Page 21 of Who Needs a Billionaire

Adelia didn’t respond, and Merritt wondered what was behind that. Had Adelia and Gus been an item in the past?

But before she could dwell on that for too long, Gus turned her to face him and leaned in, pressing his lips softly against hers. Unexpected chills ran down her spine at the contact.

He pulled away and leaned close to her ear, turning so nobody could see his lips move. “Just giving them something to put on the cover of their magazines.”

She turned so her mouth was next to his ear. “You could’ve warned me.”

He shrugged his shoulders and took her hand, leading her to the black Cadillac Escalade waiting for them. The drive to her apartment was quiet. She spent the entire time either staring out the window or admiring the bouquet of white orchids and plumeria in her hands.

When Gus pulled up to her apartment building, she quickly climbed out without giving him a chance to get out and open the door for her. “Give me three hours. You can come back and get me then.” Gus had agreed to take her home after the wedding so she could have some time to herself and start packing for the move to Malibu.

“Okay.” He nodded, and she shut the door and walked toward the building entrance.

As he drove away, she couldn’t stop thinking what a strange wedding day this was. She was alone at her place in Santa Monica while he went to Adelia’s to wait.

Definitely not the wedding day she imagined she would one day have.

After changing out of her dress, Merritt pulled out her suitcases and a couple of plastic tubs and began packing the things she knew she’d need right away. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and stopped. Her hair was still twisted back with the orchid tucked inside, which looked too fancy for the tank top and khaki shorts she was now sporting. And the gigantic diamond on her ring finger definitely looked extravagant with her ensemble.

She was now a wife. Gus Schultz’s wife! Just the idea of it made her want to laugh and then cry. But she had to remember that this was about getting her company where she wanted it to be.

After Merritt had gathered her things and stacked them near the door, she grabbed her phone. She hadn’t spoken to her parents in a month, but this definitely warranted a phone call.

“You never told us you were dating someone,” her mom said at the news.

“It was kind of a whirlwind romance.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. Per their agreement, she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that their marriage wasn’t real. The only people who knew were Adelia and Giovanni, who had both signed an NDA. Not even Whitney knew, but she was too wrapped up in the romanticism of it all to notice the reality of the situation anyway.

“Tell me about your husband,” Mom said.

Merritt shook her head as she reclined on a chair on her balcony. Her husband. That sounded so weird. She held up her hand, admiring the ring as it sparkled in the sun. “His name is Gus. We met through Adelia Allen.”

“It’s still hard to believe you’re friends with someone famous.”

“Actually, my new husband is pretty well known too.”

“Is that so?”

“His family owns Schultz Chocolate.”

Her mom coughed on the other end of the phone like she was choking on something.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“Yeah, sorry. My drink went down the wrong tube.” She cleared her throat. “Did you say Schultz Chocolate? As in my favorite, Granny’s Truffles?”

“The very one.”

“Oh my goodness. When do we get to meet him?”

“I’m not sure. We have to go to his brother’s wedding next month. I’ll have to let you know.”

“Well, Schultz Chocolate is based in Grand Rapids, right? That isn’t too far away from us. Next time you come to town, you’ll have to drive down to Kalamazoo for the day and introduce us. Your dad will be thrilled to meet him.”

Merritt rolled her eyes, thankful that her mom couldn’t see her. She knew the only thing Dad would be interested in was hearing about how much money Gus’s family had, and she hoped he wouldn’t say anything embarrassing.

Ruth Christianson had rose-colored glasses when it came to her husband, Ned. Most of the time, she thought he could do no wrong. But Ruth was truly the good one in the relationship. It had been Ruth who first decided to take in foster children over the years and Ruth who wanted to adopt Merritt when she was a year old. If it hadn’t been for her, Merritt might have stayed in the system her whole life. She owed a lot to her mom, but she gave little credit to Ned for her upbringing. A lifelong factory worker, mostly working third shift, he slept during the day and worked at night, so she barely saw him. He had been the provider, working hard to keep a roof over their heads, constantly worried about the money. Merritt wished she had a close relationship with her dad, that he would’ve been there for more of the milestones of her life, but that wasn’t how things were in their family.

Merritt used to feel sad when she thought about her start in life—left at a hospital when she was a baby, found wrapped in a blanket in a box by the door to the ER. But over the years, she had come to believe in her heart that her mother must’ve had a very good reason for abandoning her. When she imagined her biological mother, she pictured a scared teenager with no way of taking care of a baby, and she understood and didn’t begrudge her anything. She’d had a good life, people who took care of her, at least one loving parent, and she’d gone on to make something of herself. Many children in her situation weren’t so lucky, and she knew how blessed she was to have been adopted.

---