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“Tell me about your mom,” I ask Colt, trying to change the subject. We are curled up on the couch and only have thirty minutes or so before Blake will be home from another trip to see her mom. I wish I had as close of a relationship with my mom as she did hers, but that just wasn’t in the cards for us.
Colt smiles as he traces shapes on my legs that are across his lap. “She’s pretty great. The best mom you could ever want growing up. She’s been pretty lonely since my dad died, but I try to see her as much as I can.” His face sobers a bit.
“What is it?”
“She got diagnosed with stage four breast cancer about four months ago.” My gut aches at the thought. I don’t even know the woman, but I know Colt. And if he adores his mom this much, then she must be pretty wonderful. She’d have to be in order to raise this guy.
“I’m so sorry. Do they think she’ll be able to beat it?”
His eyes glisten as he keeps them focused on the shapes he’s still making. “No. She has about two months left to live.”
“Oh my god,” I say and grab his hands in mine. “You don’t need to concern yourself with my crap when your mom needs you.”
Colt moves his hands to cup my face. “Libby, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Besides, my mom’s dying wish is to see me settling down. So I’d say she’s pretty happy I’m here too,” he says with a wink.
“Your mom knows about me?” I stand from the couch, suddenly very self conscious. What does she know about me? When did he tell her about me?
“Of course she does. My mom is my best friend. I told her about you after the first night I met you.” Who the hell does that? He knew nothing about me at that point. There was nothing to tell his mom other than me being a panic ridden mess.
“You told her what, exactly?” The static in my veins makes my voice uneven.
Colt stands from the couch now too, but I’ve backed up against a wall to keep a distance between us. “I told her that Ty’s sister’s friend was going through some stuff, so we were going to help you out.” He puts his hands in his pockets. “I told her you ended up being the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“And what did she say to that?” I sound arrogant, but really, I just need to know how his mom perceived me. I don’t like people I don’t know having an opinion of me. It’s one reason I don’t have social media.
“She said she wants to meet the woman I couldn’t shut up about.” He gives me a slow, stunning smile and relief tries to crash in, but I push back. This is all too much. I thought I could handle how heavy everything feels with Colt, but I should have known better. The look in his eye changes, as if he now has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He slowly walks towards me, stopping close enough that my chest is against him and he’s towering over me. Stroking a hand along the side of my face, he studies me before speaking next.
“Marry me.”
“What?” Electricity zaps its way from my toes straight to my heart, which is now racing more than I’ve ever known it to.
“I want you safe,” he says, and places his other hand on my opposite cheek. “Jett needs to know he can’t touch you anymore. He already thought I was your boyfriend, and that didn’t stop him from trying to hurt you.” He pauses, but I don’t know what he expects me to say. I can’t. I can't marry him, or anyone else, for that matter. That's too much power to give to someone else.
“I know it's scary.” Colt brushes the hair from my face. “But I know what I want. And what I want is you, Libs. I start shaking my head rapidly. There's no way he actually wants to marry me. There has to be more this than what he's saying. “If we get married, then you get the money that has him so worked up, and it gives him no reason to bother you anymore.”
“Colt, I can't marry you. I don't want to be married.” The pain is written all over his face the moment the words come out of my mouth. But what was he thinking would happen? He knows I just ran off on the last guy who asked me, and I had been with him for five years. I've only known Colt three weeks. This is insane. Unless he, too, wants the money.
“Okay.” He takes a step back, his hands finding his pockets again. This time when he speaks, it's business. As if he can hear my thoughts. “Then won't get married for any other reason than to keep you safe. I'll sign a prenup and everything.”
“So you’d fake marry me just to keep my ex from bothering me?” It doesn’t seem right or fair.
“I would,” he says. “But there would be an added bonus that my mom would die thinking I’ve found someone to share my life with.”
“You want me to lie to your dying mother?” He can’t be serious.
“No Libby, I wouldn’t ask that of you. You don’t even have to meet her. But us being married would be public information, so she would know.”
“How do you expect us to fake a marriage?”
He shrugs. “We’ll go to the courthouse and get married. Then we just act married. I'll look for a place for us to live, and we carry on the facade”
“So we’ll just be fake married for the rest of our lives?” I don’t think I’m understanding anything about what’s going on.
Colt’s mouth lifts in the corner. “We’ll do whatever you want, Libs. We can be fake married long enough for my mom to die happy and Jett to get over his own loss. Or if you want out sooner than just say the word and it’s done. You’ll never be trapped.”
I look at the ground, trying to take in everything that he’s said. It makes sense, I guess. I can’t keep living my life like my mom did. Wondering when he’d show up next. Wondering how bad it would be next time. And even though I haven’t known Colt for long, I still know him well enough. And I know that he’s a good man. I know it in my bones. I know that he’d never make me do anything I didn’t want to. He wouldn’t make me stay if I didn’t want to, and he won’t chase me down the moment it’s over. Plus, after all the times he’s been here for me the last few weeks, I could do him the favor of helping to make his dying mom happier. I just have to make sure he knows that this is nothing more than a convenience for us both. I can never be married for any other reason.
He bobs his head to regain my attention. “Marry me, Libs.”
