified those personality quirks, and suddenly they were deal breakers.

Her raw emotional state at the reunion had apparently forced all those concerns out of her mind. The next thing she knew, she was on the verge of consummating her marriage. In that moment, nothing mattered more than peeling away Tyler’s clothes and getting a taste of the forbidden. His hard body and sure touch had been an unexpected surprise, and she hadn’t been able to get enough of him. Even now, the mere thought of touching him again sent a thrill through her body, awakening parts of her that should never, ever throb with need where Tyler was concerned.

Since she’d gotten home from the reunion, their night together had haunted her. The marriage could be undone. But the memories... Those couldn’t be erased. The way he’d touched her. The way he’d coaxed pleasure from her body as though he’d studied his whole life for that moment... She could never go back to the blissful ignorance they’d once had. They had eaten the forbidden fruit.

A chime like a kitchen timer went off on her phone, rousing her from the mental spiral she’d just dived into. It was a new text. She frowned down at her phone when she saw the name. Speak of the devil, she had finally gotten another text from Tyler. Unfortunately, it didn’t address her million questions or make up for the weeks of waiting he’d put her though since they’d married. All it said was, Are you at work?

He must be ready to talk about all this at last. Perhaps his jet-setting had abated for a few days and he was finally able to move forward.

Yes, she replied to his text. She would be able to call him back after the staff meeting was over. At that point, she could go into her office, shut the door and have the much-needed discussion to put this behind them. Natalie, the wedding planner and office manager, would arrive any moment with coffee, as she did every Monday morning. Not even Amelia’s latest life catastrophe would throw off Nat’s schedule.

On cue, Natalie pushed open the door of the conference room and stopped in the doorway. She had the cup holder clutched in her hands, four paper cups held tightly in place, as usual. But there was a strange look on her face. Her normally calm expression was pinched, her mouth tight. Something was wrong.

“What’s the matter, Natalie?” Bree asked.

Natalie turned from Bree to look at Amelia, her long dark ponytail sweeping over one shoulder. “There’s an incredibly hot guy here to see you, Amelia. He says that he’s your, uh...husband.”

Someone gasped. Amelia wasn’t sure which of them it was. Probably her. She launched up out of her chair, her expression no doubt panic-stricken. He couldn’t possibly be here. He’d just texted her and hadn’t made any mention of being in Nashville. Natalie was surely mistaken. “What does he look like?”

Natalie’s brow shot up. “Five minutes ago, I didn’t think you had a husband, period, much less so many that you wouldn’t know who he was immediately when I mentioned him.”

“Tall, dark blond hair, bushy eyebrows, icy blue eyes?”

Natalie nodded slowly. “That would be him. He’s waiting in the lobby with a shiny wedding ring on his hand. Have I missed something?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gretchen snorted.

Moving into the room, Natalie set the drinks on the table and then crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re married? To the guy in the lobby?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Amelia—the one who’s had her wedding planned since she was five? Amelia—the one who just a few weeks ago was complaining that there was no one special in her life? I mean, you are the same person, right? You’re not a pod person that just looks like Amelia?”

She wished she could blame her rash behavior on alien influences, but it was all her doing. Natalie was right to be surprised. Amelia quite literally had had a wedding planned for twenty-three years. Her files of cartoon drawings and magazine cutout collages had evolved into Pinterest boards and spreadsheets, but the content was basically the same. And considering she had never been engaged, it was an excessive level of detail. She occasionally updated the color palette, but the rest was the same. She’d always fantasized about a big wedding with hundreds of guests, tons of good food, dancing and all the elegant touches she adored. All she needed was the love of her life to slip into that Armani tuxedo and make her dreams a reality.

To throw all that away so she could get walked down the aisle by Elvis and marry her best friend was...unthinkable. But Vegas seemed to have that power over people. “It’s a long story. They can fill you in.” Amelia started toward the door.

“Do you at least want your coffee?” Natalie asked, holding up the paper cup with her white chocolate–caramel macchiato.

Amelia started to reach for it, and then she caught a whiff of the strong aroma. Her stomach immediately started to turn, making her wince and step back. “Ugh—no, thanks. Maybe later. I just can’t face it right now.”

Turning quickly, she disappeared down the hallway. Natalie’s voice easily carried the distance. “Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

* * *

Tyler Dixon waited longer in the lobby than he expected to. When the dark-haired woman disappeared down the hallway to deliver his message, he was certain Amelia would come rushing out to him immediately. She would run and jump into his arms, greeting him with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek the way she always did.

Glancing down at his Rolex, he started to wonder if he’d miscalculated. He’d known she was here, even before she’d texted him back—he’d recognized her car in the parking lot. That meant she was either angry and making him wait for ignoring her, or she was avoiding him because she was embarrassed by the whole sex thing.

He didn’t know what she had to be embarrassed about. With a body like hers, walking around naked could be considered a public service. Sure, they’d crossed a line, but they could work through that. They’d weathered rough patches in their friendship before.

It probably had more to do with him not calling her back. His schedule had been pretty hectic since the reunion, but it had to be. He’d bought some raw diamonds and taken them to India to be cut. He’d hit an auction in Belgium and picked up an antique sapphire brooch formerly owned by French royalty before the revolution. He’d closed a huge deal with a Beverly Hills jewelry designer to provide diamonds for their pieces. Whenever he’d thought to call her, the time zones were off. She wouldn’t have appreciated getting those calls at 2:00 a.m.

This was why he didn’t get in serious relationships anymore. He’d gotten burned with Christine and learned his lesson. He knew that most women didn’t appreciate his schedule, even if they appreciated the money that resulted from it. At first, his diamond airline status and exotic travels seemed exciting, but it didn’t take most women long to realize that meant he was always on the go. No, he wouldn’t be able to go to that work thing with you. No, he couldn’t talk about your crappy day when he was ten times zones behind and busy working.

Amelia had never minded his schedule before. Had that changed along with their marital status?

What was the rush anyway? She hadn’t found Prince Charming in the ten years leading up to now. Certainly she hadn’t found him in the past month while he’d been gone. He loved Amelia, but she wasn’t known for her successful relationships. He’d only met one woman in his whole life who was as high maintenance as she was, and that was his ex. He’d known that about Amelia going into this, but she was his best friend and he would do anything to make her happy. Apparently.

They’d take care of the divorce. That was why he was here at his first opportunity. Despite what Amelia might think, Tyler wasn’t deliberately dragging his feet. Although, if he was honest with himself, there was a part of him that was sad that he’d never get to touch those soft curves again. He’d always been happy to be Amelia’s friend, but he wouldn’t mind spending a little more time exploring her body before they went back to being just friends. He’d only had one brief taste, and that wasn’t nearly enough for a woman like her.

But in the end, he knew their friendship would outweigh his erection. Amelia was the most important person in his life and he wouldn’t risk that, even to make love to her again. She wasn’t just his best friend; she was a driving force in his life. As a kid, he’d been a nobody lost in the chaos of his large family. At school, he’d been just as invisible. Amelia had seen him when no one else did. She’d seen his potential and lit a fire in him to make something of himself. Over the past ten years he had built up his own company, dealing in precious gems and antiquities. He lived a lifestyle he never could’ve imagined as a poor kid growing up in Vegas. Amelia had made him believe he could do all those things.

No, he wouldn’t risk his friendship with her for the greatest sex ever had in the whole universe.

Tyler looked up to see Amelia watching him from the doorway. She didn’t run and leap into his arms, but at this point, he was no longer expecting an enthusiastic greeting. He was just happy she hadn’t left him standing out here indefinitely.

She took a few hesitant steps into the room, not speaking at all. She looked amazing today. There was a glow about her that lured his gaze to travel over her body, admiring the fit of her sweater dress. The dark purple tunic was gathered beneath her ample breasts and flowed to her knee. She was wearing black leggings and boots with it that enhanced her shapely legs.

The deep V of the dress’s neckline displayed an amethyst pendant he’d sent her for her birthday. The fat teardrop gemstone fell just at her cleavage, drawing his eyes to her breasts. Amelia was petite in many ways, but the Lord had blessed her with enough assets for three women.

He knew he shouldn’t look, but the memories of their wedding night rushed into his brain, and he couldn’t turn away. In an instant, he could see her naked body sprawled across the hotel bed. His palms tingled with the memory of running his hands over every inch of her flawless porcelain skin. Tasting those breasts. Hearing her cries echo through the room.

The lobby was suddenly very warm. It was a cruel trick of the fates to give him a woman so desirable for a wife, then not let him keep her. And he couldn’t keep her. He had to remind himself of that. They’d only disappoint one another and ruin their friendship.

“Hey, Ames,” he said, finally meeting her gaze.

She swallowed hard, watching him warily. With her big dark brown eyes, she almost looked like a doe, easily spooked by any sudden movements. He hated that. She’d never looked at him with anything other than adoration and love before. He supposed getting married had ruined that. This was just his first taste of what it would be like to be in a real relationship with his demanding, high-maintenance best friend. The honeymoon was barely over and he was already in trouble. He definitely shouldn’t have waited this long to talk to her.

“What are you doing here, Tyler?”

Apparently they were skipping the pleasantries. “I came to talk to you.”

Her arms crossed over her chest, her breasts nearly spilling from the dress with the movement. “Now you want to talk? What about the past few weeks when I’ve tried to get hold of you and you just blew me off? When I wanted to talk to you, all this didn’t seem to matter. Am I just supposed to drop everything to talk to you now because you’ve decided you’re ready to deal with this mess?”

Tyler’s lips twisted in thought, his hand rubbing over the rough stubble on his chin. Now did not seem like the time to try to convince her it wasn’t a big deal. She had always been a very emotional person, her temper as easily lit as the flames of her red hair. He’d seen her unleash that fury on past boyfriends and he didn’t ever want to be the recipient. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back with you. I needed to take care of a few things.”

“And I needed you to talk to me!” She took several steps toward him, a strand of auburn hair falling from its clip to frame her face. A red flush rushed to her cheeks and décolletage, marring her pale, creamy skin. “We’re married, Tyler. Married! You can’t just keep ignoring this. As much as I’d like to pretend this never happened, we’ve got to deal with it. Talk about it. Of all the times to ignore me for business, this is the wrong time.”

“I know.” He held out his hands in an appeasing gesture. It hurt him to hear how distraught she was over their situation, but there was nothing to be done. Business was a priority over a fake marriage, even with his best friend. “I should’ve called, I know. I’m sorry. I hopped a flight out here as soon as I could so we could deal with this in person.”

That seemed to calm her down. Her hands fell to her sides, the tension in her shoulders relaxing. Even then, there was a concern lining her eyes. Something was wrong. More than just her irritation with him. He knew Amelia better than anyone else on the planet. A thousand miles apart, he could detect that she was upset over the phone. In person, it was hard to ignore that something wasn’t right.

She crossed her arms over her chest, and he noticed she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring. He could feel his own wedding band encircling his finger. He didn’t know why, but he’d worn it faithfully since the ceremony. Somehow it felt tighter and more irritating when he knew he was the only one wearing it. “Where’s your ring?” he asked.

“It’s at home in my jewelry box. Until five minutes ago, no one knew I was married, Tyler. I can’t strut around here with that giant rock on my hand and not get a million questions.”

She was right about that. Subtlety was thrown out the window after you moved past a couple carats. Her ring was a flawless eight-carat D-color cushion-cut diamond. He’d purchased it a few weeks before the reunion and had been taking it, and a selection of other jewels, with him to LA for a potential buyer. The reunion had only been possible because he could fit it in on his way. When they’d scrambled for last-minute wedding rings, he’d pulled it from the hotel vault. They’d agreed that when the prank was done, she’d return it.

“I’ve wanted to keep this whole situation pretty quiet,” she continued. “The fewer people that know, the better. What’s an adventure to us is a ridiculous mistake to others.”

That was probably true. He slipped his own ring off and dropped it into his lapel pocket, noting how his finger suddenly felt naked. It was amazing how easily he’d adjusted to wearing that ring. He’d only gotten close to putting one on the one time, years ago, and since then he hadn’t given much thought to it. “Is there any way we can go somewhere to talk?” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s still early. I’ll take you out for pancakes, my treat.”

Her face fell into another frown, this time with her delicate brow furrowing. “I can’t right now, Tyler. I’m supposed to be in a staff meeting. You may be able to work whenever and wherever you want, but I’m not a jewel dealer that zips around the country whenever I please. I run a business with partners that count on me. And on Mondays, we have a standing meeting.”

“I’m sure they’d understand. Come on, Ames. It will be like senior ditch day all over again. We can have eggs and sausage and pancakes. Maple syrup. I caught a dawn flight from LaGuardia and came straight here without eating anything. I’m starving.”

Amelia’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened with a touch of concern. Her free hand flew to her mouth. “Shut up about the food,” she said.

“What?” What did he say that was so offensive? Breakfast was hardly an unpleasant concept.

“I said, shut up, please.” Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, her muscles tense as she fought for control. It concerned him. He wanted to run to her, do something, but he didn’t think the gesture would be welcome.

After a moment, she took a deep breath and seemed to recover. “I can’t talk to you right now, Tyler. You just show up out of the blue with no thought to my schedule. I’m not fifteen anymore. I will meet with you, but you’ve got to respect the plans I have. I can meet you for lunch if you want.”

He nodded, knowing she was right. His schedule was flexible, but to assume the same of hers was inconsiderate. “Whatever you need to do, Ames. I’ll take you for barbecue, if you want. I haven’t had some good ribs in a long time.”

She started to nod, then froze as a look of panic spread across her face. “I—” she began, then turned on her heel and dashed around the corner.

Tyler started to follow her but stopped when he heard the unpleasant sound of retching. Apparently barbecue was not terribly appealing to her.

She returned a moment later, her face flushed and her eyes watery. “I’m sorry about that.”

Why was she apologizing? “Are you okay? Did you eat something bad?”

She shook her head, a somber expression in her eyes. “No,” she said. “I’m fine. I’m just...pregnant.”

Two

This was a bad dream.

This was not how her life was supposed to go. Not how this moment was supposed to be. Her first child was supposed to be a blessed occasion. She was supposed to be joyous, not nauseous. Telling her husband the news should be a gloriously happy moment.

Gloriously happy were not the words she would use to describe the look on Tyler’s face. His square jaw was slack, his pale blue eyes wide with panic. Not even his expensive suit could keep her superconfident, successful best friend from instantly transforming back into the startled, unsure teen on his first day at a new school.

She still remembered the day her father, the principal at El Dorado High School, had walked into her freshman English class with a new student in tow. She’d pointed out an empty seat beside her and befriended the new boy. It was the best decision she’d ever made. Tyler was the best friend a girl could have.

Today, looking at that same lost expression on his face, she didn’t know what to do. Hugging him seemed awkward considering the state of their physical relationship and the legal ramifications of their marriage. She didn’t have any words of comfort or wisdom to offer. If she did, she’d say them to herself. She was still reeling from the morning’s dose of unexpected news.

She was pregnant with Tyler’s baby. She just couldn’t figure out how something like that could be possible. From the moment she’d seen the two pink lines on the pregnancy test this morning until she’d announced it to him, it had felt surreal. She loved Tyler more than anyone else. She’d known him since she was fourteen. But having his baby had never been a part of her plan. And Amelia had big plans.

Apparently, it wasn’t part of his plans, either. Before she made her announcement, his gaze had drifted over her body, bringing a flush to her cheeks. It didn’t take much to realize that he was mentally reliving their night together. She understood. Seeing him standing there in his tailored suit with that charming smile had made it hard for her to remember she was supposed to be irritated with him.

Now all he could do was stare at her midsection, looking desperately for some kind of evidence that she was wrong. She wished she were wrong, but she hadn’t needed that test to know the truth. It had only confirmed what the past few days’ misery had made abundantly clear.

“Say something,” she pressed at last.

Tyler cleared his throat and nodded, her words snapping him back into the moment. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting...” His voice trailed off.

“I don’t think either of us was expecting any of this. Especially me being pregnant.” Or her throwing up into the lobby trash can. “But what’s done is done. As much as I’d like to go back in time and change things, we can’t. Now we have to figure out what we’re going to do.”

She needed his input desperately because she didn’t know what to do. In any other scenario, Tyler would’ve been the one Amelia ran to for support and advice. If she’d found herself pregnant by another man, he’d be the first person she called in a panic. He would be the one to talk her down and tell her everything was okay. But it was his baby, and somehow that made everything more difficult.

“So do you still need to go to your meeting?” he asked.

