Page 75 of Man Seeking Woman

“You still haven't told me exactly why you need this baby.” Her gaze hardened as she rubbed her hands together.

Letting out an audible breath, I swallowed hard. It was time for her to know. “My father decided a child was the only I'd get to keep everything that's rightfully mine. I thought it was a sick joke when I saw it in his will after her passed, but it was true. No baby by the time I'm thirty-five meant no company, no job, no inheritance, no nothing.”

“Wow, is that even legal?”

“Apparently it is.”

“So why not just ask a girl you already know, why the ad in the paper?”

Looking at Ella from the corner of my eyes, I chuckled dryly. “You wouldn't be asking me that if you met any of the girls I know.”

“They can't be that bad.”

“They can and they are. The women I know are selfish and have their priorities all wrong. They think money defines you and how much you have should decide where you sit on the ladder of society. That's not the kind of person I want raising my child. So, I decided on the ad after several failed attempts to meet someone.”

Slowing the car, I pulled up to the front of my mother's skyscraper pent house apartment. Ella pressed her forehead to the glass and looked up in awe.

“Here we are,” I said.

“Holy fucking shit. Your mother lives here?”

“Yup, and she thinks this is down sizing from her last place.”

“I can't even imagine. My mother owns a two bedroom cottage on a main road, in a city that no one has ever heard of. This is insane.”

The doorman came over, opening Ella's door and helping her out. Climbing out, I walked to her side as her head was tipped all the way back and her eyes were squinting.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I'm trying to see the top.”

“How about we go in and you see the city from the top?”

“Wait—she's all the way. . .” Her voice trailed off as she looked up.

“Come on, before we're any later.” Taking her hand, I led her inside the building and over to the elevator. “Ready to be on top of the world?” Hitting the button for the top floor, Ella squeezed my hand and snuggled against my ribs.

“I'm nervous,” she said, baring her teeth as her eyes opened wide.

“Don't be, we've already established she's going to hate you.” Bumping her with my hip, Ella giggled and nodded. “Tonight is just a formality, what she thinks doesn't even matter. This is all an act, right, so there's nothing to worry about.”

“Right, all an act,” Ella repeated, her eyes set on the floor counter, watching the arm as it ticked. “Nothing to worry about.”

The way she said it sent my heart into my throat. I didn't like the tone of her voice or how the words sounded in my ears.

I knew what I was doing was dangerous. I was tempting the devil with fruit. Creating an imaginary world that only existed in the playground of my mind for my own gain.

And within that fictional playground Ella made me laugh and smile, she made my heart hammer and body come alive. That was far more dangerous than making up stories to satisfy a piece of paper.

But I had gone a step further, taking this character and making her real. She was now in my life, and if everything went as planned, she'd be in my life forever.

That thought should scare me, only it didn't.

What the hell does that mean?

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