Page 15 of One Pucking Heart

Her gaze narrows as she reads the paper. She chews on her bottom lip. “He’s crazy. Who does he think he is? We haven’t spoken for decades, and he’s still trying to control my life? I don’t understand him. Women don’t have to be married to be worthy. He’s so infuriating and old-school.”

I’m relieved to see some of the spark return in Elena, the fight I love so much. While I think I handled her emotional breakdown pretty well, I was a nervous wreck. I’ve never seen someone so utterly broken, and it scared me. I didn’t know what to do or say to make her feel better. I just needed to take her pain away. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her, letting her know that I’m here for her. Yet, at the same time, I know how private she is, and the last thing I wanted to do while she was in that state was upset her more by inserting myself somewhere she didn’t want me.

Thankfully, whatever walls she’d put up between us crumbled in the midst of her current crisis, and for once, she saw me as an ally and not an enemy. About fucking time, too. I hated staying at an arm’s length from her. The task had become my full-time job as of late, second to my training. It’s not easy walking a line when you’re not sure where it is. I wanted to get to know the woman while respecting her boundaries at the same time. It’s not an easy endeavor, considering her boundaries were concealed in an impossible-to-enter steel vault hiding almost everything about her.

“So what do you say? Want to get married?” I ask again.

She takes a step back, looking at me with a shocked expression. “No, I’m not marrying you. Why would you even suggest that, Beckett? We’re not in love.”

“It wouldn’t be real. Well, I guess it would be legal, but it’d be for show. And when your father passes, we can get divorced. I know you don’t personally care about the money, but you don’t want your cousin to get it, right? You don’t have to keep it. Think of all the good you could do with it. You could donate it to deserving charities or build homes for young, pregnant women with nowhere to go. You could start a nonprofit sports clinic to help underprivileged youth in sports. I mean, the possibilities are endless. You could use his money to make a difference, which is more than your shitty excuse for a human relative will do with it, right?”

“The marriage would have to look real, Beckett. My father will have his private investigators watching us. He’ll be looking for any sign of deceit. We’d have to live together and act married. That’s a huge ask.”

“I understand all that, Elena. Let’s do it.”

She takes a step toward me. “You would really do that for me?”

“Of course. I told you. I would do anything for you.”

“No.” She throws her arms up, shaking her head. “I can’t ask that of you. It would change your whole life. Hell, it would change everything. If we’re married, you can’t sleep around with different women after all your games. I know your reputation, Felt-more. This would never work. I’ll find another way.”

I laugh and raise a brow. “How? By finding someone else? I don’t know if we can technically be labeled as friends, but if we can, I’m your only one.”

“That’s rude.”

A smile crosses my face. “And true? Do you have any real friends besides Ari and me?”

“I haven’t had time for friends, Beckett. I’ve been busy.”

“That’s my point. I’m it, and I’m willing. I want to help you.”

“But why?”

“Because I care about you. You’re a good person, and you deserve to be happy. Yeah, you pegged me, I’m somewhat of a slut, but I can keep it in my pants for a couple of months, Elena. I’m not an animal.”

“I’m just saying that this is too much to ask of anyone, let alone someone I met a month ago where our entire friendship can be summed up in a few surface-level conversations about TV shows.”

“I’ve talked about more than television. Hell, I’ve told you everything. My side of the friendship is much stronger,” I tease.

She plops down on the loveseat and stares at the paperwork. “This is all so crazy. I wonder if he has cancer or something?”

“You could go talk to him?”

She releases a sigh. “I probably should. We’re obviously not close, but he is the only parent I have left. I’d probably regret it if I never said goodbye.”

“I could come with you? You’re going to want to introduce your father to your fiancé.” I give her a wink and my best attempt at my charming Feltmore smile, which, up until this point, has been useless when it comes to Elena. The woman is immune to me.

She exhales, biting her lip. Her gaze drops to the paperwork, and she ignores my comment. As noted, she’s unaffected. “Do you think my irresistible charm and panty-dropping ways are somehow connected to my knee?”

Looking up, she squints. “What?”

“I mean, what if it’s all connected? My body is broken, and so is my swagger. I haven’t been out in a social situation in over a month, since my injury. At first, I thought it was just you who I failed to impress. But what if I’ve lost it? What if I’m no longer irresistible to women?”

Elena blinks slowly and stands, her features measured. “Are you fucking serious right now?” she whisper-shrieks. If we were anywhere but in her office where others could walk by at any moment, I’m confident she’d be screaming at me.

She snatches her purse off her desk and shoves the paperwork inside. Hooking her arm under the straps, she looks at me, her jaw tight and eyes narrowed. “I’m going through something pretty traumatic at the moment, and you’re wondering, out loud, whether your knee has magical flirtation powers? Do you actually hear yourself? I’m not attracted to you, Beckett, because you’re a fucking child. You’re immature and self-absorbed. I’ve been trying to be less closed off and give you a chance, to be friends. But you and I are vastly different. There is nothing about my life you could possibly understand because of the way you’ve lived yours. You and I are not the same. We’re not even living in the same universe. So, no, I’m not going to fake marry you because it would fail miserably. I wouldn’t last a week living with you. I have worked too hard for too long to live my life out from under the control of men, and you must be insane if you think I’d ever agree to tangle up with you, fake or not. The devil can have my father’s money. Some things in life just aren’t worth the fight, especially with you as my only ally. Thank you for being there for me over the last few minutes. I’m sorry you had to see me like that, but rest assured, it will never happen again. Now, move!” The command is firm and scary, like a drill sergeant in a war movie.

I startle and step to the side away from the door. Without another word, she blows past me and out of the office. I release a frustrated groan. I’m an ass, the whole knee superpower thing was intended to be funny, but boy, did I perform in front of the wrong crowd. I really am a little clueless sometimes. Cade and Iris have told me as much on several occasions, and I’ve never listened. Fine-tuning my tact wouldn’t be a horrible idea.

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