Page 21 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

“I don’t want a showy divorce.”

“Neither do I. But until that happens, I guess we should probably pretend to at least like each other a tiny bit right now, don’t you think?”

“You don’t actually like me?” Her eyes grow wide and wet, and she folds her arms, pouting in a way that makes it impossible to disagree with her.

I sigh, slapping my hands against my face. “How on earth did I even imply that at all?”

She bites her lip and a faint blush rises in her cheeks. “I don’t know. Did you mean it?”

“No!” I groan. “It’s not what I meant, and you know it. I just mean that I don’t love you. I like you, most of the time, but it’s not love, is it? But the public aren’t supposed to know that, are they? They’re supposed to think this marriage is real. That’s why we coordinated our story.”

A runner darts past us and we step away from each other, trying to act casual. I push my glasses up my nose and scratch the back of my head, trying to look relaxed. Eliza looks around in a way that totally looks suspicious, but for her that isn’t too unusual. Everything with her is turned up to eleven.

“Okay,” she says once the runner is gone. “They don’t need to know about the way we met. We’ll deflect and just tell them about my new album, your company and about your new wardrobe. It’ll be fine. We’ll just lie to them.”

“I don’t want to lie,” I snap, clenching my teeth together, leaning heavily against the wall. “I’m not good at lying.”

“Then tell half the truth. That’s the best way to do it. If you start making stuff up, you lose track of where you are. If you dance gently around the truth, it’s like you’re not even lying at all.”

I breathe a heavy sigh. “I’m not good at this like you. What if they ask me about dating? I’ve never dated anyone.”

“You’ve never dated anyone?” Her eyes narrow in disbelief, and I’m sure the blush on her cheeks is mirrored in mine.

“Obviously I’ve dated a little bit,” I huff, not really ready to be this honest with Eliza. “But I’ve never been with anyone as seriously as marriage is supposed to be.”

My longest relationship was two and a half years, and she broke up with me because she thought I was boring. My track record with this kind of thing is not great. Most girls want my money, not my heart.

“And you’ve seen my life,” she says, throwing her hands up. “Don’t ever date a football player. That’s my advice. They’re useless slobs who always forget your birthday and get mad with you when you want to go out for dinner instead of watching sports and getting takeout. And they’re the worst at gifts. They think throwing money at you is the same thing as caring.”

Her voice is getting louder as she’s getting angrier. I don’t think I’m actually the one she’s angry with.

Realizing she’s lost the thread of her thoughts, she shakes her head and says, “Look, just let me take the lead. Okay? You had a crush on me from the moment you saw me all those months ago. Then on the night of the awards, you invited me out for drinks. We talked all night. The next day, we went out for a lunch date and realized it had been love at first sight, that life was too short not to just go for it. You got it?”

“I’ve got it,” I say quietly, my shoulders sagging under the weight of the story. I let out another deep breath and press my head back against the wall. I can do this. I have to do this.

What choice do I have?

I grit my teeth. “Let’s just get this over with.”

As if on cue, the call for us to take the stage echoes through the studio. Eliza takes my hand and smiles brightly, her teeth gleaming.

She leads me to where the hosts are sitting behind a plastic desk, its sides curved and backlit.Susie and Bertie, the sign declares, and I’m glad it’s there because I’ve never watched this show before, and I had completely forgotten what the hosts were called. The audience is already in their seats, whispering together about us, or whatever trivial things are going on in their lives.

Wanting to be polite, I go over and shake Susie and Bertie’s hands, introducing myself. Clearly, that’s not what people are supposed to do because they’re surprised by the action. But being polite is important to me, so I don’t let their bewilderment stop me.

I take my seat next to Eliza, and under the desk she takes my hand, squeezing it in comfort. I can’t say how thankful I am for it right now. “Okay,” says Susie in a strong Midwestern accent. I grimace. “You two love birds ready to start?” We both nod. “We’ll do an intro, and then we’ll be right with you. How does that sound?”

“Great!” says Eliza. I try to keep breathing.

The director waves his hand, counts us in, and Susie and Bertie come to life like puppets with the strings suddenly pulled taut. The lights shine in my eyes and my heart races.

The only thing tethering me to the Earth right now is Eliza and her hand, strong like an anchor in mine.

CHAPTER 14

ELIZA

“It’s Susie and Bertie! And we’re coming to you live this morning from another beautiful day in LA. Before the break, we were discussing trust funds, and we are loving the energy of the community this morning. Keep on sending those comments in, and we’ll get back to them later in the show.”

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