Page 32 of Seeking Happily Ever After

“Well…”

She gave him a sassy grin that made him want to flip her on her back and kiss her senseless. Instead, he swallowed hard and fought the urge while she finished her thought.

“If we’re affectionate, it can only make things look more credible, right? I mean, if Susan were to stop by or see us at the store or something.”

He nodded.

“So…why don’t we just not worry about complicated or any of that? I know Amelia is your priority, and I don’t want anything serious.” She shrugged. “It seems pretty perfect to me.”

It did to him, too. If it meant being able to kiss her again and not put his custody at risk, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her plan at all.

“I can’t disagree with that.”

“So we’re in agreement?”

He bent and sealed their agreement with a kiss.

Without taking his lips from hers, Nick moved so he was over top of her and able to deepen the kiss the way he yearned to.

Complicatedwas the furthest thing from his mind when she let out a small moan and wrapped her arms around his back. There was nothing complicated about what he was feeling at that exact moment. Nothing at all.

“Charlotte.” Her name came out on a deep breath. “I know we…I…”

She reached down, pulled him back to her, and it was Nick’s turn to moan.

Oh yes, it was going to be an absolutely perfect arrangement.

A sound that was half screech-half laugh came from the corner of the room, and Nick jumped back, off Charlotte. It was so abrupt that he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. A moment later, he heard Charlotte join in with his laughter and from her crib, Amelia, too, squealed her delight.

He hauled himself from the bed, but allowed himself one last look at Char, still lying in the blankets, looking even more gorgeous than she had a few minutes ago, because now her lips were reddened from their kiss, the memory of her on his own lips. “I guess Amelia has other ideas about how we should be spending our morning.”

“To be continued then.” She winked and rolled over to slip out of her side of the bed.

Nick couldn’t be sure if it was the lingering effects of the kiss, the sight of her ass in her pajama shorts—that even without his glasses, he could see clearly—or the very clear promise oflater,or all of the above, but suddenlycomplicatedwas no longer an issue. The idea of anything happening with Charlotte being anything but amazing was the furthest thing from his mind.

“Okay, wait.” Jeremy spun around and walked back toward where Charlotte sat.

She’d asked her brother to meet her in the park by the waterfalls in town because it would definitely be better to break the news about herengagementin a public place. Her brother was the most supportive man she knew, next to her father, but he also had the tendency to be more than a little overprotective. And she was pretty sure he wouldn’t understand why she’d jumped into an engagement with a man she barely knew—fake or not.

“So…” He came to a stop in front of the picnic table Char was perched upon. “You’re engaged?”

She nodded.

“To Nick Newton?”

She nodded again.

“The billionaire single dad?”

“Yup,” she said. “That’s pretty much the gist of it.” She grinned and then quickly added, “But it’s not real. Don’t forget that part.”

“Right…” He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in odd angles. “And you’re not dating? Just friends?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again. Were they friends? Yes. But that kiss earlier this morning was definitely more than friendly.Much more.But they’d made it very clear that there was not going to be anything serious between them. She’d made sure of that with her little white lie. Well, it wasn’treallya lie. She wasn’t looking for anything serious. She’d just come out of a terrible relationship and she had been looking forward to being single again and rebuilding her life. That was all true. Very true. But…when she kissed Nick, there was nothing casual about it. He made her want things she didn’t know she even wanted again.

Still, Amelia was the focus and she knew that. So she’d told him what they both needed to hear.

“It’s complicated.”

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