Now that the baby was out of the bag, so to speak, the meeting didn’t seem as critical. Her stubbornness had really been more from irritation about his disregard for her plans than anything else. She loved Tyler, but sometimes he forgot he wasn’t the CEO of everything and everyone. He’d steamroll people if they let him. Amelia was one person who never let him.

The meeting wasn’t her number one priority at the moment. She could catch up on the high points later. It was more important to talk to Tyler about what they were going to do. She needed a story, a plan, before she faced her friends again and had to tell them what was going on in any depth whatsoever. They’d be like a firing squad, lobbing questions at her that she didn’t have any answers for. Yet.

“No, let’s just...” She eyed her office, and her gaze strayed to the open doors of the wedding chapel just beyond it.

The white-and-gray chapel was so elegant. Beautifully detailed, yet understated enough not to upstage the bride or her chosen decor. Since the day construction was completed, Amelia had envisioned herself getting married in that same chapel wearing a strapless ivory Pnina Tornai gown. She could easily picture sprays of white and pink roses filling the room with their delicate fragrance. The rows of friends and family crying happy tears.

That was the way her big day was supposed to be. Not at 1:00 a.m. in the Li’l Chapel of Love with the pink bismuth–colored upholstery and dusty silk flower arrangements. She’d been wearing a black cocktail dress, for chrissake. Married in black! No old, no new, no borrowed, no blue. It was blasphemous. And obviously very bad luck. The whole thing made her want to curl into a ball and cry the tears of a five-year-old who’d had her dreams destroyed.

Her office was a convenient place to talk, but the sudden urge to get as far away from the chapel as possible nearly overwhelmed her. “Just get me out of here,” she said.

“You got it.”

She moved quickly, slipping into the coat she’d hung nearby. She should tell the others she was leaving, but she didn’t dare stick her head back in the conference room. She’d text Gretchen once they were on the road and let them know she’d be back later.

They walked out of From This Moment together, Tyler holding the door for her like he always did. He led her through the parking lot to a black BMW parked out front.

“Nice rental,” she said. Whenever she flew somewhere, she usually ended up with some tiny compact car, not a luxury car. That was the difference between her and Tyler, with his jet-set lifestyle and wealthy business associates.

“It’s okay,” he said, opening the door to the passenger side. “I wanted an Audi, but they didn’t have any available.”

“Aw, you poor thing,” she muttered as she climbed inside. Such a hardship. The leather interior was soft, and the car smelled brand-new. Fresh from the factory. She hadn’t experienced that in a long time. She was still driving the little crossover she’d saved up for after graduation. It was ideal for hauling catering supplies, but it was more practical than posh.

It must be nice to have money. She’d never really had a lot. Her father was a math teacher turned high school principal and the sole breadwinner in the family. He did okay, but she’d never considered her family to be more than middle class. As an adult, every penny of her own had gone into making From This Moment a success. Tyler had had even less when they were kids. He was one of six kids in a family that could barely feed two despite his parents’ best efforts.

Driving a brand-new BMW around had been a pipe dream when they were kids. Tyler had done well for himself over the years. No one was prouder than she was of everything he’d accomplished. If he could get his eyes off his smartphone and stay in the country for more than a day at a time, he would make some woman a great husband one day. She just couldn’t fathom that person being her.

“Where are we headed?” he asked.

“There’s a coffee shop a few blocks up, if that’s okay.”

“Sure.” Tyler started the car, pulled out of the parking lot and headed in the direction she’d pointed. A nearby commercial district had restaurants and coffee shops where they could sit down and talk. Considering the state of her stomach, she would pass on the food, but she could get some hot tea. And maybe, if that went okay, a scone.

They didn’t speak in the car on the way there, which was odd for them. They always had a million things to catch up on. They could talk for hours about anything and everything. Now, as she feared, there was tension between them. Sex changed things, as she’d known it would. She’d never wanted their relationship to cross that line for that very reason.

She sighed and looked out the window instead. There would be plenty of things to say, but she could tell neither of them was ready to say them. He’d just found out he was going to be a father. That needed time to sink in. Tyler had never mentioned having an interest in a family—at least, not since he’d broken up with Christine. After that, he’d focused 100 percent on business. This had to be an unexpected blow for him. Amelia had always known she wanted children, but it had still been a shock for her.

Eventually, they arrived at the small independent coffee shop. He opened her door, helped her out and then followed her inside. Tyler bought them both drinks and got himself a giant cinnamon roll while Amelia found a plush couch in the corner away from the others in the shop.

Tyler came over a few minutes later with their things on a tray. He put the drinks on the coffee table and sat beside her. His knee barely grazed hers as he did, but even that simple touch was enough to awaken her nervous system. It was the first time they’d touched since that night. Being in such close proximity to him again was confusing. Her body remembered his touch, aching to lean closer to him and feel his hands on her again. Her brain knew it was a bad idea, but she didn’t want to act childish. It was a simple touch, an innocent one. Just because her libido lit up like the skies on the Fourth of July didn’t mean it meant anything.

Amelia busied herself preparing her tea and distracting herself from Tyler’s nearness. She added a pack of raw sugar and stirred it, waiting for him to say something. She’d already said enough. Now it was his turn.

“So,” he began, after a few bites of cinnamon roll and a sip of his coffee, “do you want to tell your parents first, or mine?”

She tried not to choke on her tea. That was not where she’d expected him to go with this. “Tell them what, exactly?”

“That we’ve gotten married and we’re expecting a baby.”

She shook her head furiously. He must still be in shock. “Neither.”

Tyler frowned at her. “We have to tell them eventually. We can’t just show up at their house with an infant and say, ‘Here’s your grandchild.’”

“I know that,” she argued. “We will have to tell them about the baby eventually. I meant about the wedding. I don’t see why anyone needs to know about it if we’re just going to file for divorce anyway. I’d rather my father not know what we did, to be honest. You know how he is. The only reason he let me go to college in Tennessee was because my grandparents live here. He’s just waiting for me to get into some kind of trouble so he can point out he was right.”

Tyler nodded thoughtfully. “I understand your concerns. I wasn’t planning on telling my family about the wedding, either. I mean, I came to Nashville so we could get the ball rolling on the divorce. But...everything is different now.”

She flinched. “How? How is everything different now?”

“We’re going to have a baby together,” he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I know we’ve got to work out the logistics, but starting a family is a complicated thing.”

“A f-family?” she stuttered, a feeling of dread pooling in her stomach.

“Well, yeah. I mean, obviously, since you’re pregnant with my child, the divorce is off the table.”

* * *

Amelia’s face flushed as red as her hair, and Tyler knew immediately that he’d said the wrong thing. Or at least, he’d said it in the wrong way. He knew he was right about what they needed to do. Convincing her would take more finessing than just blurting it out the way he had. Amelia didn’t take well to being told what to do. Good job, Dixon.

“Divorce is off the table,” she mimicked with a bitter tone. “You act as though you’re the only one with any say in the matter. I know you’re Mr. Big Shot and you’re used to your word being law, but you aren’t the boss of me, Tyler. You can’t bully me into staying married to you.”

“Of course I’m not the only one with a say,” he soothed. “And I’m not bullying you. As if I even could. You’re the most stubborn woman I know. But we have a child to consider now. What about the baby?”

The baby. Tyler could barely believe he was saying those words out loud. After his engagement with Christine had ended, he’d told himself that he wasn’t going through all that again. The joy and high of love weren’t worth the inevitable crash and destruction at the end. He’d shelved the idea of anything more complicated than sex and focused on his work. Business came a lot easier to him than romance.

That meant that any idea of marriage or family had been put to bed, as well. He’d been okay with that. How were a wife and a family even possible when he was jetting from one place to another and working long hours? He had five siblings to carry on the family name and give his parents the grandchildren they craved. No one would miss his genetic contribution to the world.

And yet, faced with the eventuality of a family, he found the idea didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. The image of a rambunctious toddler with wild red curls running through the coffee shop formed in his mind. It was so real, he could almost reach out and snatch the giggling child up into his arms. He suddenly wanted that, down to the depths of his soul. When Amelia had told him, he’d been startled, of course, but now he knew what had to be done.

Tyler had been given the chance to have the family he hadn’t realized he wanted, and perhaps he could keep his heart from being destroyed a second time. He was having a child with his best friend. That child needed a stable, loving home, and he and Amelia could provide that. Why would they divorce now?

Amelia’s gaze fixed on his. “What about the baby?” she asked. “You know I’m not the kind of woman that would insist on getting married to someone I didn’t love just because I got pregnant. Why would I insist on staying married to someone I didn’t love just because I got pregnant?”

Tyler tried not to be offended. This wasn’t about him, and he knew that. And he knew that she loved him. She just wasn’t in love with him. He wasn’t in love with her, either. But they could make this work. They had affection, mutual respect and history. Some shotgun marriages started with less. “I know that our marriage and our child are not what you have down in your big notebook of life plans. But don’t you think it’s at least worth giving our relationship a try, for our baby’s sake?”

“Why can’t we just be friends with a baby? We can raise it together. If you’re in Nashville, it makes things easier, but we can do it. We don’t have to be married to have this baby. We don’t have to pretend that our wedding night meant more than it did just because I got pregnant.”

She made it sound as though they’d just had a random hookup. It might not have been love, but it certainly ranked higher in importance than picking up some girl at the bar and taking her home. It had been an amazing night, one that had haunted him the past few weeks as he’d traveled the globe.

As much as they might want to forget it, they’d made love. And it had meant something. He wasn’t sure exactly what, but he knew he didn’t want to just be friends with a baby. He wanted the benefits, too.

“Okay, fine. Let’s set the issue of the baby aside for a moment. I just want us to sit down and seriously talk all this through. It’s too important to make a rash decision.”

“You mean like eloping in Vegas in the middle of the night?” she snapped.

“Another rash decision,” he corrected. “Let’s not compound the issue. We have time to figure this out, so let’s do it right. What’s so horrible about the idea of us staying together?”

“I know that the concept of failure is something you’re not comfortable with, but I don’t think you understand what you’re asking of me. Of us. This is about a hell of a lot more than just creating a happy home for our baby. You’re asking me to choose you as the man I want to be with for the rest of my life and potentially compromise my ability to find my real soul mate. I love you, Tyler, but we’re not in love. There’s a difference.”

Tyler couldn’t help flinching with the sting of her sharp words this time. He was asking her to settle for him. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but when she said it like that, it was painfully obvious that he didn’t meet her sky-high standards. That was okay, though. He was used to being the underdog in any fight; he actually preferred it. That was just a detail. His parents had struggled his whole life, but they’d always put their kids’ needs first. Not loving Amelia wasn’t a good enough reason for him not to make the sacrifice and provide a stable home for their child. “People have married for reasons other than love for hundreds of years and it’s worked out fine.”

“Well, I don’t want to be one of those people. I want love and romance. I want a husband who comes home every night and holds me in his arms, not one that texts me every other day from his latest hotel room.”

Tyler sighed and took a sip of his coffee. This was bringing back uncomfortable memories of his last fight with Christine. Nothing he did was ever good enough for her. She’d wanted him to be successful and make lots of money, but she’d also placed all these demands on his time. He couldn’t win, at least not playing by her rules. Maybe with Amelia it could be different. If they both made the effort, he was certain they could find something that worked for them. If that meant she had to fall in love with him, he would work to make that happen.

Staring into the polished wood of the coffee table, he asked, “Do you think loving me is a total impossibility?”

She scoffed. “That’s a ridiculous question, Tyler.”

His head snapped back to look at her. “No, it’s not. Tell me—do you find me physically repulsive?”

“Of course not. You’re very handsome, obviously, or we wouldn’t have made this baby to begin with.”

“Okay. Am I obnoxious? Pretentious? A jerk?”

Amelia sighed and leaned back against the cushions. “No. You’re none of those things. You’re wonderful.”

Sometimes Tyler didn’t understand women. And Amelia in particular. But he’d decided they were staying together for this baby. If he knew nothing else, he knew how to sell something. He was going to market himself like one of his finest gemstones until she couldn’t resist saying yes.

“So I’m good-looking. I own my own business and make good money. I’m fun to be around. You’ve trusted me with all your secrets. You enjoy spending time with me. The sex was pretty awesome, if I may say so myself... I must be missing something, Amelia. Is there a crimson F stitched to the front of my shirt, because you refuse to see me as anything but a friend? If there was another person on the planet exactly like me, you’d date him.”

Amelia frowned. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“No, I’m not. Tell me your top five must-haves for a man you could love. Seriously.” He knew the list was probably closer to a hundred must-haves. After each of her relationships ended, she’d add a new thing or two to the list.

She thought about it for a moment, holding up one hand to count off on her fingers. “Smart, a good sense of humor, compassionate, ambitious and honest.”

He twisted his lips in irritation. If he’d asked her to name the five things she liked best about him, she might have recited the same list. “And what on that list do I not have? I’m all of those things and more.”

“Maybe, but you’re not around. I’m not going to sit at home alone with this baby while you hopscotch around the planet.”

“What if I said I could be better about that? Maybe having a wife and a family will give me something to come home to.”

“We’re still not in love,” she argued.

“Love is overrated. Look what it got Christine and me—a bunch of heartbreak. I’m not saying it will work. We might end up being totally incompatible, and if we are, we end it and you can go back to your quest for the White Buffalo. But why can’t we at least try? Pandora’s box is open. There’s no going back to where we were.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, Tyler. I can’t...lose you. You’ve been the person in my life I can always count on. You’re my rock.”

“You’re not going to lose me, no matter what.” A wicked smile curled his lips as a thought came to mind. “We’ve slept together and the world hasn’t ended. I’m still here. And since I’ve seen you naked, I’ve got even more incentive to stick around. I’ve touched and tasted every inch of your body, and if there’s the potential I’ll get to do it again, I’m not going anywhere.”

Amelia’s eyes widened, her cheeks flushing. “Tyler...” she chastised, but he wasn’t hearing it.

“I know you’re attracted to me. You just have to admit it to yourself.”

“Wh-what?” she sputtered. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, come on, Amelia. You can’t blame that whole night on tequila. You were wildly passionate. You couldn’t get enough of me, as though you’d finally let the floodgates open and allowed yourself to have something forbidden. It was the sexiest thing I’ve ever witnessed,” he added, and it was true. He hadn’t lusted over his best friend in the past, but since that night, he couldn’t get her out of his head.

He placed a hand on her knee and leaned in close. “If that night was any indication, we might have a chance. So why not see what could happen if you opened your mind to the possibility of us? Forget about Tyler the friend and think of me as the hot new guy you’re dating.”

That, finally, made Amelia smile, and relief washed over him all at once.

Her eyes narrowed at him, her lips twisting in deep thought. “Okay, fine,” she said at last. “We’ll give this relationship a trial run. I will date you, Tyler, but there are some ground rules I want to lay down first. Number one, no one is to know we’re married, or that I’m pregnant. Especially not your family. Did you tell anyone?”

“No,” he said quickly. He’d never thought their marriage would last as long as it had. His family loved Amelia, but he wouldn’t get their hopes up for nothing.

“Okay. My three coworkers found out this morning, but they’re the only ones and that’s how I want it to stay. Number two, I’m putting a time limit on this so it doesn’t drag on too long. You’ve got thirty days to win me over. And I mean it. I want to be wooed, Tyler. I want romance and passion and excitement. You’re not going to get off easy because we’re friends. I’m going to be harder on you because you should know what I want and need.”

A wide grin broke out across his face. Tyler never backed down from a challenge, and this wouldn’t be any different. He could win her over in thirty days, no problem. He knew her better than he knew himself. She just had to let him try. “That’s fair.”

Amelia turned to look across the coffee shop and survey her surroundings. She sighed heavily and shook her head. She seemed disappointed by everything that had happened. Worn down. He didn’t like seeing her that way. If there was one thing he loved the most about her, it was her optimism when it came to love. She believed—really, truly believed—in the power of love. But she didn’t believe in them. He would change that. To make it happen, he would lift her up, make her smile, make her believe this was the right choice for them both, even if he wasn’t entirely sure of it himself.

“All I’ve ever wanted,” she said softly, “was a marriage like my grandparents have. They’ve been happily married for fifty-seven years, and they’re just as in love today as they were the day they got married. That’s what I want, and I’m not going to compromise that for anything or anyone.”

Tyler took a deep breath, wondering if she was on the verge of changing her mind. He knew all that about her. She’d always talked about her grandparents and how she wanted a love like theirs. That was a high bar to set, but he was up to the challenge. If she didn’t fall in love with him, it wouldn’t be for lack of effort on his part.

No, he wouldn’t even allow the negative thought. Amelia would fall in love with him. There could be no doubt of his success.

