“And everything else?” he asked, wondering how she thought she was going to pull this off. He wasn’t interested in taking on Blackwood Manor, not with everything going on with B.T. Construction, and there was no way in hell that she would be able to pull this off on her own. He’d have to ask a few of his cousins if they were interested in making some extra money on the side.
“That’s where the deal comes in,” Dylan said with a satisfied sigh as she opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom wearing his tee-shirt, drawing his attention to smooth tan legs before he forced himself to look away.
“What else?” Quinn asked as she made her way across the room and climb onto his bed.
“You can’t tell my father that I bought Blackwood Manor,” she said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Because he warned you to stay away from it, knowing that it would most likely ruin your life and leave you bankrupt, or because once he finds out, he’ll most likely spank your ass?”
Nodding, Dylan said, “Both.”
“Fair enough. Anything else?”
“We need to talk about the baby,” came the hesitant answer that had him slowly exhaling. He gave up his dreams of havingchildren years ago, and now, thanks to this deal, it looked like he was about to have the one thing that he never thought he’d have.
“I know that having a baby is part of the deal, but I need you to understand that I won’t go through with this unless I know that this is something that you want. I’m not looking for a weekend dad, Quinn. I need someone who’s going to love this baby more than anything and be there for them. This baby-”
“-will never have to worry about whether or not he’s wanted,” Quinn said, cutting her off as Dylan watched him for a moment before she slowly nodded.
“Fair enough,” Dylan said, climbing beneath the covers with a satisfied sigh. “How should we do this?”
“You’ll move in here, but we’ll live our lives like nothing’s changed. We don’t tell anyone that we’re married until after you’re pregnant and even then, we wait until the time is right. Until then, we don’t give Brooke a reason to panic. We let her think that she’s won,” Quinn explained as he leaned back against the wall.
“And the other part of our deal, the one that we haven’t mentioned and will end with one of us giving birth in nine months?” Dylan asked, not looking any happier about this than he was.
“It ends as soon as you’re pregnant,” Quinn said, making sure that she knew from the start that this would never be anything more than a deal because the last thing that he wanted was to give the curse a chance to fuck him over again.
CHAPTER 7
This was a mistake, but even knowing that didn’t seem to be enough to stop her from doing the one thing she knew that she would regret, but for Blackwood Manor, she would do anything.
Absolutely anything.
Including forcing herself to go through with this. She just…
God, she needed a minute, Dylan thought, closing her eyes as she slowly exhaled, and when that wasn’t enough, she took a bite of the coffee roll she’d helped herself to, sighed, took another bite, and then, she opened her eyes and-
“Back already?” Brooke asked, shooting her a smug look as she slowly blew on what appeared to be a large cappuccino with extra foam.
“Didn’t really have a choice, now did I?” Dylan asked, making sure to glare accusingly at her sister as she took a bite of the delicious coffee roll.
“Not with those violations on Blackwood Manor,” Brooke pointed out in a mocking tone with a smug smile playing on her lips as she took a sip of her cappuccino.
“Thanks to you,” Dylan said, taking another bite of the delicious coffee roll that she was going to need to get her through this.
“You could always ask Dad for help. I’m sure that he’d be happy to know that you went behind his back and bought the house that should have been condemned years ago,” Brooke said, knowing that wasn’t really an option. “Or you could sell Blackwood Manor to me and cut your losses.”
“I could do that, but since there’s no way in hell that I’ll ever let you get your hands on Blackwood Manor, I guess I’ll have to settle for annoying the hell out of you instead,” Dylan said with a heartfelt sigh as she finished the coffee roll and-
She really should have helped herself to that second double chocolate donut when she had the chance, and she’d planned to, but she’d reluctantly decided against it since Quinn seemed to need it more than her at that moment. That, and she felt that it was probably in her best interest to let him have it with all the glaring and everything.
God, that man loved to glare…
She wasn’t sure what she expected on her wedding day, but she could honestly say that she’d never expected to be glared at. Then again, that could have something to do with the aforementioned double chocolate donut that she’d tried helping herself to while they’d waited for their names to be called. That, and, ummm, she may have enjoyed tormenting him a bit there when she was asked to repeat her vows.
In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have said, “If I must,” with a sniffle when a simple, “I do,” would have sufficed, mostly because of all that glaring. He didn’t stop, not when he bit out, “I do,” or when he reluctantly leaned down and kissed her forehead when it was time to kiss the bride.
It probably would have made things less awkward when they’d decided to start trying for the baby tonight if she hadn’tfollowed that up with another sniffle and a mumbled, “If I must,” but in her defense, she wasn’t sure that she was mentally prepared to go through with this.
