Page 53 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“Can we make her shut up?” Olivia asked Rogan, ignoring Cait. “Bad enough that she has to be here every time we do this. You know, I’ve tried to be polite. I’ve tried to make friends with her. She has no interest in that. And that’s fine. But do I really have to put up with these pointed comments every time I come to these meetings that I’m required to be at? It’s notmyaunt who put this silly stipulation in her will. I have done nothing but cooperate, and still I get her sniping at me every time I’m here.”

Rogan’s expression softened slightly. “I really have no control over what people say and do,” he said. “Everyone in this room is entitled to express themselves. But I understand that you’re in a difficult situation. We’ll try to finish this up quickly.”

Charlie couldn’t help wishing that Rogan would take his time. Even though he’d said he wanted to talk to Olivia, he dreaded the conversation. She had been more angry with him than he had anticipated, though he supposed he should have expected it under the circumstances, and he couldn’t begin to guess what she might want to talk to him about. She seemed to think there was something very important they needed to discuss, and he could tell it was going to be something more than just the sale of the house. If that was all it was, she would have just told him.

Whatever was coming next, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

So he found himself hoping that the meeting today would drag on, that they would be here for a long time. He even half-hoped that Cait would continue to interrupt things with her usual smart remarks. Maybe having a common enemy would serve to get him and Olivia back on the same side somehow.

I shouldn’t have stayed away so long.

He had done serious damage to their relationship — whatever the nature of that relationship might turn out to be — and he could only hope that he wasn’t too late to manage some small measure of repair. Because now that he saw her again, he knew one thing for sure.

He did not want to lose her.

CHAPTER21

CHARLIE

“Since this is our final meeting, there are a couple of documents I need the two of you to sign,” Rogan said. “This one is a statement guaranteeing that your marriage is a real one.”

“Well, obviously they can’t sign that,” Cait said. “Not legally, surely.”

“If the marriage is real, they can,” Rogan said. “And I should be very clear that for legal purposes, this document can only ask you to guarantee that your marriage was legally binding. This isn’t a document asking you to swear to your feelings for one another. There’s really no legal provision for anything like that.”

“So what’s the point?” Charlie asked. “You’ve already got our marriage license.”

“It’s so that we can have something on file to show that we followed your aunt’s wishes,” Rogan explained. “We aren’t keeping a copy of the marriage license on file — that was just for me to look at. But now that we know the license was legitimate, it will be enough to have you sign these papers.”

“I can’t believe that signing a couple of papers is really all they need to do,” Cait said. “You know as well as I do what’s going to happen, right?” She looked from Scott to John. “The moment we walk out of here, he’s going to stage some big fight with her, and the two of them will break up. It won’t matter, because they’ll have signed all these documents, and we’ll be standing here looking like idiots even though we saw this coming right from the start.”

“Stop it, Cait,” Charlie said. He felt exhausted, and his sister’s antics were making everything worse. “Just stop, all right? We’ve done everything we’ve been asked to do, and you’ve been nothing but horrible to us the whole time.”

“Charlie, any fool could see that the two of you don’t mean anything to one another,” Cait said. “Look at you. Look at her. You always come to these meetings looking as if you were in the throes of new romance. It was so obviously for show. If you wanted to be believable, you really should have toned it down a little bit. And now that you’re at the end of your charade, the two of you are acting as if you’re strangers to one another. You’re fooling no one with this crap.”

Olivia began to rise to her feet. “I can’t do this.”

“You have to,” John said. “You got yourself into this, Olivia. Whatever this has meant to you, you have to see it through now.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Cait’s eyes were bright with sudden eagerness. “Is this a confession, Olivia? You can’t sign the paperwork because your marriage to my brother hasn’t been real? You don’t want to lie anymore? That’s it, isn’t it? You want to back out of this before you have to tell any more lies.”

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t feel well,” she murmured. “I need to go.”

Charlie frowned. “Olivia, just sign the papers,” he said. “This is our last meeting here. I’ll take you straight home to rest after this, or to the doctor — whatever you need. But can’t we finish this up first?”

“No, I—” Olivia lurched to her feet, her face suddenly gray.

She barely made it to the planter in the corner of the room in time. Everyone fell silent in shock as she bent over and vomited into it.

“Jesus Christ,” Scott said. “Is she drunk?”

“Of course she isn’t,” Charlie snapped. He rose from his seat and hurried to Olivia’s side. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Olivia didn’t protest. She allowed him to shepherd her toward the door.

Charlie glanced over his shoulder at Rogan. “I’m sorry about this,” he said. “I’ll pay for it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rogan said, sounding confused. “Call me to reschedule, will you?”

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