“At the end of thirty days,” she continued, “we’ll decide how we feel about each other. If we’re in love, you’ll propose again—properly—and we’ll announce our engagement to the world. I want to get remarried with the big ceremony and all our family and friends there. And if one of us doesn’t want to continue, we quietly agree to end it.”

“And then what? Are we just supposed to go back to how things were and pretend it never happened? That will be pretty hard with a child.”

“If we divorce, we make the best of things. I hope there won’t be any animosity between us. We stay friends, okay?”

“Okay.” Tyler knew failure wasn’t an option, but he was comforted by the idea that he would have her friendship no matter what. She was notoriously picky when it came to men. He refused to become just another guy thrown onto the reject pile with the rest. “Anything else?”

“I think that’s it,” she said with a smile that betrayed she already knew it was too much.

“Okay, then, I have one demand of my own.” If she was only going to give him thirty days, he needed to make them count and get every advantage he could. That meant proximity. There was no way this was going to work if they went to dinner a couple times a week and went to their separate corners when it was done. He couldn’t disappear to Antwerp or work eighteen-hour days. If they wanted to figure out whether they could cut it being married, they needed to go all the way. “I want us to live together the whole time.”

He watched Amelia frown into her lap with dismay. “My apartment isn’t really big enough for two people. It’s just a one bedroom, and my closet is already overflowing.”

Tyler had zero intention of living in her tiny little apartment with her. There was a difference between proximity and being locked in a cage together for thirty days. He was certain only one of them would make it out alive. “I’ll get us a new place,” he said simply.

“I have a lease.”

“I’ll pay the fee to break it.”

She sighed, obviously irritated with his ability to shoot down her every concern. “And what if at the end of thirty days, we’re not in love? I’ll be pregnant and homeless.”

He sighed. “You will be nothing of the sort. If we don’t work out, I’ll help you find a new place that’s big enough for you and the baby. I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

“You don’t have to buy me a house, Tyler. I’ll just keep my apartment for the month, stay with you, and we’ll figure out what to do about it when we’ve made a decision about us.”

He chuckled, knowing there wasn’t much sense in continuing to argue about this when that wasn’t how it was going to end. “Fine, but you’ve got to get used to the idea of someone else helping out. You’re having my child and I’m taking care of you. That point is nonnegotiable. Have we got a deal or not?”

“It’s a deal. Congratulations, Tyler,” she said, holding out her delicate manicured hand to shake on their agreement. “You may now date your wife.”

Game on.

He took her hand, shaking it for only a moment before pulling her knuckles to his mouth to kiss them. She was soft and warm against his lips, reminding him of how he’d spent an entire night kissing every sensitive curve. His skin prickled where it touched her, the sudden rush of need to have her again rocketing through his veins like a shot of adrenaline.

Amelia’s reaction was just as potent. Her lips parted softly and she sucked a soft gasp into her lungs. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment as his lips pressed to her skin and she leaned in to him.

He was going to enjoy this challenge. Pulling her hand to his chest, he leaned close. The air was warm and charged between them, her eyes widening and her pupils enlarging as he neared her. Her breaths were short and rapid, and her tongue moistened her lips on reflex. She wanted him to kiss her. Winning her over might be easier than he thought if she reacted to him so easily.

He pressed his lips to the outer shell of her ear and whispered in a low, seductive tone, “What do you say we seal the deal with a real kiss?”

When he pulled back, he noticed that a smile had lit Amelia’s eyes and curled her lips. She moved ever so slightly closer to him, placing a hand on his cheek.

“Sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “I don’t kiss on the first date.”

Three

Amelia watched a flicker of emotion cross Tyler’s face before he leaned back and sighed. He seemed tired. The familiar blue eyes she’d looked into a million times were lined with fatigue, and the muscles in his neck and shoulders were tense. She didn’t know if it was the early flight, the stress of their marriage or the pressing worry of impending fatherhood that had him tied in knots.

She wanted to reach out and rub his shoulders to loosen him up, but she realized that probably wouldn’t help. She might be the reason he was exhausted, as she was refusing to play by his rules and making everything harder than he probably thought it needed to be.

“If you won’t let me kiss you,” he said at last, “will you at least let me buy you another cup of tea?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. She didn’t want anything else in her stomach. Right now, she felt okay, but she didn’t know how quickly the balance could tip. “I could actually use some air. This coffee shop is a little stuffy.” The combination of the heater and the smell of roast coffee were verging on overwhelming. Amelia loved the scent of coffee, but her tolerance was limited today.

She could also use a little breathing room from Tyler. She should’ve known he would shoot out from the starting gate at the proverbial sound of the gun, but she hadn’t prepared herself for the sudden assault. Nor had she been prepared for her body’s response to him.

“How about a walk?” Tyler suggested. “I know it’s a little chilly today, but the sun is out.”

That worked for her. Amelia always thought better when she moved anyway. Of course, that meant she might take three steps and realize she was a fool. If she was honest with herself, she already knew that. As she watched Tyler devour the last of his cinnamon roll and toss their empty cups into the trash, she felt the worry pooling in her already tumultuous stomach.

She had very nearly kissed her best friend just a moment ago. She’d covered her weakness with a joke, but for a second, it had been a very real impulse. The skin of her knuckles burned where he’d seared her with his mouth. Her heart was still thumping at double the speed. The goose bumps continued to stand tall across her arms. Fortunately, she was able to hide all that beneath her blouse and the jacket he was currently helping her into.

Kissing Tyler shouldn’t be a big deal considering she’d let him do a hell of a lot more only a few short weeks ago. But this time she was stone-cold sober, and she still wanted him. She supposed she should be happy about that fact. That was the path they were on now. She’d agreed to date him. Move in with him. They were having a baby—the best thing she could do was fall in love with Tyler. That would make everything easier.

But if she knew anything about relationships, it was that none of it was easy. Amelia wasn’t the kind to slip and fall in love. She was too analytical, too driven to find just the right guy. With over seven billion people in the world, the odds of running across the one who was meant for her were astronomical. Yet every day, happy couples came into From This Moment, ready to get married. Were they settling, or had fate really brought them together?

Fate had certainly thrust her and Tyler together. Did that mean he was the one she was meant to be with? She didn’t know. But whether dating him was a good idea or a bad one, she’d given her word to try. And almost immediately, she’d found her body was on board with the plan, even if her mind was resistant.

It was official—her life had spun out of control. Could she blame her reaction to him on pregnancy hormones?

Tyler opened the door of the coffee shop and they stepped out onto the sidewalk. It was a beautiful day. The sky was a brilliant robin’s-egg blue with no clouds to be seen. There was a cool breeze, but the warmth of the sun on her face made it worth the chill. Winter had been rough this year, pounding them with uncharacteristic snow and ice storms. Her coworker Bree had even been trapped in a Gatlinburg mountain cabin by a wicked winter storm just a few weeks before Amelia went to Las Vegas.

The weather in Nashville was usually pretty mild, but she was certain today was the first time she’d seen the sun since November. Having a taste of it made her look forward to the summer. She couldn’t wait for flowers, ice cream trucks, sandals, cute pedicures and spending a little time cooling off in her bikini at the pool of her apartment complex.

Wait, she thought. Summer might be very different this year. For one thing, she’d be four or five months pregnant, so the bikini was probably out. And based on their discussions, she wouldn’t be living at her apartment much longer. She was moving into a place with Tyler. At least for thirty days. After that, who knew?

Tyler tugged his leather jacket over his navy blazer. They were barely half a block down the road when she felt his fingers reach for hers.

They held hands a lot—in a goofy, best friend sort of manner. She and Tyler had always been physically affectionate in a nonthreatening way. At least, nonthreatening to her. The guys she’d dated had never cared too much for the male best friend she talked about all the time. They’d never believed her when she insisted they were only friends. Perhaps they’d seen something in the two of them that even she couldn’t see.

Amelia laced her fingers though his until they were palm to palm. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, holding his hand felt different somehow. Maybe it was the soft shudder that ran through her when his warm skin pressed against hers. Perhaps it was the occasional whiffs of his cologne that drifted past her nose. Or her sudden awareness of his body so close to hers. It was most likely that all three were combining to remind her of that night together—the one when she’d realized what he was hiding under those expensive suits, and that she couldn’t wait to explore every hard, muscular angle of it.

“This area has built up a lot since I was here last,” Tyler said, oblivious to where her thoughts had strayed.

“Yes. None of this was here when we first bought the land to start building From This Moment. Fortunately, it filled in with a nice residential area and some higher-end shopping centers. I wish I could afford to live closer to work, but we found a good spot between two really expensive residential areas, so it’s not happening. There’s not even an apartment complex anywhere around.”

“It’s nice. I like it. Close to the interstate, but not too close. Nearby shopping and restaurants. Not too congested. What do you think about looking for a place around here?”

Amelia turned to look up at him with a frown. “Did you miss the part where I said it’s really expensive?”

“Did you miss the part where I auctioned off a thirty-one-carat canary diamond at Christie’s auction house last month?”

He had mentioned it, but she hadn’t thought much of it. He was constantly buying and selling stones. “But it’s not like you made pure profit. You’ve got what you paid for it originally, company overhead, insurance, fees to Christie’s... If you got it recut, there’s that expense, too.” There had been a time in Amelia’s life when she’d known nothing about the world of jewels and gemstones. There had also been a time where she hadn’t owned any jewelry worth more than fifty dollars. Tyler had changed all that.

Every year on her birthday, or for Christmas, he sent her something. The large teardrop amethyst around her neck had arrived on her twenty-sixth birthday. She also had sapphire earrings, a ruby-and-diamond tennis bracelet, an emerald ring and a strand of pearls. She never dared to ask how much he spent. She didn’t want to know. She just bought a small fireproof safe to store it and increased her jewelry insurance policy every year.

“Of course I have expenses,” he argued. “My point is that we don’t have to rent a tiny place in a cheaper neighborhood on the other side of Nashville. If you’d like to live around here and be closer to work, I’ll have a real estate agent start looking.”

The average home in the area ran about half a million. A good number of them were twice as much. She couldn’t imagine what the rent would be on a place like that. “You can look,” she said with a tone of disbelief, “but I doubt you’ll find something that works in this area. We don’t need a four-thousand-square-foot mansion with a five-car garage and an indoor pool.”

He shrugged, leading her down the sidewalk as though discussions of multimillion-dollar real estate transactions were nothing to him. “You don’t know that. I live in Manhattan. Real estate is at such a premium that some people live in apartments the size of a dorm room. The idea of a ridiculously large house—with private parking—sounds awesome to me. Why not? You might like having an indoor pool.”

“Get real, Tyler,” she said with a wry chuckle. “We may only live in this place for a month. Even if we stay longer, we need at most a three-bedroom house with a decent yard. Maybe a good-size kitchen so I can cook. And that’s only if we like the place enough to put in an offer to buy it. Right?”

“Right,” he said, looking thoughtfully off into the distance.

Amelia knew him well enough to know he wasn’t paying any mind to what she said. He’d pick whatever caught his fancy, regardless of price or practicality. All she knew was that if he picked a massive house, he’d better hire a housekeeper to go with it. It would be a full-time job keeping it clean, and she already had one of those.

They paused at an intersection, waiting for the light to change. “I’ll see what I can find. But like you, I’m not going to compromise, either. This isn’t just about finding a place to stay for a few weeks or months—it’s about finding a home where we can start our life together. It’s the house to which we’ll bring our child home from the hospital. It’s where he or she will take their first steps.”

Tyler had only known about this baby for an hour, but it didn’t matter. It was still an almost abstract idea in her mind, and yet he’d already revised his entire strategy to accommodate and care for his surprise family. He couldn’t just settle for a house to spend the next few weeks. He wanted a home for his family. He wanted to take care of her and their child. She didn’t understand how he could roll with the punches like that.

“You know, you don’t have to be so confident and positive about everything. You’re allowed to be upset and scared by the prospect of what’s happening. I threw a grenade at you and you’re just standing there holding it with a smile. I know that you don’t want to be tied down, and a family wasn’t on your radar. I’m freaking out. Tell me you’re freaking out, too, so I’ll feel better.”

Tyler turned to look at her with a frown. “What good would it do to get upset? Worrying just wastes valuable time. When I’m feeling uncertain, having a plan to go forward and executing it is the only thing that makes me feel better. No, a child wasn’t what I was expecting or wanting. Yes, a part of me wants to get in my car and disappear. But I won’t do that to our child. I have an obligation to step up and take responsibility for my actions, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it work.”

It wasn’t a romantic declaration, but she’d asked for his honesty and gotten it. Having Tyler’s child wasn’t her plan, but she knew she would be hard-pressed to find a better father for her baby.

“You’re only thinking short-term, Ames, but I have no intention of us getting divorced in thirty days. Successful people plan for success, so I’m going to find the perfect house for us. We’ll rent until we’re sure we love it, and then we’ll see if we can convince the owner to sell it. It will be the place where you and I will raise our family.”

His words should’ve been reassuring, and yet she felt a cold chill run through her as the concept started to sink in. He wasn’t resigned to his obligation or even optimistic about their future together. He was treating this like a challenge to be overcome.

Until that moment, she hadn’t fully realized that she’d waved red in front of a bull. Laying down a thirty-day challenge to Mr. Overachiever wasn’t very smart if she didn’t want to be with him in the end. Whether or not his heart was in this, he would likely get his way, be it with the house, their child or their relationship.

She felt a sudden pressure against her chest; the air clamped down in her lungs. Suddenly, a thirty-day trial period had just changed to the rest of their lives.

What had she really agreed to?

* * *

“I’m serious about us making this work, Ames. Our baby deserves it,” Tyler said. Before he could elaborate, he noticed a bit of the color draining from her face. She was fair complexioned, but she was approaching the shade of a sheet of paper. “Are you okay?”

She grimaced a little but didn’t answer, making him wonder if she was battling morning sickness again. “Are you going to be sick?”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Suddenly, I’m just a little tired. I didn’t sleep well this weekend and it was a big wedding with three entrée choices. I think it’s just catching up with me.”

He had witnessed two of his older sisters’ pregnancies, and their biggest complaint was always exhaustion. It started earlier than you’d expect. Taking her elbow, he led her to a bench around the corner.

Tyler sat her down on the wooden seat and crouched at her knee. He looked up at her, realizing for a moment that he was in the same position he’d been in when he’d proposed to her on a sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip. The memory made him smile despite his concerns for her. He wasn’t sure what had made him remember their teenage pact that night, but it had seemed like the perfect remedy for her frown. In that moment, he would’ve done anything to cheer her up. He’d never dreamed that their adventure would ever go this far. He’d never even expected them to consummate the marriage, much less have a baby together. Would he have gone through with it if he’d known? That was a question with an irrelevant answer, unless someone had invented a time machine he didn’t know about. He returned his focus to her.

“Can I get you anything? A bottle of water? Or do you need something to eat? There’s a convenience store across the street. I can bring you anything you want.”

“Stop fussing,” Amelia said, although her eyes were pinched tightly shut as she spoke. “I’m fine. I just need a minute.”

“Are you sure I—”

“I’m pregnant, not helpless, Tyler. I just needed a little break from walking around.”

Tyler ignored her, jogging across the street to the store and returning with an ice-cold bottle of water. He pressed it into her hand.

Amelia sighed but twisted off the cap to take a sip anyway. “Are you going to be like this for the next eight months? ’Cause I don’t think I can take you hovering over me all the time. It reminds me too much of my dad.”

“Hey, now,” Tyler argued in an offended tone. “There’s a big difference between trying to take care of you because I want to and doing it because I think you’re incapable of taking care of yourself. I’m not your father. And you’re not your mother.”

Visiting Amelia’s home when they were kids had been an eye-opening experience. In Tyler’s home, everyone pitched in. Both his parents worked. The older kids helped take care of the younger ones. The boys and the girls all did their share, equally. That was the only way they could get by, day to day.

Then he went to Amelia’s house and watched with surprise the way Principal Kennedy fawned over and protectively guarded his wife and daughters. He treated them as though they were delicate and helpless, a perception Amelia’s mother worked hard to create. She was fragile and often ill with headaches or other ailments, although Amelia insisted there was nothing actually wrong with her. It didn’t matter. Amelia’s father took care of everything. He made all the decisions, earned all the money. He hired a cleaning woman to come a few days a week and relieve her mother of that burden. The two Kennedy girls were expected to do nothing but be pretty and shop, just like their mother.

It had made Amelia crazy growing up. She was far from helpless and fragile—she had a spine of steel. She was smart and independent, but her father never gave her enough credit for anything she did. He expected her to marry well and carry on the way her mother had.

