I blinked. I didn’t know how many times. I was trying to bring the room into focus, and more importantly, Jer’s face. Was I still drunk? I was pretty sure the earth-shattering sex had sobered me up, but I wasn’t so sure anymore. Not after the question I just heard.

“You want me to marry you?”

“Yes. A business arrangement between friends. Legally it has to be called a marriage. It will be legitimate.”

“Jer, until this afternoon, we hadn’t seen each other in twelve years. We have never been friends.”

“You’re forgetting cat lady’s class.”

I sighed. “You know what I mean. From Mrs. Wratchet’s English class to marriage is a huge leap.”

“It’s not a real marriage. You know that. It’s in name only. And of course you’ll have access to all my money. Anything you want. Think of how many millions that is, Evie. Millions of dollars at your disposal. You can do anything you want with that kind of money.”

“In exchange for having your baby?”

He shrugged. “Let’s call it your baby.”

“I don’t believe this.” I reached for the blanket I had tossed on the floor. My mind had finally overpowered my body and I was thinking with my brain for the first time in hours.

Jeremy looked at his phone. “Shit. I have to go soon, or I’m going to miss my flight. Our flight,” he corrected.

I felt like I had whiplash.

“Come on, Evie. It’s the perfect solution. I’ll give you the kid you’ve always wanted. We know the sex is phenomenal. And you get the Hartwell name and money. I don’t see how you can turn it down.” He stood, his gorgeous sculpted frame towered over me.

“So you want to be the father? Not go through in vitro like I’ve been doing? You could just donate the specimen.”

He chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that for me? Can you imagine the sex we’ll have getting you knocked up? You said it yourself. There’s no strings attached between us. We won’t be a husband and wife.”

I was still vibrating with aftershocks from multiple orgasms. The thought of sex like this for months trying to conceive was tempting. The kind of temptation I didn’t think I was strong enough to ignore.

“What would we be?” He had to know I would ask questions.

“Friends with baby benefits?”

“Is that a thing?”

He smiled. It was a killer smile. The kind that made women do crazy impulsive things like have sex at an unexpected reunion.

“It will be our thing. You know it’s a great idea.”

I couldn’t believe how quickly I was able to check off the problems the arrangement would solve. I could pay off my debt. I could fund my writing. And I could have my dream baby. I looked at Jeremy as he dressed.

But it wouldn’t be an in vitro baby, fathered by FY9987. It would be Jeremy’s baby. It could have Jeremy’s eyes and nose. What if it looked only like him and nothing like me? I was ok with that possibility when I was going to use an anonymous donor, but facing the father was entirely different. What if we had a boy and he wanted to be a professional athlete too? What if I ended up having nothing in common with my own child? The thought terrified me.

“What would people think about us?”

He turned, buttoning his shirt. It wasn’t as crisp as it once was. “What do you mean?” He shrugged.

“You haven’t thought about any of the details. You just blurted this out.”

He threaded his belt through the loops on his dress pants. “I thought about it the entire time you gave me that blowjob.” He grinned. “It came to me in a moment of carnal clarity.”

My eyes narrowed. “Asshole.”

“Hey, I want to give you everything you want. I’m not an asshole. I’m more of a benefactor who gets exclusive fucking rights.” He bit his bottom lip and I felt the thrill it shot through my body.

“This is what you want? A loveless marriage? Between two people who barely know each other? That’s just sad, Jeremy.”

“My parents were married for forty years and lived a cold and isolated existence. This has to be better than what they had.” He sat next to me.

“That’s not what my parents have.”

“But you’re the one who said you didn’t need to get married. You’ve given up on it. So what difference does a piece of paper make? We do it to get the money. It’s simple.”

“For how long?”

“What do you mean?”

“When can we get divorced?” I asked. It wasn’t something my family would be happy about. They favored traditional Italian values with marriages that lasted a lifetime. But I was willing to be realistic. At some point I would want my full freedom back.

“Oh there’s no out to this marriage. Til death do us part, baby.”

I stared at him. “Why in the hell would you want to do this?”

“Because neither one of us wants to get married. So let’s not think about it that way. We can stay friends. We have an agreement. Really it’s like we’re not married at all, and then we don’t have to worry about that option on the table anymore for the rest of our lives. It’s like we’ve solved the marriage problem. It’s fucking brilliant.”

“And the baby? How are we going to raise a child like that?”

“That’s up to you. I don’t have that parental thing you do. It’s your baby, Evie. All yours. You can have the baby.”

He checked his phone again. “Come on. Get dressed and I’ll call a car to take us to the airport.”

I let the blanket fall from my shoulders. “Why does it have to be so fast? So sudden? Can’t I think about it?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m going to marry you tonight, before I sober up and talk myself out of it. Even brilliant plans look different in the light of day.”

I pulled on his arm. “Then Jer, it’s not a good idea. If you have to trick yourself this way.”

He laughed. “I’m kidding. That was a joke. Let’s do this.” His hand snaked around my waist, cupping my ass. I groaned when he squeezed it hard in his grasp. “Let me give you a baby. You want a baby, don’t you?”

There were a lot of things he could say. Hell, there were a lot of things he had already said tonight that made me weak in the knees. But he said the one thing that mattered to a woman who had been taking fertility treatments, trying for the past six months to get pregnant. He said the one phrase that I had waited to hear. The last piece to the puzzle I wanted. He dangled the carrot in front of me. My grand prize. My dream. A sweet soft innocent child placed in my arms. This man could give me that.

He grazed my lips with his mouth. “You can’t say no to me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He was the forbidden fruit. Everything I shouldn’t want, but needed. He was every warning my mother had ever tossed out in her Italian accent when I was growing up. He was the epitome of heartbreak. But I couldn’t stop kissing him. I couldn’t stop believing that my dream had come true tonight, when the boy I barely knew in high school walked into Bella’s.

One day I’d tell my daughter about men like Jeremy. I’d warn her about men who offered the moon and delivered lies. I’d tell her to search for love. I’d tell her to never settle until she found her soul mate. I’d make her promise that happiness and joy would come first in her life. I’d sit her down and tell her all the mistakes I made. I’d explain how desperately I wanted a family of my own. How I was willing to do anything in the world for the chance to meet her.