The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(13)

Charlotte walked over to Jack. Before he could say a word, she leaned in and whispered in his ear over the sound of applause. "I'll do it."

"You'll what?" he asked.

"I'll marry you. It has to be on my terms, but I'll marry you."

"Are you serious?" Jack's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, now go give your speech." She handed him the microphone.

Jack stood up slowly with the whole crowd settling down and watching him expectantly. The room grew silent except for the low buzz of the speakers, picking up dead air. For the first time in his life as a public speaker, Jack Coburn was speechless.





Chapter 5

"Kiss."

The word broke through Charlotte's reverie like a rock through a plate glass window. She stared across the wide wood conference table at Amy Haven in disbelief. Jack, wearing another dark blue suit, turned beside Charlotte to look at her. Even under the low hum of the office's fluorescent lights, the suit accentuated his blue eyes and broad shoulders. The conference room of Haven Communications wasn't exactly the place Charlotte would have chosen for her first kiss with Jack Coburn.

Thinking of the trick Jack had taught her, Charlotte grabbed the pitcher of water from the center of the table and poured herself a glass, gulping down a long, cold sip while she tried to think of a diplomatic way to run out of the building. She couldn't believe that Amy had just commanded her to kiss Jack. Charlotte turned toward him and shrugged her shoulders as if to ask what he thought, but she was so jittery that she couldn't be sure her shoulders had moved at all.

She hadn't seen Jack since the night of the wedding, and she had spent the past two and a half weeks housesitting for Callie and Logan while they toured the Mediterranean on Logan's yacht. Charlotte had spent that time obsessing over whether she could back out of the marriage of convenience deal with Jack. Every time she tried to push the idea of marriage out of her head for a while, another wedding gift arrived on Callie's doorstep. A week in, one arrived from Jack, and Charlotte spent half the morning wondering if he was intentionally taunting her.

Now, he was watching her as expectantly as Amy and Callie to see if she would kiss him on command. "Now?" Charlotte asked.


"Of course," Amy said. "This is as good a time as any. I don't know how else to say this, but you two are going to be engaged soon. Before you know it, you'll be married. We should probably make sure you're believable as a couple before we do anything irreversible."

Charlotte tried to relax herself as she looked at Jack. He was smiling back at her, with his mouth slightly open so that she could just make out the bright white line of his top teeth, and she wondered if he was enjoying himself. He looked amused and handsome, and she hated herself for wondering if somewhere behind that smile there was some spark of interest. After meeting her eyes, he looked away in a bout of false modesty, as if he had anything to be bashful about. By instinct, she looked down from his eyes and noticed his dimples for the first time. Her stomach fluttered as she anticipated the warmth of his lips.

"Here goes nothing."

Charlotte closed her eyes as Jack placed his palm on her cheek, pulled her in and kissed her. His kiss was softer than she had expected. All her tension melted away as she basked in the soft warmth of his lips. Without thinking, she slipped her tongue against his as he deepened the kiss. Her stomach fluttered, and a thrill zipped up her spine, sending a shiver of excitement through her back and into her chest. She felt a tingle in her fingertips as the room went quiet around her. Jack held the kiss for a moment longer, letting his tongue linger against her upper lip before slowly pulling back.

Charlotte let out a long breath. She was dizzy with bliss. That was good. Holy crap that was good. She felt herself starting to blush as she opened her eyes and looked at Jack. Maybe marrying him won't be so bad after all. Charlotte failed to hold back her smile.

"Ahem," Callie said, snapping Charlotte back to attention. Callie gave her a knowing smile. "I don't want to ruin your moment, but we have a lot to get through."

Jack turned to Callie and Amy and hardened his gaze. "Was that convincing enough for you?" he asked.

Amy and Callie gave each other a quick nod. "Yeah," Callie said, "that should be good enough."

"Good enough?" Charlotte asked. She was surprised that the kiss hadn't shorted out all the electricity in the room.

"It was passable," Callie said. She grinned at Charlotte and grabbed two thick binders off of a shelf and slid them across the table to Charlotte and Jack. "You can hold hands while we review the contracts if you'd like."

"I didn't know we'd be signing contracts today," Charlotte said. She felt like all the blood had drained from her body. It was one thing to kiss Jack. It was something else entirely to sign papers obligating herself to marry him.

Amy started in as she opened one of the binders. "If we weren't clear about this before, let me be very clear about it now. This is not a fake marriage. This is not simply sleight of hand. You two will get married for real. Everything contained in these binders will be legally binding."

"Maybe I should have asked sooner, but is this all, you know, legal?" Charlotte asked.

"This binder is a prenup," Amy said. "We'll cover the details later, but this is all fairly standard. It outlines what is and is not acceptable within the bounds of the marriage. As you are both close friends of my sister and her husband, I should note that this document has been drafted in order to protect both of your interests, both in the marriage and in case of divorce.