And he supposed she had done that, even if she hadn’t meant to. Tyler was successful. His business in gemstones and antiquities was amazingly lucrative. The markup on diamonds was insane. A quick trip to his suppliers in India or Belgium would set him up easily with a stash of high-quality stones at an amazing price. On any given day, he could have a quarter of a million dollars in precious gems tucked into his lapel pocket. If Amelia wanted to quit her job, he could take care of her and their child for the rest of their lives.

But he knew she would never allow that. He wouldn’t even suggest such a thing for fear of bodily harm. She wasn’t her mother. Not even close. “You might not like it,” he continued, “but I’ve got a vested interest in your welfare. For one thing, I haven’t had a chance to get a life-insurance policy on my wife yet.” He grinned wide and was pleased to see her reluctantly smile and roll her eyes at his joke.

“And for another,” he said, getting to his feet and sitting beside her on the bench, “that’s our kid you’re hauling around in there. It’s my job to make sure both of you have everything you need to stay happy, healthy and safe. You can complain all you want and it won’t make any difference.”

Amelia searched his face for a moment, looking for something he didn’t understand. Then she nodded and placed her hand over his, squeezing gently. “Thank you for that. I’m sorry for being difficult today. I feel as though my whole life has been hijacked and shifted off course. I’ve gotten used to being on my own and taking care of myself. It may take a while for me to adjust to anything else. But I do appreciate it. You. No matter what happens between us, I know you’ll be a good father.”

Tyler watched a bright red lock of hair slip from its clip and curl around the curve of her heart-shaped face. The peachy tones of her skin had returned, beckoning him to reach out and caress her velvet-soft cheek, pushing the hair behind her ear. Today, he would do it because he could.

He reached out to her, letting his knuckles softly graze across her cheekbone as they swept the errant curl away from her face. The pale peach of her skin was replaced with a rosy pink as her cheeks flushed. Her dark eyes watched him, but she didn’t pull away from his touch.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” he said.

“Really?” she said, her voice betraying the disbelief that reflected in her eyes.

“Absolutely. You’ve got the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen. It’s like liquid fire.”

“Tyler,” she began, hesitating, “I know I can be difficult in a relationship, and you know that better than anyone. Part of me has begun to wonder if I’ll ever...” Her gaze dropped into her lap. “Do you really think you can fall in love with me in thirty days?”

Tyler didn’t want to lie to Amelia, but he knew he had to. If he told her that he had no intention of ever falling in love with her—or anyone, for that matter—it would all be over. If he wanted to succeed for their child’s sake, he had to play along and keep those dark secrets inside. He couldn’t let his own doubts spill over and taint Amelia with his negativity.

As it was, he was stunned by her fears. How could a woman so smart, so beautiful, so talented have any doubt that a man could love her? At least, a man capable of opening himself up to loving someone?

“Are you kidding me? You are incredible in a hundred different ways. Your cooking is the best thing I’ve ever tasted. You tell better dirty jokes than any guy I’ve met. You’re strong of will and spirit. You care so deeply for others that I don’t know how you don’t get your heart crushed every day. You amaze me in a new way every time I’m with you.”

Amelia listened to him speak with silent tears welling in her eyes. He couldn’t bear to see her cry, ever. He opened his arms to her and pulled her tight against his chest. She rested her head against his shoulder, allowing him to press a kiss into the silky strands of her hair.

“I didn’t want to make you cry, but you need to know how important you are. I measure every woman I date against the bar you’ve set, and each of them has fallen miserably short. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. You need to think like a winner and erase all those doubts. Then you need to ask yourself, how could I not fall in love with you?”

When he finished speaking, she sat back and looked up at him. She studied his face with a curious expression that wrinkled her delicate nose.

He didn’t know what she was thinking, but he was hyperaware of how close she was. The scent of her body lotion perfumed the air with tropical flowers. He breathed it into his lungs and held it there, remembering that scent from their night together. The muscles in his neck tensed as the memories rushed into his mind and flooded his veins. It would be so easy to touch her. Kiss her. And he wanted to, first date be damned.

As though she’d read his mind, Amelia reached up and rested her palm against his cheek. Then she leaned into him. She closed the gap slowly, her eyes focused on his until their lips touched and their eyes closed. Her mouth was soft and hesitant against his own. He tried not to push too hard or too fast, applying just enough pressure, but letting her take the lead this first time.

It was hard. The sweet, gentle kiss was enough to start a hum of electricity traveling through his body. Tyler wanted to tug her against him and drink her in. He wanted to caress her silken tongue with his own and press his fingertips into her ample flesh. But he knew she was testing the waters. If he pushed too hard, he would lose valuable time trying to coax her back to this place.

She finally pulled away and he reluctantly let her go. Tyler opened his eyes to find her looking up at him with a dreamy smile curling her lips. She took a deep breath and sat back, tugging down at her tunic. “I’ve, uh...” She stumbled over her words. “I’ve really got to get back to work.”

“Okay.”

Tyler swallowed hard, trying to suppress the heated need she’d built up inside him. His every muscle was tense, his fingertips tingling with the need to touch her. It would have to wait. But not for too much longer. She’d kissed him. That was an important first step on the road to success.

He stood and stepped back, helping her get up from the bench. They walked to his rental car and made their way back to the wedding facility she owned with her friends. Once there, he parked the car and came around to open the door for her. Amelia got out but didn’t get far. Before she could escape, he leaned in, pressing a palm against the car and blocking her exit.

“So I’ll let you know when the real estate agent finds us a place and I can arrange the movers to pack your apartment. In the meantime, can I take you out to dinner tomorrow night?”

She looked up at him with surprise in her dark eyes. “So soon?”

Tyler had to laugh at her. She really had no idea what she’d done. His beautiful wife was a smart woman, but the terms of their agreement weren’t the most intelligent choice she could’ve made. He had been willing to take their romance slow, but she’d cranked up the dial on the intensity when she’d set her time limit.

He leaned in to her, pinning her with his intense gaze. “You’ve given us thirty days to fall in love, Amelia. Do you really think I’m going to let a single day go by without seeing you? Touching you? Hearing the melodic sound of your voice?”

Her gaze dropped to the pavement to avoid his eyes, her teeth nervously chewing at her bottom lip. “I understand that,” she argued, “but I have a job to do. So do you. You know I pretty much spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a kitchen. I can’t run off on a date with you every night.”

He understood that. They both had responsibilities. He just wasn’t going to let her use them as an excuse. She’d agreed to a test run of their relationship, but he knew this would be a battle to the finish. She wouldn’t give in easily, and neither would he. “That’s fine. That’s why we’ll spend our nights together at our new place. And during the day, I may very well be by your side, too.”

“What?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “In the kitchen with me? At work?”

Tyler nodded. “Whenever I can, I’m going to be where you are, Amelia. If you’re baking a cake, I’m going to be washing the pans. If you’re dicing vegetables, I’ll be peeling carrots and taking out the trash. You insisted I be present, not zipping around the world, so for the next thirty days, I’m your shadow. You only get a reprieve today while I make all the necessary arrangements.”

Her mouth dropped open and her auburn eyebrows knit together, but she didn’t say anything. She hadn’t thought this through, and the consequences would come back to haunt her. She’d be begging him to take a business trip before too long.

“Don’t you have a job to do? Aren’t there precious gems to be sold? Diamonds to be cut?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I have plenty of work, I assure you. But I have a flexible schedule and employees that can handle some things. I can conduct business where and when I want to. That’s the beauty of what I do. Right now, I’m more interested in focusing all my attention on you. So again,” he pressed, “dinner tomorrow night?”

Amelia drew her mouth closed and nodded. “Okay. About seven?”

Seven was perfect. That was his lucky number—an omen of his success on the horizon. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and stepped back to give her some room. “It’s a date.”

Four

“She’s ba-a-a-ck!”

Amelia winced the moment she crossed the threshold into the lobby and heard Gretchen announce her arrival. She’d been hoping they would have clients in this morning. If someone was booking a wedding with Natalie or taking a tour, her friends couldn’t fuss over her. No such luck.

Bree and Gretchen spilled into the hallway. Natalie popped her head out of her office, her headset on. She held up a finger to wait and then continued her phone conversation.

Amelia went on into her office so she could hang up her coat and stow her purse away. She grabbed her tablet in the hopes they would talk about what she’d missed at the staff meeting, but she knew the conversation would be about anything but work.

She carried her half-empty bottle of water with her to the conference room. By the time she got there, her three partners at From This Moment were assembled there, waiting, although not patiently. Bree looked as if she was about to burst with excitement. Gretchen had wicked glee lighting her eyes. Natalie seemed concerned, as she was prone to be. She was suspicious about love in general, and marriage was a bridge too far in her opinion. At the moment, Natalie was probably the smarter of the two of them.

Amelia sat down in one of the chairs. “So what did I miss this morning?”

“Please.” Bree groaned. “You are going to tell us everything that’s going on with you and that guy, right now!”

“Yes, and start from the beginning,” Natalie said, “since I missed the discussion this morning.”

With a heavy sigh, Amelia repeated the tale about the high school reunion gone awry. She went into as much detail as she could, hoping she wouldn’t have to repeat the story again. She left out the part about it being the most incredible sex of her life and tried to focus on how she ended up married to her best friend while on vacation.

“So,” Natalie began with a furrowed brow, “did he just come to town so you can start the divorce proceedings?”

“Pretty much, although I’m not sure we’re going to do that just yet.”

Bree’s eyebrows shot up. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Amelia began, “that we’re going to date for a month and see where it goes. It’s a lot easier to get married than it is to get divorced, so we’re going to put more thought into the latter than we did into the former.”

“You’re going to date your husband? This is all just so wrong,” Natalie said with a slow shake of her head.

“Is he moving here? Doesn’t he live in New York or something?”

“Yes, his company is based out of Manhattan. He has more flexibility with his work than I do, so he’s going to rent a place here for a month.” Amelia hoped they didn’t ask what they would do after that, because she honestly didn’t know. Could Tyler stay in Nashville long-term? She couldn’t leave. Amelia was From This Moment’s caterer. A wedding without food was...a tacky Vegas elopement. She sighed.

As it was, they would have to figure out what they would do while she was on maternity leave. They would cross that bridge when they got there, she supposed. She hadn’t even dropped that bomb on her friends yet.

“You and Tyler never dated before, did you?”

Amelia took a sip of her water and shook her head. “No. We’ve only ever been friends. You know how I am with men. If we’d dated, we would’ve broken up by now. It was always more important to have him in my life than to act on some physical impulse.”

“Natalie said he was hot. Like, Chris Pine hot. How could you go all those years without so much as kissing him?” Gretchen asked.

The simplest answer was that she just hadn’t allowed her mind to go there. Yes, he was handsome. All the things they’d talked about in the coffee shop earlier were correct. He had a lot of the attributes she valued in a prospective partner. But in the end, he was just Tyler. That canceled out a lot. “We did kiss once, in tenth grade. This stupid girl dared us at a party in front of everyone.”

“And?”

“And—” she shrugged “—it was awkward. I only have a sister, but I thought that might be what it was like to kiss your own brother. Zero chemistry. A very uncomfortable experience. After that, it was easier to keep things platonic.”

“Tell me it was better the second time around,” Gretchen groaned.

“It was. A million times better.” Amelia should’ve taken into consideration that their first kiss had been with an audience of their peers. On a dare. They’d been fifteen and she had braces. Neither of them had had much experience to go on. It had been a recipe for disaster, but what a difference a dozen or so years could make! “I honestly couldn’t believe I was kissing the same person. Even knowing it was Tyler and I shouldn’t be doing that, I couldn’t stop myself.”

“What happens in Vegas...” Gretchen said, as though that explained everything.

And in a way, it did. The lights and the alcohol and the heightened emotions inspired you to move out of your comfort zone and do something exciting for a change. Unfortunately, not everything that happened there stayed there. The consequences had followed her home.

“What did Tyler say to change your mind about getting divorced all of a sudden?” Bree asked as she thoughtfully twirled her long blond hair around her finger. “You’ve already had a month to think about it, and I was pretty sure you were set on that when you left.”

And now they came to the part she was avoiding. “I was. We were. But um...things changed. I, uh...”

“You’re pregnant,” Natalie stated. There wasn’t an accusatory tone to her voice, just quiet resignation. She gave Natalie a lot of grief for being uptight, but she was very observant. She saw everything, even the things people tried to hide.

Amelia couldn’t respond so she just nodded, thankful that Natalie had saved her from saying the words aloud a second time today.

“Wait, what?” Bree nearly shrieked. “You’re pregnant and you haven’t mentioned it yet? How could you leave that massive detail out of the story?”

“One bombshell at a time, okay?” Amelia frowned. “I just found out and I’m still a little shell-shocked by the whole thing. I mean, it’s as though my whole life has gone irrevocably off course. You think it’s bad to marry your best friend on a whim? Find out you’re having his baby, too. There’s no pretending it didn’t happen anymore. There’s no annulling it and sweeping the memory of it under the rug.”

“That’s why you’re trying to stay together,” Gretchen noted, the pieces finally clicking together for her. “What will you do if it doesn’t work out? Get divorced and work out a custody arrangement?”

“Yes. It will be okay, though. We’ve agreed that no matter what, we’ll stay friends.”

“Um, Amelia,” Natalie said, “you don’t really think that’s going to happen, do you?”

“Of course it will,” she insisted. They’d been friends for fourteen years. They could do it. Of course, that had been without sex and emotions and custody agreements in the way.

“I’m not trying to upset you,” Natalie clarified, “but you need to be prepared for this. At the end of the month, you two might break up. And it may go okay for a while, but eventually things are going to fall apart. You’ll try for the good of your child, but it will get hard. I’ve seen it happen. He’ll show up late to bring the kid back from his weekend and you’ll get irritated. You’ll want the baby for a holiday that’s supposed to be his and you’ll argue about it. Make the most of these thirty days, Amelia. If you don’t have a husband when the time is up, don’t plan on having a best friend for much longer after that.”

She hadn’t thought about that at all. She was certain they would be okay, but she had seen it happen to other people. If she thought sex might ruin their friendship, shared custody and a strained relationship would certainly do it.

Natalie reached out and placed a hand over Amelia’s. The supportive gesture made tears threaten in her eyes. She never cried. Hated to, actually. She always saw it as a weak feminine gesture her mother used to manipulate her father. But in the moment, all the emotions and worries of the past few weeks came to a head and before she could stop them, teardrops started spilling over her cheeks.

“Damn hormones,” Amelia lamented.

“Aw, honey, it will be okay.” Bree got up and snatched a tissue from the other side of the room to give to her. “Everything is going to work out, I know it.”

“It absolutely will,” Gretchen chimed in. “No matter what happens with Tyler after the thirty days are up, you’re going to be a great mom. We’re going to throw the greatest baby shower in the history of baby showers. And I’ll paint a mural in the nursery. We can even turn the extra office into a playroom with toys and a crib so you can bring the baby to work. Bree’s getting married soon—we could have babies all over the place before too long.”

Bree’s eyes widened a touch and she choked on the last sip of her latte. “Um, yeah,” she said with a rough cough to clear her lungs. “Babies all over the place.”

Amelia had to smile through her tears. She really did have amazing friends. Gretchen was right. No matter what happened with Tyler, things would work out. Neither the marriage nor the baby had been planned, but she would make it through this. “Thank you, guys. I feel a lot better, now.”

“That’s what girlfriends are for,” Natalie said with a soft smile. “You know we’re always here to celebrate, commiserate or eviscerate. Whatever you might need.”

“Okay. For right now, all I need is to keep this quiet. Please don’t mention it to anyone. Really. No Facebook posts, no offhand comments when clients are here, no telling my mom I’m at the obstetrician if she calls and I’m not around. We’re keeping all of this a secret until we decide what we’re going to do. You guys are the only ones that know.”

“Sure thing,” Bree said. “I won’t tell a soul.”

“Me, neither,” Gretchen agreed. She looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. “We’d better get back to it. I’ve got the future Mr. and Mrs. Edwards coming by to pick their invitations on their lunch break.”

All four of the women stood and started back to their various tasks. Mondays were Amelia’s Fridays. She was off the next two days, so she needed to get things in order for the upcoming weekend. That meant submitting her grocery order to the food suppliers. She also needed to email the finalized reception menu to a couple doing a ’50s rockabilly-themed wedding. There wasn’t time to sit around and mope about her situation for long.

Life went on. And so must she.

