Page 18 of Say You Will

Her eyebrows lift. “Interesting way to put it.”

“You’ve placed your education on hold for financial reasons. You have nowhere to live, and no job. I can take care of your financial issues, in exchange for . . . a favor.”

Her brows lower slowly, her body shifting with apparent discomfort or embarrassment.

I lift my glasses and rub my eyes. “That’s not what I….Not sexual favors. Unless you wanted….”

She glares, and I snap my mouth shut.

“Allow me to start over. My grandmother is in possession of a company that I would like to acquire. In exchange for the company, she has asked me to find a suitable wife by no later than November 14th.”

“That’s insane.”

“Nonetheless. I want that company, and you want to complete your education. I believe the two of us could come to an amicable agreement mutually beneficial for both parties. I can offer you ahome, and, in addition to generous financial compensation, I’m more than happy to pay for you to complete your education.”

Oliver lifts his head to huff at me in annoyance.

At Franki’s silence, I straighten my cuffs, then hold eye contact with her. I’ve been fidgeting like a rank amateur. I know better.

“Let me see if I understand this. You’re asking me tomarryyou?” Franki’s palms flatten on the table. Her voice is sweet and soft, as always, but she sounds…unimpressed.

“Yes.”

“We haven’t seen each other in five years.”

“Four years, nine months.”And twelve days.“You’re the same person. Time is irrelevant. I know the core of your character; I don’t need to havespokenwith you.”

She shakes her head.

“You disagree?”

“You’re not the same person, and neither am I. The last time I spoke with you, you wanted to teach astrophysics, not be some business tycoon. You didn’t want anything to do with your grandfather’s companies.”

“And then I grew up. I have responsibilities. There are things only I can do for this family. They need me.”

“I see.” She looks down at my hand where it rests on the table. Runs her thumb over the silvery scar above my ring finger, then releases me and leans back. “You’d have been a wonderful teacher. You were the only person who could make calculus make sense for me.”

I remember. Hours spent at my parents’ kitchen island while she gamely worked on equations that she claimed were utterly incomprehensible. She never gave up until she understood. Franki is brilliant, intuitive, and far smarter than I am in many respects, including emotional intelligence, but math and science never came easily to her.

“My PhD was an indulgence. My parents didn’t want to burst my bubble. I was never doing anything else with my life than what I’m doing now. Teaching is a goal for someone who believes in humanity. I no longer do.”

At that, my future wife’s brows furrow with obvious sympathy. “That’s sad.”

I don’t need or want anyone’s pity, especially Franki’s. “It’s notsadthat I’m realistic about what is worth the investment of my time and effort.”

She makes a“pfft”sound and shakes her head. “Why has your grandmother given you such a short timeline? That’s not long enough for you to meet someone and fall in love.”

“She gave me a year. I was seeking an alternate solution until it became obvious that a wedding was my only option.”

“Then you’ll have to start dating if you need a wife to get your hands on those shares,” she says.

“Absolutely not. Have you tried it? Talking to people you don’t know about things you aren’t interested in but are supposed to pretend you are. I’m not doing that. It’s annoying.”

She taps her fingers on the table. “It isn’t worth the investment of your time and effort.”

I’d grown impatient and abandoned my plan to wait until tomorrow, but jumping to the proposal too soon was clearly a tactical error. I clear my throat and attempt to salvage these negotiations. “A stranger doesn’t meet my requirements for loyalty and permanence. While you don’t know details, you’re already aware that, in addition to my companies, I have otherunconventional responsibilities.You’re a minimal security risk since you’ve already proven your loyalty to me.”

I shared things with her in the past that, according to my father, I shouldn’t have. But I’d known, even then, that she’d never betray us.

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