The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(7)
"Look, you seem like a genuinely nice person." Jack finally turned back and looked into Charlotte's eyes. "If you don't want to do this marriage thing, I completely understand. Believe it or not, I'm not thrilled that it has to come to this either, but it would solve both of our problems. I work long hours. I'm hardly ever home, and I have a relatively vast family fortune to drawn upon. And, when I'm not being ambushed with proposals from attractive redheads, I can be pretty good company. So, how about you think it over?"
"I'm not making any promises," Charlotte said. There it was again — the flash of something genuine inside Jack that made her want to know more. Just a hint of vulnerability that made her think that maybe he had more to offer than he was letting on.
"Let's keep going," he said. He held out his hand and rose. "Don't leave me wondering what could have been." Before Charlotte knew what she was doing, she was walking through the streets of Georgetown hand in hand with Jack. And, before long, she was actually enjoying his company. Somewhere in their winding walk back to Logan's bar, they had crossed the line from awkward set-up to something actually resembling a date. They kept talking about the improbability of Callie and Logan's relationship, about their shared dislike of reality television, about a hundred other small things. Before long, they found themselves back across the street from where they had started. The sounds from inside Logan's bar made it seem like the combined bachelor/bachelorette party had kicked into high gear.
Charlotte knew that she needed to get back to Callie, but she didn't know what to say to Jack. "Don't you wish you had someone to spend time with for real?" she asked.
"What wasn't real about our walk?" Jack said. "Just because I'm being honest with you about what I need doesn't mean our time together isn't real. Why shouldn't that be enough? It's not like we're missing anything."
"Not missing anything? If I agree to go through with this whole thing, we'd both miss out on the chance of finding the people we're supposed to spend our lives with. What if I'm supposed to meet the perfect guy but can't because I'm fake married to you?"
"I hate to break it to you," Jack said, "but there's no such thing as a perfect guy."
"I guess we'll find out," Charlotte said. She pulled her hand away from his. "I should really get back to Callie."
Chapter 3
Newport after Labor Day was quiet. It was like the whole town was sleeping off the collective hangover of yet another over-indulgent summer. The crowds were gone, but the heat had stayed. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow and hoped, for Logan's and Callie's sake, that the next night would be cooler. At least Logan's brewery had air conditioning, but the chill inside had sent Jack right back out into the late afternoon heat. The brewery sat at the end of wharf overlooking the harbor, and Jack leaned over the railing of the deck, watching the sunlight glint off of the water.
Hopefully, the rehearsal dinner would be less of a disaster than the bachelor party. Disaster was the wrong word. Aside from his walk with Charlotte, the whole weekend had been a success. From the unplanned pub crawl they undertook with Callie's bachelorette party to the rest of the weekend they spent once the girls had left to continue their original plans, Logan had enjoyed himself. Jack had spent the rest of the weekend putting on a good face while he brooded over his interaction with Callie's maid of honor. It had been bad enough that Charlotte had caught him glancing at her. He hadn't been able to look away. There was something mesmerizing about her.
As Jack looked around the brewery, he couldn't help but laugh to himself that he would be attending Logan's wedding. He and Logan had been friends since college, and Jack was the only one of the two anyone had ever considered marriage material. Logan had spent most of his twenties drinking, partying and getting in trouble. Jack had been like that in college, but since graduating, he had been the opposite. Yet, here Logan was, eagerly leaping into the arms of the woman he'd share the rest of his life with. And here Jack was, by himself, waiting for someone, anyone to arrive to take his mind off of Charlotte, a woman who he had vowed not to love.
And even if he'd wanted to, how could he, with Maria and little Jack always at the edge of his mind? Jack thought back to telling Charlotte that he would make a terrible father. He hoped he was doing alright by little Jack, but no matter how well he looked after the kid, it wouldn't change Jack's opinion on fatherhood. Quite the opposite.
Since that night in DC, though, that walk, he hadn't been able to get Charlotte out of his head. He didn't know what exactly it was about her that intrigued him, but he couldn't deny her appeal. Maybe it was the way that she didn't seem to care about his celebrity. Or maybe it was the fact that she didn't agree to the whole deal as soon as she heard it, the way so many other women would, if only to call themselves a Coburn.
He had gone to Haven Communications with a simple request. He wanted to know how he could improve his favorable ratings enough to win his next election. When the Haven sisters told him he needed to get married, he thought that they were kidding. Sure, he had a reputation problem. People see a young, charismatic congressman with a string of girlfriends and they start to ask questions. The money was a problem, too. His family's name and wealth were the two main reasons he had been elected in the first place, but they were also the biggest barriers between him and voters. From the day he was born, he had been American royalty. Showing up all over the internet with supermodels on his arm was hardly a way to relate to anyone, but there was no way he was going to marry someone just for political gain.