* * *

Tyler was pretty certain today might qualify as one of the longest days of his life. Probably because he hadn’t slept since he arrived in Nashville and the two days had blurred together into one. By the time Tyler rang the doorbell of Amelia’s apartment to pick her up for their dinner date Tuesday night, he had been awake for forty hours straight.

He’d learned early on that sleep was for the guy who came in second. He’d accomplished a lot since he dropped Amelia back at the chapel. He’d made arrangements to manage his business dealings from Nashville. He got some of his employees to take on more business travel to free up his calendar. There was still a trip to London on his schedule in a few weeks, but he would play that by ear. He really needed to be there for the Sotheby’s auction. Perhaps he could talk Amelia into joining him for that trip.

Work handled, he met with a real estate agent and toured half a dozen potential homes. He was pretty certain he’d found the one, but he wouldn’t decide until Amelia had seen it. He’d also turned in his rental car and picked up something more suitable for the next few weeks.

With the logistics in place, he directed his attention toward more romantic pursuits. He made dinner reservations and set out in search of a nearby florist that carried her favorite flower. She’d said she wanted romance and that she expected him to know exactly what she would like. Well, mission accomplished.

Amelia opened the door of her apartment. Before she could even say hello, her gaze dropped to the bouquet of roses in his hands. Not just any roses—green beauties. They were a pale-green-and-ivory rose with darker green edges. The flowers reminded him of tiny cabbages, really, but she’d always loved them. Her favorite color was green after all.

“Wow,” she said. She looked up at him with a wide smile brightening her face.

“I was about to say that same thing.” Amelia looked amazing. She was wearing a plum-colored dress that popped against the ivory of her skin. It almost looked like strips of fabric wrapped around her body. It had cap sleeves with straps crisscrossing over her collarbones. It molded to her shape, making her incredibly voluptuous figure even more outrageous. She had the kind of dangerous curves that required two hands or a man could lose control. “You look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you. This is a Herve Leger bandage dress I saved up to buy, and I’ve never had the opportunity to wear it. It’s on the snug side to begin with, so I figured I should wear it tonight while I can. If I could get away with it, I’d wear it every day until I hit my second trimester, but it’s just not that practical.”

Fashion before comfort with Amelia, always. “I would vote for that. I wouldn’t get anything done staring at you the whole time, though.”

“You’re sweet,” she said, a rosy color rising to her cheeks. “I can’t believe you remembered my favorite flower.”

“Of course I did,” Tyler said as he held the bouquet out to her. “For you.”

“Come in,” Amelia said as she took a few steps back into her apartment.

He followed her into the cozy one-bedroom corner unit she called home. Golden overhead lighting shined down from an antique-looking fixture. It illuminated every detail she’d worked hard to put in place. It was a cute little apartment, spacious by New York standards, and very much Amelia. The furniture was shabby chic in style, mixing older, worn antiques with a few newer, brighter pieces. There was a mishmash of throw rugs, embroidered pillows and candles scattered around the space.

She had always had a keen aesthetic eye, be it for fashion, furniture or food. Even back in high school, when Tyler’s daily uniform had included jeans and a T-shirt, she had always gone above and beyond when it came to her style. To her, decorating an apartment was like getting her place dressed up to go out. He couldn’t be bothered. He wanted things to be functional and not too fussy. Like his clothes.

He watched Amelia disappear into the tiny kitchen and put the green roses in a tall crystal vase filled with water. She had been right when she said there wasn’t room for him to live here with her. It was comfortable, welcoming, but not really big enough for more than one person. And she certainly would have difficulty raising a child here, too. There was no room for a nursery. No yard to play in. A couple toys on the floor could create a treacherous obstacle course.

“What?” she asked, coming toward him with the vase in her hands. “You look disgusted about something.”

“Not disgusted. I was just thinking of how small your place is. Reminds me of the first apartment I rented when I moved to New York to apprentice at Levi’s jewelry store.”

“It suits me just fine.” She placed the flowers in the middle of her square white dining room table. “It’s quiet, I have reserved parking and the price is good. I’m really not home that much anyway.”

“Well—” he frowned “—no matter what happens with us, we’ll need to find you a new place. Either you’ll move in with me or we’ll get you something bigger for you and the baby.” He raised his hand to halt her protest. “Don’t start. You and I both know you’ll need more space when the baby comes.”

Amelia shrugged and scooped up her purse. “I had been thinking about getting a townhouse before all this started. But there’s no sense in worrying about it now. We’ve got time to figure out things like that.”

“Absolutely. Right now, we need to focus on not missing our reservation.”

“Where are we going?”

“The Watermark, downtown.”

Amelia smiled as she picked up her jacket and followed him outside. “Nice choice.”

He escorted her to the parking lot, but Amelia stopped abruptly at the curb. “What’s the matter?”

“Where’s your BMW?”

“I’d only rented that for a couple days. I turned it back in when I realized I was going to be staying awhile.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his keys and hit the button to unlock the doors of the white Audi SUV parked beside hers.

“I see you finally found a place that would rent you an Audi. I bet you’re happy now.”

Tyler held open the passenger door and helped her inside. “Actually, I bought it,” he said before slamming the door shut.

By the time he got in on his side, Amelia was shaking her head. “You’re from another planet, you know that?”

“Why?”

“Because,” she argued, as they pulled out of her apartment complex, “you buy luxury cars on a whim—with cash, I’m certain. You think a mansion in Belle Meade is a reasonable suggestion. You gave me an eight-carat engagement ring for a spur-of-the-moment wedding in Vegas. That’s not normal, you know?”

Tyler smiled and focused on the freeway stretched out ahead of them. “I worked hard to be abnormal. Would you prefer I have a dead-end office job and scrape pennies together for the monthly payment on my practical sedan like everyone else?”

“No...” she said thoughtfully. “I suppose it wouldn’t make a difference. Even when you were broke, you were abnormal. Just abnormal with less money.”

He chuckled. “I’m not sure if I should be offended or not.”

“Don’t be. I’ve kept you in my life this long with you the way you are. If you’re abnormal, then I guess I am in my own way, too.”

Tyler had to heartily agree with that assessment. For whatever reason, he had lasted in Amelia’s life far longer than any other man. Probably because they weren’t dating, so she didn’t try him on like a pair of shoes and cast him aside when he didn’t fit just right. When they’d crossed the line in Vegas, he’d known he was putting their friendship at risk. Despite their long-standing relationship, adding sex to the mix could potentially land him in the discard pile. Even with their agreement to remain friends no matter what, that was still a very real danger.

That was why he’d come to Nashville fully anticipating they would file for divorce and pretend that night in Vegas never happened. He’d never dreamed they might continue their romance, much less stay married.

The wild card in this scenario was their baby. It was Amelia’s anchor; it might be the only thing that would keep her from bolting from this relationship like every other one before it.

Might be.

Tyler had agreed to Amelia’s thirty-day arrangement for their child’s sake. He would put everything he had into convincing Amelia to love him. Everything but his heart. His wasn’t any good to anyone anymore. It had been irrevocably broken, and he didn’t dare expose it to more damage.

If she fell in love with him, everything might work out, but even then, Tyler wasn’t holding his breath. He was fighting an uphill battle with Amelia. Even if he did everything right, she could find fault in him. No one was perfect, not even her grandparents. It made him wonder how much of their idealistic marriage was truth and how much was fantasy built up in Amelia’s mind.

Tyler slowed the Audi and pulled to the curb outside the restaurant. He handed over the keys to the valet and rounded the car to escort Amelia inside.

The interior of the Watermark was dim, with pot lights illuminating the tables from the exposed beams overhead. The hostess escorted them to a white linen-draped table for two near the window. Amelia chose to sit on the side with the long white leather banquette, and Tyler sat opposite her. A server quickly took their drink orders and disappeared, leaving them to look over the menu and admire the view.

Tyler knew he should be looking at the impressive cityscape or deciding on his appetizer course, but he found himself distracted by the view directly in front of him. A square glass-and-chrome candleholder in the center of the table cast a mesmerizing glow across Amelia’s face. It highlighted the subtle cleft in her chin and soft apples of her cheeks. Her skin looked peaches-and-cream flawless, nearly glowing with radiance.

It took everything he had not to reach across the table and brush his thumb over her full, coral-painted lips. They looked soft and shiny with some sort of gloss that made them shimmer in an utterly kissable way. He wanted to kiss her again tonight, and keep doing it until every drop of that gloss was gone and her lips were bee-stung from it.

That was how she had woken up in his hotel room the morning after their wedding. Her red hair had been everywhere, her mascara had been smudged and her lips had been pink and swollen. She’d looked like a woman who had been well and truly loved the night before. Tyler’s whole body stiffened as he thought of being able to make love to her again. It was a masochistic thought, one that wasn’t likely to get him through dinner without discomfort, but he couldn’t shake it. Once they’d crossed the line in Vegas, he couldn’t force himself back.

“Have you ever eaten here before?” he asked to distract himself with conversation.

She shook her head, oblivious to his thoughts. “No, but I’ve been dying to get into their kitchen. The executive chef here is well-known for his amazing creations. I’m certain nothing we eat will be bad.”

“So I chose well?”

Amelia smiled. “You chose very well.”

“All this rich food won’t be too much on your stomach, will it?”

She shook her head, making the sleek auburn waves dance over her shoulders. “I hope not. But really, I’ve only had trouble early in the day. By midafternoon I’m starving. I’m anxious to try the duck. It is so hard to find well-prepared duck. What about you?”

“I’m thinking the cobia. Or the lamb.”

“Ooh...” Amelia’s dark brown eyes lit up with excitement. “Get the lamb and let me try some. You can try my duck, too, if you want.”

“Sounds good,” he said with a smile. Very few things got Amelia as excited as food. The old saying about the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach was just as true with her. Whenever they were together, he went out of his way to find someplace they could eat that would be new and exciting for her.

She was a fashionista at heart, but her first love was cooking. He hadn’t been at all surprised to see her go into a culinary program. She had been bringing him food all through high school, using him as a guinea pig when she wanted to try out a new recipe. It was almost always good. And beautiful to look at. Rarely was food both, and that was where her talent really came into play.

Tonight was where his talents came into play. He was a successful jeweler because he knew exactly what the client was looking for, even if they weren’t entirely sure. He had the ideal night planned for Amelia. After two hours of talking and dining, including a decadent chocolate soufflé to share, they strolled through the trendy downtown area known as the Gulch. They wandered together, hand in hand, looking in shop windows and listening to the live music streaming out of some of the bars. The conversation flowed easily, the way it always had with them, not stifled by the fact that this was a real date.

By the time they returned to her apartment, Tyler was confident they’d had a successful date. Amelia was smiling and laughing, relaxed for the first time since he’d arrived in Nashville. It was a good night. But it could be better.

He walked her to her door, hesitating as she unlocked it. He wanted to go in pretty badly, but he wouldn’t. Thirty days didn’t seem like long, but it was long enough not to rush.

“Dinner was great,” she said as she turned back to face him. “I had a nice time.”

“Me, too.” Moving closer, Tyler rested his hand on her waist.

Amelia didn’t pull away or stiffen at his touch. Instead she looked up at him with a soft, inviting smile. He accepted the invitation, leaning down to cup her face in his hands and capture her coral-painted lips with his own.

She melted into him, pressing her ample curves against the hard wall of his chest. As his tongue glided across her lips, she opened her mouth to him. Her own silky tongue met his, a soft moan muffled in the back of her throat.

The sound conjured memories of their wedding night. His body instantly stiffened, his palms tingling to touch her. He moved his hands back to her waist, letting them roam over the stretched fabric that clung to her every curve. Tyler boldly cupped the swell of her rear and pressed her hips against the hard ridge of his desire.

The growl deep in his throat made Amelia chuckle softly against his lips and pull away. Her hand caught his, moving it back to her waist. Her eyes were closed, her breath fast and shallow. He understood. That was enough for tonight. He withdrew his hand, placing one last soft goodbye kiss on her lips.

“I want to take you somewhere in the morning.”

“I suppose you aren’t going to tell me where.”

He smiled wide. “What’s the fun in that?”

She sighed and shook her head. Although she acted exasperated by him, he could see the glint of excitement in her eyes. When that was there—the way it had been on that sidewalk in Las Vegas—he knew he had her intrigued. That was key to getting her to go along with whatever harebrained idea he’d come up with.

“I’ll pick you up at nine.”

Five

“So seriously, where are we going?”

Tyler shook his head. “Ames, I haven’t told you the past three times you’ve asked. What makes you think I’m suddenly going to change my mind?”

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m your wife. It’s now my job to nag at you until I wear you down and you do what I want.”

He chuckled and slowed the SUV to turn off the main commercial thoroughfare and into a large, sprawling subdivision. “I thought we were trying to date. You’re not supposed to pull those tricks out of the bag until later.”

“Tricks?” she replied in mock outrage. “What about those tricks you pulled on me last night? Those flowers, that restaurant...”

“That kiss,” he added.

Amelia didn’t reply to that. Instead she turned and looked out her window to watch the houses they rolled past. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d made an excellent impression on their first official date. She’d had a better time with him than she had on half the dates she’d been on in the past year. Perhaps the fates knew better than she did. Or maybe they were just having fun messing with her head.

The houses they passed were large. On meticulously groomed lots. And not far from work. That was when everything clicked into place. They were going to look at a house. But here? Despite her attempts to dissuade him, he’d apparently sought out a place in Belle Meade. They were obviously not on the same page when it came to the real estate market.

Finally, Tyler turned into a driveway that was barricaded by a large iron gate. He punched in a code and the gate opened, revealing the incredible estate hidden beyond it. They drove down a narrow lane lined with trees and hedges, then circled around a courtyard fountain, stopping in front of the double-doored entrance of stacked stone stairs.

Thoughts of denial swirled in her mind as she looked up at the house. Correction—mansion. This was no three-bedroom starter home. To buy it would cost several million dollars, easily. The rent was probably high enough to give her heart palpitations. Was this what he’d envisioned when he’d talked about a home where they could raise a family together? She couldn’t even fathom it.

“Tyler...” she said in a warning tone as she looked out the window.

“Just wait until you see the inside,” he said, holding his hands up defensively. “It’s amazing.”

She bet it was. The Biltmore House was nice, too, but she wasn’t moving in there anytime soon, either. “Did you already rent this place? Without asking me? That’s really not the best way to start out. A woman likes to have a say in where she lives.”

“Of course I know that. I did not rent it yet, but I was confident enough that the real estate agent gave me the key to bring you here today. When we’re done, I’ll either return the key or sign the lease.”

Amelia didn’t wait for his assistance to get out of the car. She opened the door and stepped onto the cobblestone driveway. The cream-and-gray-mottled brick of the mansion’s facade seemed to sprawl on forever, broken up by large arched windows and tall square ivory columns. The house was beautiful, but ridiculously large for a family of two and a half.

“Whose house is this? And why on earth would they rent it out to strangers?”

“Apparently some musician had the place built, then ended up going on a world tour and never moved in. The real estate agent seemed pretty confident that if we liked the place, the owner would entertain an offer.”

She sighed and shook her head. It was a rock star’s house. She’d never fathomed she’d step across the threshold, much less ever live in the home of a rock star. “Let’s go inside and see it before you sign your life away, hmm?”

Tyler offered his hand to help her up the stairs, then escorted her through the entrance to the large marble foyer. Amelia was stunned by the size and luxury of the space. There was very little furniture and nothing on the walls, but the details of the house itself were amazing. There was intricate crown molding, carved stonework and sky-high ceilings with shimmering chandeliers dripping crystals from their golden branches. A split staircase of dark, polished wood encircled the room and met at a second-floor landing.

“I don’t think the two of us combined will ever have enough stuff to fill a house this big.” The expansive rooms were so empty, their steps echoed through the space.

“I’m only going to have the movers bring down my personal things from my apartment. It’s a lot more modern, and I don’t think much of the furniture would work here anyway. We’ll need to go shopping for some of the basics to get us through the next month—a bed, a couch, that sort of thing. Then, if we decide to keep the place, we’ll start looking for the rest. I want you to decorate however you want to.”

Amelia fought the frown threatening to pull the corners of her mouth down. They’d agreed to date only two days ago, yet he was moving forward with the intention of them living here forever. Her head was still spinning, but Tyler was a master of rolling with the punches.

As it was, they’d put the cart before the horse and were scrambling to build a relationship to go with their marriage and their baby. Thirty days was really not enough time to fall in love, but she’d known she had to pick a deadline to put an end to this madness. This would either work or it wouldn’t, and now they would know in a month. She couldn’t take the uncertainty any longer than that. Tyler didn’t seem to acknowledge that failure was even an option. It rarely was in his eyes. It didn’t matter if it was a jewel auction or a game of cards with friends—he had to win. This time, she’d made her future the prize he was out to claim.

