Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)(121)

“I’m making some changes in my life,” he said.

“Oh?”

“I’m going to get licensed in North Carolina and open up a practice right here in Salvation.”

As upset as she was, she couldn’t help but feel happy for him. “I’m glad. It’s exactly what you should be doing.”

“But I’m going to need some help.”

“What kind of help?”

“Well . . . I have to hire a receptionist who can also pinch hit when I need surgical help.”

“I already have a job in Florida,” she pointed out. “And I’m not going to be your receptionist.” Why did he have to belabor this? Didn’t he understand how hard leaving him was for her?

“That’s not the job I’m offering you,” he said smugly. “Although if you’d volunteer to help out every once in a while, I’m sure I’d appreciate it. But no, what I’m thinking about for you is more in the way of a career than a job.”

“A career? Doing what?”

“Things I need done.”

“Such as?”

“Well . . .” He seemed to be thinking. “Laundry. I don’t mind cooking and washing dishes, but I don’t like laundry.”

“You want me to do your laundry?”

“Among other things.”

“Keep going.”

“Answering the phone in the evenings. When I’m not working, I don’t like to answer the phone. You’d have to do that. If it’s somebody in my family, I’ll talk. Otherwise, you take care of it.”

“Doing laundry and answering the phone. This is supposed to be my new career?”

“And balancing my checkbook. I really hate that. I just can’t get all worked up about tracking down every little penny.”

“Gabe, you’re a very wealthy man. You really need to look after your money better.”

“That’s what my brothers keep telling me, but I’m just not interested.”

“Laundry, answering the phone, and balancing your checkbook. Is that it?”

“Pretty much. Except for one other thing.”

“Which is?”

“Sex. That’s the main part of your job.”

“Sex?”

“It comes before everything else. Way before that checkbook.”

“Having sex with you?”

“Yes.”

“You want to pay me to have sex with you?”

“Plus laundry and the phone and—”

“You want to pay me! This is my new career! Being your full-time mistress and part-time housekeeper?”

“That mistress thing . . . It’d be nice. I kind of like the idea of having a mistress. But because of Chip and the fact this is a small town, we’d have to get married.” He held up his hand. “Now I know you don’t want to do that, so you wouldn’t have to look at it as a real marriage right away. Instead, it could be purely a business deal . . .” His eyes narrowed. “. . . something a bean counter like yourself should appreciate.” He straightened in the chair. “I need sex; you provide it. Strictly commerce.”


“Oh, Gabe . . .”

“Before you get too indignant, we’re talking a lot of money here.”

Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t help but ask. “How much?”

“The day we get married, I’ll give you a cashier’s check for . . .” He stopped, scratched his head. “How much do you want?”

“A million dollars,” she snapped, angry with herself for even asking. But he was right. G. Dwayne’s diamond stash could never be hers. She finally understood that.

“Okay. A million dollars.”

She stared at him.

He shrugged. “I don’t care that much about money, and you do. Plus, you’ll have to spend a lot of time naked. It only seems fair.”

She sank back into the cushions. The idea that a man this hopeless about his finances was allowed to roam free in the world was terrifying.

She felt as if she were hyperventilating. Just the fact that he had a million dollars was mind-boggling, let alone the notion that he wanted to give it to her. If only he were offering love instead, she’d snatch it up in a second.

He uncrossed his ankles and set his feet on the floor. “I know you had doubts about marriage because of the problem between Chip and me, but you might have noticed the problem has gone away.”

She thought of the way Gabe and Edward had been with each other that evening. “I still don’t understand quite how that happened. I know it wasn’t just the kidnapping. I saw the way the two of you were behaving with each other this morning. How could something so serious go away so fast?”

“Have you ever hit that boy?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, if you had, you wouldn’t need to ask that question. And that’s the other thing, Rachel. Besides the sex. I get an equal hand in raising Chip. We make decisions about him together.” His voice grew deadly serious. “I’m not letting you take that boy away from me. I’ve lost one child, and I’m not going to lose another. If that means tearing up a hundred bus tickets and burning every stick of clothing you own, I’ll do it.”