Oh, I'd thought about it. I'd thought about how we were the only family Pumpkin had, and I'd thought about how it felt to live with someone who met your basic needs but never truly loved you. Never truly put you first. I thought about how it felt to be kept alive but never lived for. Sniffing, I scratched under Pumpkin's chin. "I'm working on it."
"Sure you are," he drawled.
I tightened my lips, folding my arms again. "I'm working on it just as hard as you've been working to get us out of this psychotic lease agreement." Knox shifted his eyes away from me, hesitating like he wanted to say something. Since our impromptu cuddle session on the couch, Knox had been more withdrawn than before, which was saying something. He'd stayed busy at work, and we'd barely gotten a glimpse of each other. If I hadn't been acutely aware of our bizarre situation, it would have been easy to imagine I didn't even have a roommate. But his hesitation just now had been more than just his usual reticence to interact. That had been something else.
I shifted around him to catch his eyes. "What was that?"
Knox took another sip of his coffee before admitting, "I am working on it, actually."
"And why does that sound like a confession?" I asked skeptically.
He held my gaze with his steady, crystalline eyes. "I have a new lawyer, and she has proposed a plan that might work."
I drew out the word, "Okay," uncertainly. "And this is… bad news?"
"It's not good or bad news," he said evenly, but his thumb brushed the mug handle in a nervous gesture. "It's somethingyou have to do, and I don't think you'll be willing to go along with it."
"I'm not marrying you."
Knox already looked like he was silently praying for patience. "I'm aware. But our lawyer has advised something a little unorthodox to untangle us from the predicament." He set Pumpkin back down in her gated area. Straightening, he added, "I need you to pretend to be engaged to me."
Arms still folded, I watched him with narrowed eyes. "That doesn't sound much better. Broken engagements don't look great for matchmakers, either."
Knox faced me, his expression steadier than a surgeon's hands. "Living with someone you barely know for two years and sharing one bedroom with them isn't good foranyone, never mind what their job is."
But I do know you, I thought with a sudden, swift wave of irritation.I know that you drink mushroom powder coffee and spend precisely seventy minutes working out every morning. I know you use lemon-lavender toothpaste and take vitamins big enough to choke a donkey. I know you tie women up with ropes but never go on dates, and I know the way your footsteps sound across the hardwood floors. I know so much about you, I'm surer of your habits than my own.But, instead of saying any of that, I tightened my arms and cleared my throat. "I guess so."
"The reason I was reluctant to bring this up is because I hired a lawyer and brought our story to her without… consulting you. And my peers recently made me aware that you might feel," he paused, lifting his eyes in thought. Finally, he finished with, "left out."
So much consideration for such terribly chosen words. I bristled. "I don't care what you do with your time, Knox. I don't feel left out, but I'm not exactly jumping at the chance to fake-marry you. What if I meet someone I like? How would I explainthat to them? What would my boss say? I almost lost my job after lying about something like that last year." I didn't add that the lie had been for my friend's sake, but the point still stood.
Knox's expression darkened. "Meet whom? And how is that relevant?"
Suddenly, my phone weighed twenty pounds in my pocket. My date with Spencer tonight didn't mean anything special… yet. But I did like him. What if there was something there? The benefit of going out with Spencer was that he would understand if I really did have a fake engagement with Knox. The downside to dating Spencer was that there clearly was some kind of beef happening between these two, and I'd somehow landed myself in the middle of it. I didn't know why Knox had told Spencer I was "off limits," but I knew for sure I wasn't going to let Knox dictate how I spent my free time.
I breezed past him to the front door where I had Mini's leash hanging. "I have a date tonight, if you must know. I don't think it would look good if I was engaged."
Knox went after me, and I had the distinct impression that I was being followed by a storm cloud. "You have a date? With whom?"
"None of your business." I shoved my feet into my sneakers, leaning down to ease my heel into them.
"It is my business if it's going to prevent you from cooperating with a plan to get us out of our legal issues." His voice went quiet and stern, and I knew that tone. I knew that it was accompanied by a slight scowl and a flexing jaw that was more likely to make my knees weak than to quake in fear.
I studiously ignored him, taking down the leash from the hooks by the elevator. "Send me the lawyer's information, and I'll talk to him."
"Her," Knox corrected sharply. "And why are you running away from me?"
"I'm not. I'm walking my dog." I clipped the leash to an enthusiastic, entirely oblivious Mini and punched the elevator button.
"Gemma," he warned. He leaned his forearm against the wall, bending over me so closely, I could practically feel his body pressed against mine. Only he hadn't touched me, of course. He simply stood so close, I could lean back and rest my weight against him. My stomach did a double Lutz and stuck the landing. I couldn't seem to help myself, and I slowly rotated a look his way. Pale, keen eyes latched onto mine and dug deep into my very being. "Who is it?" he asked softly.
My ribs contracted with a soundless gasp, and I used every ounce of willpower to avoid dipping a look to his firm lips. "It's Spencer."
His fist against the wall tightened. "Did he ask, or did you?"
I contemplated lying, but standing under Knox's scrutiny was like lying naked under a cloudless sky. There was nothing I could hide from him this close. "He did," I rasped out.
His jaw worked, and he smoothed his hand over it, keeping his elbow on the wall. "Motherfucker," he bit out.