“I don’t know, Tyler... This place is intimidating. As much as I enjoy decorating, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“I know,” he admitted. “I had an interior designer do my place in New York. You’re welcome to pick stuff for the house, but we can hire a decorator if you need help.” He reached down and took her hand in his. “Come on,” he said with a gentle tug. “I’ll show you the upstairs first.”

They went up the stairs to the second floor, where he led her through a labyrinth of bedrooms and bathrooms. There was another family room and a large open bonus room that was bigger than her whole apartment.

“I was thinking we could turn this into a game room. Maybe get a pool table and a couple of pinball machines. What do you think?”

She thought this house was way too much space for them. It was too big for five or six, even, but she kept that to herself. “That would be fun.”

“And through here,” he continued, “is the movie theater.”

Amelia stopped. “You’re kidding, right? Why on earth would we need our own movie theater?”

Tyler grinned wide. “Nope, I’m not kidding. I think the real estate agent officially called it a media room, but it’s all the same to me. This is one of the reasons I really love this house.”

Amelia walked ahead of him into the windowless room with dark burgundy–painted walls. There was a large screen on the far wall with a projector mounted in the ceiling overhead. The floor was a staggered incline with two rows of leather media chairs that could seat eight people. One row was a step down from the first so everyone had a prime view. It was the craziest thing she’d ever seen.

“When I started looking for a place to rent, I wanted more than just luxury. I wanted functionality. With this, it made me think about how much we both love movies. You and I have wasted hours of our youth watching films together. I think we were at every Saturday matinee for four years. Having a place to screen our own movies in comfort seemed like a good investment for the future.”

“It’s amazing,” she said, nodding blankly. “If you can afford it, why not? I’m sure we’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of it.”

Tyler continued on with the tour, heading downstairs to show her the luxurious master suite with a bathtub she could swim in. Amelia followed, only half listening to what he had to say about the house. Her mind was being pulled in ten directions, her chest tight with anxiety over this whole situation.

Things seemed to get more complicated minute by minute. Eloping with Tyler had been a mistake, but a correctable one. Getting pregnant was a curveball, but women had children every day with less suitable fathers. She could handle it. Tyler would be a great father, even if they didn’t have a romantic relationship. Moving in together, temporarily or otherwise, was a big leap for her. But this place... It was like moving to an alien planet.

She’d known her best friend was a strategist. He always looked at every angle before making a decision, routinely kicking her rear in chess and rarely making a wrong move on the game board or in life. He didn’t just win, he won intelligently. Still, it was hard to believe Tyler had pulled all this together in a day’s time. He’d bought a car, found an amazing house he knew she’d love... She had no doubt he had movers on standby both here and in New York, just waiting for the call that he’d signed the lease on the house.

What did she expect? She’d laid down a challenge—thirty days to fall in love. Tyler was taking it seriously and would tackle it with the same drive and commitment that had gotten him from an old, overcrowded apartment to a multimillion-dollar mansion in ten years’ time. She would be hard-pressed to fight him off, especially when his opening volley included a mansion with a movie room. He was playing to win. What would he do next?

“I saved this room for last because I think it’s going to be your favorite.” He led her through what would probably be the living room to the kitchen. That was where her heart stopped and her worries vanished in an instant.

It was a chef’s dream. Gorgeous cherry-stained cabinets, gold-flecked granite countertops, ornate tile work on the backsplash, professional stainless-steel appliances... It was gorgeous. She couldn’t help rushing past him into the space to look more closely. The kitchen in her apartment was average. Nice, but nothing special. The one at the chapel was large, sterile and industrial, for cooking for hundreds of people at once. Neither of those places had anything on this.

She opened the deep drawers for pots and pans, sliding out built-in spice racks. The massive gas stove had two ovens, six burners and a grill in the center. There were two farm sinks on opposite sides of the kitchen, one beside a full-size dishwasher and the other with a small drawer dishwasher for quick washes of glasses. The French doors of the refrigerator opened wide, revealing enough space for countless platters and large serving dishes. There was even a warming drawer built in beside the stove.

It wasn’t just a beautiful kitchen, it was a well laid-out one with all the latest amenities. She knew better than anyone how important it was to have the space designed properly to get work done with the fewest steps possible.

Amelia could cook up a storm here. She could throw some of the most amazing dinner parties ever thrown. Maybe an engagement party for Bree and Ian. They’d gotten engaged right before her reunion and had yet to have a party. Thoughts of gatherings with champagne and canapés started spinning through her head, but a glance at Tyler’s smug grin brought everything to a stop.

She’d fallen for it, she realized with a silent curse. What was better than a movie room? The kitchen of her dreams. He knew exactly what he was doing, bringing her to this house and seducing her with stainless-steel appliances. He knew better than anyone that the route to her heart went through the kitchen. She’d underestimated how easily she could be had by someone who knew her every weakness.

Amelia wasn’t ready to lose herself to the fantasy quite yet, though. Even if they did rent this place and move in, she couldn’t get attached to any of it. In four weeks, everything could be different.

Tyler was confident they could build a successful relationship, but they had a steep hill to climb. She’d take a great love in a camper over a so-so romance with a mansion.

“Well, what do you think of the place?” he asked.

“You’ve done well, Tyler,” she said with a polite smile. She ran her hand over the cool granite countertop. “I can’t believe you turned up a place like this in a day. This kitchen is amazing. It’s a shame you’re the worst cook I’ve ever met.”

He smiled and ran his hand through the messy strands of his dark blond hair. “Well, honestly, I have no intention of ever doing anything more complicated than making a bowl of cereal in here. But when I saw it, I knew how much you’d love it. This is all for you, really.”

His pale blue eyes were focused on her with unmatched intensity as he spoke. She could feel the truth of his words and the depth of what they really meant. He could’ve rented a lesser house with average amenities, but he’d wanted to find the one that would make her eyes light up and her heart flutter with excitement. The kitchen had done that, easily. And he knew it.

Looking around her, it was obvious that her life had taken a very surreal turn. Tyler would rent this house, she was certain of it, and they would be living here by the weekend.

The flowers, the dinners, the granite countertops... She’d demanded Tyler woo her, and he was doing a damn fine job. She could already feel her resolve weakening, and it was day two. What would happen over the next twenty-eight days?

The mere thought scared the hell out of her.

* * *

“I didn’t say anything because it’s a temporary arrangement.” Tyler rolled his eyes as his brother Jeremy needled him. He shouldn’t have answered the phone when he saw his brother wasn’t accepting his text at face value.

“Moving to Nashville doesn’t seem temporary.”

“I never said I was moving, just that I would be here for a while. I kept my apartment in New York,” Tyler argued. “And I’m not moving my business. I’m only telling you so someone knows where I am.” He’d chosen to text his younger brother Jeremy so someone in the family knew where he was if something happened. He had his cell phone, of course, but at least one person needed to be able to find him in an emergency. He regretted the decision now. Jeremy wouldn’t accept the fact without the justification.

“What’s going on that would make you drop everything and run to Nashville? Wait...” Jeremy hesitated. “Amelia lives in Nashville, doesn’t she?”

“Yes,” Tyler confirmed, feeling anxiety pool in his stomach. The conversation was unraveling faster than he’d like.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She just...needs me for a little while.”

A long silence followed. “Needs you? Cut the crap, man. What’s going on? I’ll tell everyone you’ve moved to Nashville if you don’t tell me why. Your life will be hell.”

Tyler sighed. Better Jeremy know than the whole family. “Okay, but you can’t breathe a word to anyone. I mean it.”

“Of course. I’m not the blabbermouth in the family. I never even told anyone about that trip to Tijuana where you got arrested.”

Tyler frowned at the phone. “I’ve never been to Mexico, Jeremy.”

“Oh, that must’ve been Dylan,” Jeremy said. “Crap, I just told a secret. It’s normally not a problem, though. I’ve kept that secret for five years.”

That didn’t make him feel better, but he didn’t have a choice. “Okay...I’m going to stay in Nashville for a few weeks because Amelia and I got together at the reunion and we’re trying to make it work.”

“You hooked up with Amelia?” Jeremy asked with an edge of incredulity in his voice. “Finally! I thought you guys would never—”

“We’re married,” he interrupted. “And she’s pregnant.”

“Holy crap!”

“I’m telling you, Jeremy, no one can know.” That was Amelia’s first and most important rule. It couldn’t get out.

“Okay,” Jeremy said. “It’s safe with me, but when Mom finds out, she’s going to kill you.”

Tyler hung up the phone and shook his head. That hadn’t been how he’d wanted that conversation to go, but it actually felt good to get that news off his chest. At least he had one semireliable person to talk to about all this. If all went well, when the rest of his family found out, it would be good news and no blood would be shed.

His phone rang again, and this time it was the moving company. There was no time to dwell on this. The clock was ticking.

* * *

The next few days were a blur of activity that made Amelia dizzy just thinking about it. Tyler signed a short-term lease on the house, and his moving companies went to work packing up both their apartments. The real estate agent referred them to an agency that provided domestic contract work, and they hired a part-time housekeeper named Janet, much to Amelia’s relief.

After they left the agency, Tyler took Amelia to brunch, and they went furniture shopping to pick out the few things they needed in the interim, including a king-size bed and a desk where Tyler could work.

It was a good thing Tyler had the money to make all this happen, because Amelia certainly didn’t have time to do it all. She’d spent all day Thursday baking, filling and crumb-coating a five-tiered wedding cake. Although chefs tended to specialize in culinary arts or in pastry arts, Amelia had studied both. That came in handy when she and her partners had decided to open From This Moment and did pretty much everything themselves.

By Friday afternoon, the cakes were iced, covered in her famous marshmallow fondant and stacked high on the cart she would use to move the cake into the reception hall. Today’s cake was a simple design, despite being large in size. All she needed to do was load a pastry bag with buttercream and pipe alternating tiers of Swiss dots and cornelli lace. The florist was bringing fresh flowers for the cake Saturday afternoon.

Leaning back against the stainless-steel countertop to eye her accomplishment of the day, she came to the sad realization that soon she would have to let the cakes go. Cakes took hours. There were some days when Amelia was in the kitchen working on a cake until two in the morning. On more than one occasion, she’d just stayed over and slept on the chaise in the bridal suite.

Those days were coming to an end. They’d need to bring in help anyway to assist her late in the pregnancy when she couldn’t power through a sixteen-hour day on her feet in the kitchen, and to bridge the gap of her maternity leave. That would be much easier if they started contracting out the wedding cakes.

Reaching for her tablet, she brushed away a dusting of powdered sugar from the screen and made a note to talk to Natalie about that. When that was done, she loaded her piping bag and started working on the final cake decorations.

“That’s a big cake.”

Amelia looked up from her work to see Tyler standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She was surprised to see he’d shed his suit today and was wearing a snug-fitting green T-shirt and a pair of worn jeans. It was a good look for him, reminding her of the boy she knew in school. “That’s an understatement. It weighs over a hundred pounds.”

He whistled, strolling into the kitchen to stand beside her and admire her handiwork. “Pretty impressive. Does it taste good?”

She frowned at him. “Of course it does. It’s my special lemon–sour cream cake with a fresh raspberry-and-white-chocolate buttercream filling.”

“No real chocolate?”

“This is the South,” she said. “Chocolate is for the groom’s cake, which, fortunately, I do not have to make. The groom’s aunt is making him one that looks like Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee.”

Tyler nodded thoughtfully and eyeballed the bowl with leftover raspberry filling. “What are you going to do with that?” he asked.

Amelia sighed and went to the other side of the kitchen to retrieve a plastic spoon. “Knock yourself out,” she said, holding it out to him. She waited until he’d inhaled a few spoonfuls of icing. “What brings you by today, Tyler? I really need to get this finished. I’ve got several hours of prep work ahead of me for tomorrow when I’m done with this.”

He swallowed and set the bowl aside. “By all means, continue working. Primarily, I came by because I haven’t seen you yet today.”

Amelia smiled and climbed up onto her stepladder to pipe the top tier. “Once we’re living in the same place, that won’t be a problem any longer.”

“Speaking of which, I also needed to let you know that you have a new address.” He reached into his pocket and dangled a set of keys. “These are yours. I also have a gate opener for your car.”

“Wow, your people move quickly. Is everything really out of my apartment?”

“Yep. I even had Janet go by and clean once everything was gone.”

Amelia nodded thoughtfully and went back to piping the cake. She was keeping her apartment for another month, but the odds were that she wouldn’t move back. As they’d discussed, she would either stay with Tyler, or she would get a new place big enough for her and the baby. He’d been right—her apartment was too small. It was easier to just get everything out now instead of having to go back and get the rest later.

“Janet also went to the store with the list you put together and stocked the pantry and refrigerator with food. And she got all the necessary cleaning supplies to keep the house shipshape.”

Amelia was going to like this Janet. While she loved to cook, cleaning was at the bottom of her list. The industrial washing machine in the kitchen made it easier to clean up here, but keeping up with cleaning her apartment had always been a burden. She’d developed a process of immediately cleaning up anything she did as she did it to avoid having to deal with it later. She’d never lived with anyone else, but she assumed that would make it exponentially harder to manage.

“Sounds great. Hopefully I’ll get to see what the house looks like before I collapse facedown in the mattress tonight.” She had a long list of things that had to be done before she went home today.

“Don’t you have anyone to help you in the kitchen?”

At that, Amelia chuckled. She added the last flourish to the top tier and climbed down the steps. “Not really. We bring in a crew of servers the day of the wedding, but I’m pretty much on my own until then.”

“What about the other girls? They don’t help you?”

Amelia pushed the cart with the cake over to the walk-in refrigerator. Tyler rushed ahead of her to pull the door open and she slid it inside. “It’s Friday afternoon,” she said, stepping out and shutting the door behind her. “Natalie is in headset-and-clipboard mode, counting down to the wedding. She’s probably meeting with the officiant and the musicians right now to go over the schedule. She will be coordinating the rehearsal, then the rehearsal dinner. Bree will be with her, taking pictures. Gretchen is currently in the reception hall setting up tables, laying out linens and doing all the decorating she can do in advance. When the rehearsal is over, she’ll start decorating the chapel and lobby. They would help me if they could, but we all have things to do.”

“What a circus,” Tyler observed with a shake of his head. “I don’t recall our wedding being this complicated.”

“Yeah, I know,” she replied, her tone flat. “Unfortunately, the circus is necessary for a beautiful, smoothly run wedding day. We’ve got it down to a science.”

Amelia picked up her tablet and pulled up her task list for the afternoon. At the top of the list was prepping a hundred servings each of filet mignon, chicken breast and salmon to marinate overnight. She pulled out a large plastic tote and started mixing up the steak marinade.

She kept expecting Tyler to make noises about leaving, but he continued to hover a few feet away. Whereas she normally didn’t mind company, he was a distraction. A glance at his smile, a whiff of his cologne, and she’d likely slice off her thumb. Dumping in the last ingredient in the marinade, she turned to him. “Tyler, honey, you don’t need to stand around and look at me. I’m sure you have something more important to do today.”

Tyler leaned against the counter beside her and shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m here to help you. I’m no chef, but I’m another set of hands. Tell me what you need done.”

That was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. She resisted the urge to throw her arms around his neck and let him take her against the industrial refrigerator. Fridays were a day for work, not play. Instead she took a deep breath and decided where they should start first.

“If you insist.” She pointed to a sink on the opposite side of the kitchen. “Scrub up in the sink and grab an apron off the shelf. When you’re ready, glove up and grab the beef tenderloins from the refrigerator so we can get them broken down into portions.”

If he was going to be a sexy distraction, he could at least be a useful one.

Six

“If I never see another potato, it will be too soon.” Tyler opened the front door of their new home and held it for Amelia to step through ahead of him.

“You were a trouper. Thank you for all your help today.” She looked down at her watch. “Home by eight. I think that might be a Friday-night record.”

He followed her into the kitchen, where she dropped her purse on the breakfast bar and slipped out of her coat. She hopped on one foot, then the other, pulling off her shoes with a happy sigh.

“All your things are in the master suite,” he said. Tyler had had to make a command decision when the movers arrived, so he’d given her the nicest room on the main floor and hoped that at some point they would share it.

Amelia followed him, shoes in hand, down the hallway to the master suite. The new bed dominated the formerly empty space, with a green-and-gold embroidered comforter in place. They continued into the master bathroom, where a door led to the walk-in closet.

“All your clothes are in here,” he said. “Everything that was in your dressers is in the built-in armoire here. All your shoes are in the cubbies there.”

