Accidental Fiancé (Unintentionally Yours #5)

9. Maggie

Chapter 9

Maggie

I wasn’t sure how to get him to open up. He’d been so forthcoming about everything before, shutting me out now felt personal. What else could it be? I must have screwed up somewhere along the line. “Did I say something wrong?”

Julian leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, running his fingers through his hair. When he sat up again, a lock of it dangled over his forehead the way it had last night when he was on top of me, and I flashed back to that moment. I had to squeeze my thighs together to stop from moaning out loud. He cleared his throat. “I promise, this has nothing to do with you.”

“So much so that you can’t tell me about it? I thought we were, well, not friends exactly, but we used to be. We used to talk about everything. Maybe I can help. It’s not like I have any place to be or a job to get to.”

“You’re right,” he said with sudden interest.

“Well, you don’t have to rub it in.”

“No, no, I don’t mean about the job thing. Actually, I do.” He tapped his fingers together in thought as he took a deep breath that spread open his hotel robe just enough to show off the defined midline between his pecs. When he licked his lip I wanted to climb across the table and take over for him.

If I spent any more time with Julian, I was going to want to pounce on him again, and I was already wrecked from last night and this morning.

He admitted, “I’m going to ask something very, very stupid, and you’re going to tell me no, and that will be the end of it, okay? But I’ll only say it on the condition that you agree you’re going to tell me no.”

“This is about the problem you alluded to?”

“Yes.”

Whatever was on his mind felt like a trap. “But if you’re about to ask me a favor, why would I agree to say no?”

“Because otherwise, I won’t be foolish enough to ask.”

“Your logic is unlike our earth logic.” We had binged Buffy the Vampire Slayer when we were kids, and I hoped he remembered the quote.

He laughed. “Nice. But I still need you to agree, okay?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

He took a breath and began. “In about two weeks, my grandmother will be turning eighty. Her birthdays are always a big celebration since she’s the oldest person in the family. Everyone will be there, their spouses, kids, all of us. It doubles as an annual family reunion because we’re too busy to get together otherwise. Yaya is the only person we’d go through the trouble for.”

“Yaya? That’s so cute. But I’m not hearing a problem yet.”

“I was getting to that.”

He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a precious little girl. Which seemed like an odd thing for him to have on his phone.

“Um, who is that?”

“This is Piper. My daughter.”

I blinked at him, my heart stumbling. “You have a daughter? Are you married?”

“Not anymore. We’re divorced.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” But only a little . “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not much to say, really. My wife—ex-wife—had an affair with one of my former business associates. She moved to Beijing to be with him and left Piper with me.”

How could she leave her own daughter like that? I couldn’t picture my mother doing that in a million years. “That’s… what do you mean, she left her with you? She still sees her, right?”

He shook his head. “According to Britney, we’re in her past.”

“Wow.”

“Piper is four. She was one when the affair started and two by the time the divorce was finalized. She barely remembers her mom, and I doubt she will when she’s older. It was shitty of Britney, but at least she left instead of dragging things out. Small favors.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “Why would she have a kid only to abandon her?”

“It’s funny, most people say something similar when they hear about it. Men do it all the time and no one bats an eye. But when a woman does it, people have all sorts of questions.” He chuckled sadly to himself. “I believe she didn’t want to be a mom in the first place, but she did it because that’s what was expected of her. I’m not trying to analyze my ex-wife any more than I already have, and that’s not why I brought her up.”

I swallowed. “Okay. Why then?”

“Since the day she left, my family has been on me about getting a new wife to take care of Piper. At first, I was understanding about it. But it’s been over two years, and they hound me even more now every time we talk. Honestly, it’s insulting.”

“Insulting?”

“Yes. I’m a single father with a busy schedule, but I am capable of hiring nannies and babysitters and ensuring she has all the things she needs. I want her to have a feminine influence, but they act like I’m some feeble man who doesn’t understand women. And it’s not like they even want me to get married for me , for my companionship. They only ever bring it up as something to help Piper.”

I shrugged and smiled. “I can see both sides of it, to be honest. Not the feeble man part. Just that it’s good for a kid to have a variety of influences around.”

“I get that too. But they are really brutal about it. So that’s where you come in.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I show up to another family function with no one on my arm, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Oh. Oh! You want me to come with you?”

“Yes, and pretend to be my fiancée. Again. Like we did last night.” He paused. “Stop thinking about it and say no.”

I laughed. “Why do you want me to say no?”

“Because doing it for one night is one thing and doing it for a whole week is another.”

“Her birthday party lasts a week?”

He nodded. “Which is why it’s a terrible idea and I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”

“No, I?—"

“Thank you for saying no because that takes the pressure off of you.” He thought for a moment. “It adds pressure to me and the birthday party, but that’s fine. I’ll just tell them to shut up or I’ll leave. That should give me at least five minutes of relief before they start up again.”

“I wasn’t saying no, Jules. It’s not a terrible idea. I mean, last night we were convincing enough that the rumor mill was so strong my best friend thought I was secretly engaged. Clearly, we can pull off being a fake couple.”

“Sure, but again, that was one night. This isn’t being in a hotel where we can hide from everyone else. Yaya’s birthday party is a week of staying in the mansion with the rest of my family, and that’s why it’s a bad idea and I never should have brought it up.”

I sighed, scraping my fork on my plate. “Show me your daughter again.”

He grinned instantly and I felt it in my bones. He was so proud of her. “See there? That’s one of her art pieces.”

It was a crayon scribble that might have been a duck.

“Oh. That’s a…?”

He looked at me like I was dumb. “That’s a palm tree.”

“Of course it is.”

He scrolled through some more pictures, bragging about each featured achievement. The man glowed when he talked about her, and it was so endearing I could have died on the spot. There was also video. “…this is actually her second cartwheel. When she did the first one I didn’t get it on camera.”

The girl’s legs barely got off the ground. But when she stood up, she shouted, “Daddy, did you see?” and ran to him. She had olive skin like her father, long, straight black hair, and giant blue eyes that shone with adoration upon seeking his approval.

He picked her up. “I did, Pip. That was the best cartwheel ever.” The video turned off.

“You two are precious together.”

“She’s my everything.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I even asked about the party?—"

“I’ll do it.”

“What? No. You agreed you wouldn’t say that.”

I shrugged. “I lied.”

“Maggie—"

“You need help. You helped me out last night so it’s the least I can do. We’ll call it even.”

“This isn’t some tit-for-tat thing.”

“I know that. But it obviously bothers you and I want to help. Besides, it’s not like I have anything else going on. I’m happy to do it.”

He steepled his fingers together while he thought about it. “This has the potential to blow up in our faces.”

“It does. But that’s why we’ll be careful, right?”

He drummed his fingertips. “I have another bad idea.”

“I’m all ears.”