Amelia slipped her sneakers into an empty slot in the shoe display and nodded. “Thank you for taking care of all of this. Since it’s all handled, I think I might take a bath in the big whirlpool tub. It might help me relax after a long day. Just not too hot, right?”

He remembered his sister saying something about that because she’d found out she was pregnant with his niece right before her fifth-anniversary cruise. No drinks, no hot tubs! What a vacation, she’d lamented. “I think so. I know hot tubs are bad, but they keep the temperature up. The bathwater, especially with the jets running, will cool over time.”

“I’m more interested in the jets than the heat anyway. I’ll go online on my phone and check first. I’ve got quite a list of things to talk about with my doctor when I go to my first appointment.”

Tyler paused. “When is your first appointment?”

“Tuesday afternoon.”

“May I come?” he asked, hesitantly. He was teetering on the edge of wanting to be involved in the process and not wanting too many of the less-appetizing details.

Amelia nodded. “I don’t think the first one will be very interesting, but you’re welcome to join me and ask questions. We’re both new at this.”

“Great. Thanks. I’ll, uh...” he took a few steps toward the hallway “...let you take your bath now.”

Tyler slipped from the room and went back out into the kitchen. He had set up his temporary office in the keeping room off the kitchen. Turning on his laptop, he settled into the new office chair. He was exhausted. He really couldn’t understand how Amelia worked that hard week after week. As a steady stream of emails downloaded into his inbox, he realized he wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of it. Instead he closed his email program and started playing a game.

Even that was hard to focus on. He could hear the water running in the master bath. It seemed to take an eternity to fill the tub, but eventually the water stopped and the soft hum of the jets started. He lost multiple rounds of solitaire, his mind more interested in imagining Amelia stripping out of her clothes. Dropping them to the floor. Clipping her hair up so it didn’t get wet. Lowering her body into the warm, churning water, inch by inch. Rubbing her body with a slick bar of fragrant soap until bubbles formed across her skin.

A prickling sensation traveled down his spine, every muscle tightening with anticipation for something it wouldn’t have. He suddenly felt constricted by the clinging cotton T-shirt and jeans he’d worn today. Especially the jeans. Tyler swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut, but it wasn’t enough to block out his imagination. Nothing could drive the image of her wet skin and steam-flushed cheeks from his thoughts.

Their date had brought his need for her to the forefront of his mind. Their wedding night had been weeks ago, and although he would never forget that experience, his hands could no longer feel her skin, and his tongue could no longer taste her. The kiss on her porch had refreshed everything, making it hard for him to focus on anything else. Not even long hours working in the kitchen had helped with her so nearby.

About fifteen minutes into her bath, Tyler leaped up from his chair and marched toward the staircase. Maybe a little distance would help. He might take a shower of his own. Or bury his head under a pillow and smother the fantasy.

He was halfway up when he heard Amelia’s voice. “Tyler?” she shouted. “Tyler, help!”

His heart jumped into his throat. He spun on his heel and sprinted back downstairs, not stopping at the closed door of the suite. Instead he charged in, fearful he would find she’d slipped and hurt herself, or worse. She was still in the bathroom. He headed that way, his loafers skidding across the tile to a stop.

Looking around the bathroom, he couldn’t spot an immediate problem. No blood, nothing broken. The air was heavy with steam and a tropical scent she must’ve added to the water. Amelia was in the tub with the jets turned off. She was watching him with large, surprised eyes, her hands protectively attempting to cover her nakedness in the clear water of the bath.

“Yes?” he asked, breathless. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Amelia bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to send you into a panic. Nothing is wrong, at least nothing serious. I’m fine.”

Tyler took a deep breath of relief, feeling his fight-or-flight response dwindle away. It was replaced with a different kind of tension as his eyes shifted over the uncovered patches of her ivory skin in the water. Nothing scandalous was visible, but it didn’t need to be. He had an excellent memory and could easily fill in the blanks without fail. Damp strands of red hair were plastered to her neck, a rosy flush painted across her cheeks. “What do you need?”

“There’s no towels,” she admitted with a pained wince. “I’m an idiot and I didn’t grab one before I got in. I didn’t want to drip water all over while I hunted for one. Do you know where they are?”

Towels. Yes. That he could do. “Sure thing.” He turned and opened a narrow door that hid a linen closet. He pulled out a fluffy yellow towel that had come from her apartment and carried it back over to the tub. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry to scare you.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.” He turned and started walking out of the bathroom.

“Tyler?”

He stopped and turned. “Yes?”

Amelia had stood in the tub and quickly wrapped the towel around her. “Would you like to watch some television with me tonight? I was thinking we could pile up in the new bed and watch something together. I know the list I left for Janet had popcorn and chips, if you’d like some.”

Tyler was a little surprised by the invitation, but he was more surprised by the seemingly shy expression on her face while she asked. It was almost as if she was a teenager again, asking if he’d like to sit with her at lunch or something. She was his best friend. Of course he’d like to watch television with her. He hadn’t suggested something like that because...things were different now. They had shared a bed on several occasions throughout the years, but lying beside one another in bed now felt more complicated than it used to. Feelings had been unleashed between them.

The last thing he wanted was to lose the parts of their friendship he cherished the most as their physical relationship changed. Perhaps once they made the decision to cross that bridge again it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal any longer, but for now, they were in limbo. Married. Having a baby. Yet dating as though none of it had happened.

“That’s a great idea. Are you getting out of the tub already?”

“Yes. I’m not very good with sitting idle, even when it feels nice.”

“Okay, well, while you’re getting dressed, I’ll see what I can find in the kitchen for snacks.”

A smile lit up Amelia’s face, distracting him from the sight of the tiny towel wrapped around her curves. It was a contagious grin, and one spread across his own face just as easily.

Tyler left the room so she could put on some clothes and started to hunt through the kitchen. Fortunately, Janet had put everything in very sensible places. He found a box of microwave popcorn on a shelf in the pantry. Score.

About ten minutes later, he strolled cautiously back into the bedroom with two cans of soda, a roll of paper towels and a large bowl piled high with movie-theater butter-flavored popcorn.

He found Amelia dressed—thankfully—and sitting on the bed cross-legged. Her hair was still clipped up on top of her head, but she’d removed her makeup, leaving her skin clean and fresh. She was wearing her pajamas—a pair of pale blue cotton lounging pants with a matching tank top. The top had thin spaghetti straps and a lacy edge that gave the impression of modesty where there was none. There was no disguising Amelia’s assets in anything short of a turtleneck.

Tyler went around to the other side of the bed and unloaded the contents of his arms into the space between them. Currently, the only television in the house was from Amelia’s apartment. He’d opted to put it in the bedroom, since they really didn’t have much in the way of living room furniture for now.

Amelia flipped on the television, then piled the pillows up behind her. She accepted the can of soda from Tyler, resting it between her thighs since they also didn’t have nightstands yet. “Ooh,” she said, looking over at the bowl of popcorn. “That looks like the really buttery, nasty kind. I love it.”

Tyler chuckled. “I would’ve thought that such cheap, pedestrian fare might offend your refined palate.”

At that, she snorted. “People like that make me crazy. Whenever I watch those cooking competitions and the chefs are whining because they have to use canned ingredients or something, I just roll my eyes. The average working mom does not have the time to deal with freshly preparing a meal from scratch every night. Real people eat canned foods sometimes. And microwave popcorn,” she added, shoveling a handful into her mouth.

They flipped through the channels, finally agreeing on a mermaid mockumentary on the Discovery Channel. They heckled and joked, laughing throughout the show and polishing off all their snacks. It was just like old times, Tyler thought with an overwhelming sense of relief.

Tyler didn’t have much time for dating, but when he did, this was always what he was missing from his other relationships. He liked to keep things light and fun, but for some reason, the women were always so serious, as if he was the Lombardi Trophy in the Super Bowl of marrying well. Those women wouldn’t dare to be seen without makeup or to be silly with him, but he supposed in the end it didn’t matter what was lacking. He wasn’t going to fall in love with them. If he wanted friendship and compatibility, he would go to Amelia.

Looking over, he realized Amelia had drifted to sleep beside him. Her red-gold lashes rested against her cheeks, her pink lips softly parted. She must have been exhausted. He felt an ache in his chest as he looked at her lying there. All those other poor women had been doomed before they’d even started. He hadn’t really needed them for anything but a sexual release when he had Amelia in his life. His ex-fiancée, Christine, had known that. Even though he’d loved her, even though he’d proposed to her and wanted to start a life together, she’d felt like a third wheel. Maybe she had been.

Through a strange turn of events, it seemed Amelia was going to be the woman in his life. Fortunately, she was the one woman with whom he knew it was possible to have it all. They had the friendship. The sexual compatibility was there. He hadn’t stopped wanting her since he’d allowed himself to think of her that way.

As for love, she just had to be open to loving him. He had twenty-six days left. If she loved him by then, that would be as good as it could possibly get. They would stay married, raise their child together... Tyler could be happy with that. He didn’t need or want love for himself. In the end, it just made things harder.

Tyler slowly lowered the volume on the television and turned it off. He picked up the empty bowl of popcorn and eased toward the end of the mattress, trying to slip out of bed without waking her. He failed.

“Stay,” she muttered into her pillow without opening her eyes. “This house is too big and I don’t want to be alone down here. Please.”

With a sigh, he put the bowl on the floor and switched off the lights before he climbed back into bed.

“Yay.” Amelia yawned, snuggling up next to him and immediately falling back asleep.

Tyler wished he was so lucky. The scent of her perfumed skin so close to him and the soft heat of her body pressed against his made sleep impossible. He shut his eyes and tugged her close. If he couldn’t sleep, he could at least lie contented with her in his arms.

It was going to be a very, very long night.

* * *

Amelia was burning up. She woke up in the middle of the night with an unfamiliar warmth pressed against her back and an arm draped over her. It took a full five to ten seconds for her to remember where she was and who was touching her.

Tyler. She’d asked him to stay with her tonight.

That she didn’t mind, but at the moment, his internal furnace was making her back perspire. It was like sleeping with a hot water bottle. Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she found him on his side, snoring softly near her ear.

She eased ever so gently away from him. The movement was enough for him to mumble and roll onto his back, liberating her. She sat up in bed, looking down on him as he slept. The poor guy was still wearing his clothes from today. Those jeans couldn’t be comfortable, but she knew he would rather be uncomfortable than get into bed without them and make her ill at ease.

Reclining onto her elbow, she looked down at him. His face was perfectly relaxed in sleep, something he never seemed to be anymore. There was no tension in his square jaw, no crinkles of thought around his eyes. Just peace. She wanted to reach out and touch his cheek to feel the rough stubble of his perpetual five-o’clock shadow. She wanted to feel his soft lips against hers again. But she wouldn’t. He’d worked hard today, and she wouldn’t wake him up for something so trivial.

As if he’d heard her, his eyes opened and he looked at her. There was no confusion or dreaminess in his gaze. Only a powerful need that hit her as surely as if she’d been punched in the stomach. Without hesitation, his palm went to her cheek. His touch was a match to a forest in drought. It started a pleasurable heat spreading like wildfire through her whole body.

“Amelia?” he asked, his voice gruff with sleep.

“Yes,” she replied to his unasked question.

He buried his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck and tugged until her mouth met his. Neither his hands nor his mouth were gentle, and she didn’t mind. She liked the rough feel of his stubble against her cheeks and the sharp press of his fingertips into her flesh.

His tongue thrust into her mouth and slid along her own, making her core pulsate with the anticipation of more. She wanted to be closer to him, to touch him again. He had been right before—once they’d crossed that line there was no sense holding back any longer.

She threw one leg over his hips and straddled him. The move put her sensitive center in direct contact with the throbbing heat of his desire. The thin cotton of her pajama pants did little to dull the sensations that shot through her when they touched.

Amelia was desperate to liberate him from his jeans. Her palm slid along the hard muscles of his stomach, seeking out the button of his fly and stroking him through the denim.

Her fingers had barely brushed the button when in one swift move, Tyler rolled them across the bed. Amelia found herself with her back to the mattress and him between her thighs. His palms sought out her wrists, pinning them over her head. All through this, he never stopped kissing her.

When he finally let her mouth free, it was to taste her throat. Still holding her wrists with one hand, he used the other to gently tug her tank top up and over her head, leaving it tangled around her wrists with her breasts exposed. He didn’t hesitate to capture one hardened pink nipple in his mouth, drawing on it until Amelia cried out and bucked her hips against him. His teeth and tongue worked her flesh, sending pleasurable shock waves through her whole body.

“Let go of my hands,” she whispered.

“No,” he answered between flicks of his tongue across her sensitive skin.

What did he mean, no? “Please,” she begged. “I want to touch you.”

“I know,” he said, looking at her with a wicked smile curling his lips. “But if you do, it will be all over. I can’t take it.” His mouth returned to her breast, effectively ending the conversation.

All she could do was writhe beneath him, drawing her knees up and thrusting her hips forward to rub agonizingly against the hard ridge of his jeans.

He growled low against her sternum. “Two can play at that game.” He glided his palm over her hip and under the drawstring waistband of her pants. His insistent fingers easily found her moist center, stroking hard.

Amelia cried out, the sound echoing through the mostly empty bedroom. “Tyler!” she gasped as he rubbed her again and again. She felt herself start to come undone, but the more desperate she became, the more he eased back, leaving her teetering on the edge.

At last, he let go of her arms, but it was only to sit back on his knees. He whipped his T-shirt over his head and threw it to the ground. With the use of her hands back, she did the same. His hands gripped both sides of her pajama pants, tugging them and her panties down over her hips and to the floor.

Standing at the end of the bed, he stopped to look down at her. Only the moonlight from the nearby window lit the room, which made Amelia feel a little less self-conscious about being sprawled out in front of him like this. That, and the look on his face. It was as though he was in a museum admiring a piece of art. A piece of art he wanted to devour.

Without looking away from her, he unzipped his jeans and slipped out of the last of his clothes. Crawling back up the bed, he covered her body with his own. Without hesitation, he found her entrance and moved into her.

Amelia gasped, her body tightening around the sudden invasion. He filled her completely, leaving her biting her lip and pressing her fingers desperately into his shoulders.

“Amelia,” he groaned at her ear, slowly withdrawing and filling her again. “I never imagined...” he began, his voice drifting away. Shaking off a shudder that made his whole body tremble between her thighs, he started moving in earnest.

Rational thought slipped away as only the physical drive inside of her remained. Amelia wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to absorb every wave as it washed over her. “Yes” was all she could say. It was an encouraging plea, a desperate demand and an enthusiastic consent all rolled together at once.

And then it happened. The dam broke inside of her. A sudden rush of pleasure swept her up and carried her away. She cried out, bucked her hips against him, clung to him, all the while aware of his soft, encouraging words in her ear.

Her own release had barely subsided when she felt Tyler tense in her arms. He surged forward like never before, pounding hard into her body before roaring loud into the night.

Amelia held him until it was over. She expected him to distance himself, to roll away the minute it was done, but he didn’t. He stayed there, inside her, examining the curves of her face.

“What is it?” she asked after a few minutes under his intense scrutiny. She brought her hands up to smooth the unruly strands of her hair. “I probably look a fright.”

His gaze met hers and he smiled softly. “No, of course not. You look perfect. The sexiest thing I’ve ever woken up to. I just...never imagined being with you would be like this. If I’d known...” His voice drifted away.

Tyler never finished the sentence, but he didn’t need to. Amelia knew exactly what he meant.

Seven

Thank goodness it was Saturday.

For some, Saturdays were days for barbecues, college football games and relaxation. For Amelia, Saturday meant all-day wedding chaos, but today she was grateful for it. Her mind had to stay focused on work, so there was zero time to sit and analyze what they’d done last night. Well, aside from fifteen minutes in the shower when she washed the scent of him from her skin and tried to ignore the memories of making love to Tyler only a few hours earlier.

Amelia had not intended on that happening so soon. They were dating, but it was still early on, despite moving in together. None of that had seemed important at the time. She’d gotten caught up in the moment. The fuzzy edge of sleep had blurred her thoughts. When he’d touched her, all she could think about, all she’d wanted, was to fall into his arms again. So she’d gone with it.

In the end, sleeping with the man who was technically her husband was hardly newsworthy. The reality seemed more complicated than that when your husband was your best friend and you were starting an impromptu family together. Of course, this whole process would be easier if she stopped fighting it. The thirty-day challenge wasn’t supposed to be a battle; it was supposed to be a trial run. And Tyler was doing his part. He’d done everything she’d asked of him so far, and then some. His every action seemed to be motivated by his thoughtful nature. He was kind. He cared about her and what was best for her and the baby. They didn’t always agree on what those things were, but marriage was about compromise.

For once in her life, maybe she just needed to relax and let things happen. Something wonderful could come from it if she allowed the universe to unfold as it should. That was a tall order for Amelia, but she’d think on it. The alternative, as Natalie had pointed out, was unacceptable. She couldn’t lose her friendship with Tyler over this.

Once she stepped from the shower and dried off, she had to let that line of thought go and get ready for work. It took a little longer than usual, but she was still adjusting to the new house and trying to figure out where everything was. Since she now lived so much closer to From This Moment, she would still get there well before eight, even when it took five minutes to find her blow-dryer.

Tyler had still been asleep when she got up. When she finished in the bathroom, she moved quickly through the bedroom to the kitchen so she wouldn’t disturb him. She wanted to get out the door before he noticed. Yes, she was being a chicken, avoiding an awkward conversation, but she had a good reason to leave.

As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she realized it was a pointless exercise. Tyler was sitting at the counter hunched over his tablet, reading, with a mug of coffee in his hand. He still had on the rumpled clothes he’d slept in, his dark blond hair wildly standing up in several different directions. Instead of looking messy, the look was charming. An intimate portrait of the man behind the suit. It made her want to come up behind him and wrap her arms around his neck, plant a kiss on his rough cheek and tousle his hair.

Even though they’d had sex, that somehow seemed too intimate. Instead she turned her attention to a tall glass beside him with something greenish brown in it. She was certain it would look unappetizing even if she wasn’t having her daily battle with morning sickness.

Amelia knew there was no avoiding a discussion before she left. Maybe he would want to ignore last night’s encounter, as well. That seemed like a topic for after noon, at least. With a deep breath, she continued on into the kitchen.

“Morning,” she said as cheerfully as she could without sounding suspicious. She opened the door to the pantry and started nosing around for something quick and easy she could take with her for breakfast. Eating was not high on her priority list at the moment, but when the nausea faded, she’d be starving and up to her elbows in twice-baked potatoes for the reception. She picked up a high-protein granola bar with chocolate chips. A bundle of bananas was sitting on the counter. One of those would slip easily into her purse for later.

“Good morning,” Tyler replied, his voice low and gruff from sleep. He looked up from his screen. “I already made your breakfast. I hope you don’t mind. I know you’re the chef, but I thought you might be in a hurry this morning.”

Amelia turned around and noticed he’d slid the tall glass of green sludge closer to her. “Thanks,” she said, although she didn’t feel very grateful. Her stomach rolled unpleasantly as she neared it. “What is it?”

“It’s a pregnancy smoothie. I found the recipe online. It’s got cocoa and peanut butter, which you like, plus bananas to soothe a queasy stomach, milk for calcium and spinach for the iron and folic acid needed for healthy fetal development.”

She eyed the glass with suspicion. It sounded like a good idea. Maybe it tasted better than it looked. Even if it didn’t, Tyler was looking at her with such a pleased and hopeful expression, she’d have to drink it anyway. Lifting the glass to her nose, she sniffed it. It smelled like peanut butter and bananas, mostly. Nothing to make her recoil. Bringing the straw to her lips, she found it tasted the same. The spinach seemed to disappear, adding nutrition while letting the other flavors shine.

“Mmm,” she said, swallowing a large sip. “This is pretty good. You can feel free to make me one of these every day.”

“Absolutely,” he said with a smile. “Taking good care of our child means taking good care of you. I’m glad to do it.”

Amelia fought a small twinge in the back of her mind as he spoke. She recognized the feeling as the pang of jealousy, but that didn’t make any sense. Who was she jealous of? Their baby? That seemed silly. She should be happy that Tyler wanted them to have a happy, healthy child. And he most likely wanted her to be happy and healthy, too. Amelia was just being oversensitive. She would blame the hormones.

“And after what I experienced yesterday,” Tyler continued, “you’re going to need all the good nutrition you can get. Are all of your days like that?”

She swallowed another sip and set down the glass on the shiny granite countertop. “Just Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Saturdays are the worst. I have no idea when I’ll get home tonight. I probably won’t get back until one or two a.m., so don’t wait up. What are you doing today?”

Tyler set down his tablet. “I’m going to the estate auction of a country-music singer. She died last year, but her lawyers have finally gotten her estate settled. Her heirs just want to liquidate for cash.”

“Who is it?” Amelia asked. There were a lot of country-music stars in Nashville to choose from.

“Patty Travis. That woman was the country-music equivalent of Liberace. She spent almost every dime she earned on jewelry, and her famous roster of lovers over the years bought her even more. It’s almost as good as the Elizabeth Taylor auction a few years back. I’m hoping to snap up a few nice pieces.”

Amelia frowned at Tyler. “That’s why you really came to Nashville!” she accused at last.

He opened his mouth to argue but must have decided against it. “I came to Nashville,” he said, seeming to choose his words very carefully, “to see you and work out the details of the divorce we’re not getting. It was my first opportunity to come, and I was able to make the time because, yes, I was planning on coming to this auction and I could do it all in one trip. You’ll notice I arrived a full five days ahead of the auction so I could devote the time to you. I didn’t intend to spend those days renting a house and moving here.”

“That’s true,” she said, carrying her mostly empty smoothie glass over to the sink. She took one last sip and rinsed it out. “Do we need to schedule an auction here in Nashville the week of the baby’s birth so I’ll be certain you’re in town?”

“Very funny,” Tyler said without laughing.

“I’m not entirely kidding.” Amelia walked back to the counter and planted her palms on the cool stone. “It took over a month to nail you down about our elopement. If Patty Travis’s estate wasn’t having an auction this week, it might have taken even longer. I know you’ve reorganized what you can to make the thirty-day arrangement work out, and I appreciate it. But what are we going to do after that? Even if we stay together, I’m going to spend most of my time in this huge house, alone, while you trot around the world chasing flawless gemstones.”

“You could come with me, you know.”

Amelia snorted. As alluring as the idea might sound, it would never work. “I have a job, too, you know.”

“Do you not get vacation time?”

“It’s not a question of benefits, Ty. I am part owner of the company. If I’m not there to do my share, everyone else has to scramble to fill my space. We were lucky when I went to the reunion that the wedding that day was light appetizers and we were able to bring in a contractor. My maternity leave is going to be a huge impact to the business. Traveling with you is impossible.”

Tyler frowned. She could tell he wasn’t used to someone shooting down his great ideas. He needed to understand that From This Moment wasn’t just some job she was keen to cast aside once she had a rich man to take care of her. It was her career. Her passion. A rich husband only seemed to be complicating the issue.

“What if I could arrange the trip to depart on a Sunday night and come back on Thursday or Friday?”

“That would still be pushing it. It would have to be really important. And somewhere I’d like to go. I’m not getting a bunch of shots with weird side effects so you can haul me to India when I’m four months pregnant.”

“What about London?” he asked with an optimistic tone.

Damn it if he didn’t pick the perfect location right out the gate. Amelia had always wanted to go to London. “Yes, I would like to see London, but timing is key. And,” she added, “that wasn’t really my point, Ty. In a few more months, I’m not going to be able to travel anywhere. After that, I’ll have an infant. More than stamps in my passport, I need you to be here.”

She looked down at the clock on her phone. “Just think about it. We can talk later. I’ve got to get to the chapel. Good luck at your auction.”

Tyler nodded thoughtfully and waved a hand at her. “Okay. Hope the wedding goes well. I’ll see you tonight.”

Amelia picked up her purse and went out the door. Tyler could be aggravating at times, but when it came down to it, he knew her better than anyone else. He could use that against her to get his way. Dangling a trip to London was just cruel because he knew how badly she wanted to go. But if she agreed to one trip, he’d find a reason she had to take another. And another. Then after the baby was born, they might as well just bring in a full-time caterer to replace her.

She might be softening on compromising for their relationship, but her job was her dream and she wouldn’t lose that. Even so, the whole drive to work she was taunted by thoughts of a proper English tea with fresh scones and the potential to lick clotted cream and strawberry jam from Tyler’s bare chest.

* * *

“I told you not to wait up for me.”

Amelia stumbled in the door around two-thirty in the morning, her eyes glazed with fatigue and her purse weighing so heavily on her shoulder it could’ve been filled with concrete.

Tyler frowned and got up from his laptop, where he’d been working. He hadn’t intended to stay up, but work had beckoned and the later it got, the more he worried about her. He knew her job was important to her, but she worked too hard. He had seen that same expression on his mother’s face when she’d come home from a double shift at the manufacturing plant—bone tired. Too tired to sleep, sometimes. He would make her a cup of tea and sit up talking with his mother until she finally relaxed enough to go to bed.

“You should’ve called me to pick you up,” he chastised gently. “You look exhausted enough to wrap your car around a light pole. Who will cater for them then?”

She shrugged and dropped her purse on a stool in the kitchen. “It’s not a long drive home now. I’m fine.”

Tyler came up behind her to help her slip out of her jacket. “I thought you had help on Saturday nights.”

“I do. There’s the waitstaff and a couple people that help cook, like Stella. She was a godsend tonight. Normally it’s not a problem. I thrive on the adrenaline rush of the kitchen chaos.” She climbed onto the next stool and slumped against the counter. “But lately, I just don’t have it in me. A couple hours in and I have to sit down and take a break.”

“You’re pregnant, Ames.”

“So? The baby is the size of a blueberry at best. It shouldn’t be giving me this much grief so soon.”

“That’s not how it works. My sisters complained about the exhaustion far more than anything else. It starts earlier than you’d think.”

“I need to get a baby book—The Moron’s Guide to Procreation or one of those What to Expect When Your Body Is Taken Over by a Tiny Alien books.”

“I think we can manage that,” he said with a smile. Amelia was really tired if she was getting this crotchety. “Would you like some chamomile tea?”

Amelia sighed, shaking her head and then stopping. She looked up at him with hope beaming in her big doe eyes. “Do we have any hot chocolate?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll look.” Tyler went into the pantry, scanning for the tiny packets of instant mix, but came up empty-handed. He spied a bar of milk chocolate on the shelf and decided to improvise. It had been a long time since he’d made hot chocolate for his little brothers after school. Once his older sisters had gotten part-time jobs, Tyler had been the one at the apartment when the school bus dropped off the little ones. He’d been the one who had made sure they’d done their homework and given them snacks. Hot chocolate had been one of their favorites. Back then he’d made it with bottled syrup, but this would work.

“From scratch?” she asked as she watched him put a small pot of milk on to boil.

“Only the best for you,” he said with a grin. He broke up small pieces of the chocolate and dropped them into the heating mixture of milk, vanilla and cinnamon. A few minutes later, it had come together into a frothy brew that he poured into a mug for her. “Here you go. Be careful, it’s hot.”

“Looks yummy. Thank you.”

Tyler rested his hands on the granite countertop and watched her sip the cocoa with a blissful expression on her face. In that moment, he realized just how much he enjoyed making her happy. Over the years, he’d always liked sending her pretty gifts for her birthday or Christmas. That was fun because he knew she would never buy anything like that for herself, and jewels were his business. Seeing her wearing something sparkly and decadent seemed like the perfect treat.

But lately, even before the reunion, their relationship had started to feel different. With their hectic schedules, they rarely saw each other in person, but as life had started encroaching on their technological interchanges, he’d found the idea of it was bothering him more than it used to. He missed talking to Amelia on the phone. Finding emails and texts from her. When he’d arrived in Vegas for the reunion, he couldn’t believe how much he’d missed the sight of her. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the party. Tyler would’ve been just as happy ordering room service and spending hours talking in his hotel room.

Now that they were spending almost all their time together, he certainly couldn’t miss her. But he still found himself feeling the same little thrill every time she walked into the room. Doing little things like making her breakfast and helping her cut up beef tenderloin gave him a warm feeling in the center of his chest that was more satisfying than giving her some expensive bauble.

She looked at it as being fawned over or taken care of, but that wasn’t how he thought about it. He wanted to do things for her because he...cared about her. She was his Amelia. Of course he wanted to do what he could to make her life better. If cocoa made her happy, he’d make it. If this kitchen and a private movie theater that seated eight made her smile, he’d rent this house at twice the price. If marrying her would make her feel better about being single at the reunion...apparently he’d do that, too.

She was the most important person in his life. He’d never expected that she would also be his wife. But now that she was, and the clock was ticking, he was having a hard time envisioning his life without her. He didn’t want to go back to just seeing Amelia every now and then. The baby would bring them together more often, but somehow even that wasn’t enough. He wanted her here. With him. Every day. This was one challenge he couldn’t fail at.

“This was very good,” Amelia said, draining the last of her cup. “You’re better in the kitchen than you give yourself credit for.”

Tyler shrugged and rinsed her mug in the sink. “I am just painting by numbers when in the presence of Michelangelo.”

At that, Amelia snorted and burst into exhausted giggles. “I’m more like Bob Ross painting happy little trees, but thank you.”

“You should give yourself more credit, too.”

“Maybe later,” she said with a yawn. “I’m about to fall out with all that warm, chocolaty milk in my tummy.”

Tyler wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked her toward the bedroom. “All right. Come on, let’s get you into bed before you collapse on the kitchen floor.”

They walked down the hallway to the master suite. There, he sat Amelia down on the bed and knelt in front of her to take off her shoes. He unlaced her little sneakers and slipped them off with her socks, revealing dainty, pink-painted toenails.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling her shirt up over her head and throwing it to the floor beside him. “I’m so tired, my feet seem as if they’re a million miles away. In a few months, they might as well be. I’ll have to get some slip-on shoes.”

“You don’t need them,” Tyler argued. “I’ll be here to help you.”

“Tyler?”

He sat back on his heels and looked up, catching a glimpse of her large ivory breasts held in the tight confines of her white satin bra. He swallowed hard at the sight of them and focused on her eyes, trying not to look at the temptation on display in front of him. Amelia wasn’t trying to tempt him—she was exhausted. “Yes?” he said, clearing his throat.

Her brow furrowed in thought, her eyes glazing over slightly. Even this discussion was tiring her out. “What if thirty days come and go and we don’t fall in love?”

That was a good question, and one he hadn’t really allowed himself to consider. Having a winning attitude in life had gotten him far. He’d accepted her challenge, never doubting he would be successful. But this was the first time he wasn’t fully in control of the variables. No matter what he did, it was possible that Amelia wouldn’t fall in love with him. Then what?

That was too deep a conversation for three in the morning. “You mean you’re not mad for me already? After last night?”

She shrugged coyly. “I’m getting there. Maybe we should try again tonight to see if it makes a difference.”

Tyler chuckled. As much as he’d like to, he didn’t relish the idea of Amelia falling asleep in the middle of it. He stood up, planting a warm kiss on her forehead. “Tomorrow night,” he promised. “Tonight, all you need to do is slip out of these pants and get to bed.”

She nodded slowly, fumbling at the waistband of her black slacks. “Are you staying in here with me?” she asked. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

Last night he hadn’t given her request a second thought. Now her question was plaguing his mind with unproductive fantasies about what might happen at the end of their time together. He’d always avoided a relationship with Amelia because he was certain it would end badly, like all the others before him. Now, because of the baby, he hadn’t allowed himself to consider any other alternative than them being successful. There was no way he would be sleeping anytime soon. Tossing and turning was more like it. Amelia needed her rest, and that meant he needed to sleep in his own room tonight.

“No,” he said, stepping away as she slipped off the last of her clothes.

Amelia slipped under the covers and Tyler pulled the comforter up as if he was tucking a small child into bed. She pouted a little, but the soft pillows quickly lured her into the twilight before sleep, wiping worries from her mind. “Good night, Tyler,” she said as her eyes fluttered closed.

“Good night,” he replied, looking down as she drifted off to sleep. Tyler couldn’t make himself walk away, like he should. He just stood there, watching the soft rise and fall of her chest and the faint smile that curled her pink lips in her sleep. She was the most precious thing he’d ever had in his life. And soon, they would have a child—maybe with the same rosy cheeks and flash of red hair.

Failure was simply not an option. That had been the motto of his life since he was eighteen years old and decided to get into the jewelry business. He hadn’t had a family legacy or a lick of experience, but that hadn’t stopped him. He had drive. Ambition. A fire that pushed him to succeed in everything in life. It was a passion Amelia lit in him.

That same passion would carry over into their relationship, as well. At the end of thirty days, Tyler would be successful in making Amelia fall in love with him. He might not be in love with her, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t the one hell-bent on a perfect love. He just wanted a happy family, and he didn’t intend to let this woman and their child slip through his fingers.

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