The next morning, I climbed onto the roof, trying to convince myself that my fear of heights wasn’t rational. And even though most of my stomach was churning at the thought of being close to the edge, I still couldn’t get that damn kiss out of my mind.

Ryder Drake looked like the devil, with his dark hair, sexy stubble, and glittering eyes. But he kissed like an angel.

You were tempted to take him up on his offer.

It was true. In the face of his raw sexuality, every ounce of common sense I possessed had vanished. Had he kissed me one more time, had he phrased his request less bluntly… I would have been waking up next to him this morning.

And it would have been a mistake.

There it was. Vibrators didn’t rival the weight of a hard body against my skin, but the morning after, I never regretted my rabbit.

* * *

“Zoe,” my grandmother peered up at me from the driveway, her pink robe belted tight around her waist, a cup of coffee in her hand, her voice raised in alarm. “What on earth are you doing?”

“Fixing the torn shingles,” I yelled down. “It rained last night. My bedroom had a puddle in it.”

“Oh dear.” She sounded distressed. “Zoe, honey, you don’t like heights.”

I loved my grandmother, but she was gifted at stating the obvious. “As long as I don’t look down, I’m fine. Go inside, grandma. This won’t take long. I just have to rip up this row of shingles and replace them with new ones.”

“Let’s hire someone to do this.”

“It’s only going to take me thirty minutes, Grandma,” I said. “Tell you what, you make pancakes, and by the time you are done cooking, I’ll be finished.”

She shook her head disapprovingly, but she went inside, without protesting once again. My grandmother wasn’t a fool. I didn’t need to explicitly state that we couldn’t afford to hire someone to come and fix the roof. If I wanted to live in a leak-free house, even if only for the next eighty-two days, I’d have to fix it myself.

“Alright, Zoe,” I told myself, once my grandmother was out of earshot. “You can do this. You saw the YouTube video. This is going to be a piece of cake.” I glared at my right hand, which was shaking like a leaf. I really, really hated heights. Any moment, I was going to throw up the two cups of coffee I’d had this morning.

“What on earth are you doing?” a loud male voice interrupted, startling me so much that I almost fell to the ground. “Zoe Robinson, are you insane?”

I looked down to see the man who had kissed me at the gala yesterday, who had played a starring role in my dreams all night long. Ryder Drake was at the base of the ladder, looking up at me, a furious expression on his face.

Suddenly, the churning in my stomach had nothing to do with my fear of heights, and everything to do with the man who was climbing up next to me.

* * *

“Are you shingling the roof?” He sounded absolutely astonished as he walked surefootedly along the edge of the roof until he reached me. He folded himself down next to me and surveyed my collection of tools with a peculiar expression on his face.

I nodded. “I am. What are you doing here, Mr. Drake? And how did you know where I lived?”

“Google.” He ignored the rest of my question. “Have you shingled a roof before?”

“I have not.” My voice was lofty. “But I’m handy enough, and I watched a YouTube video. Did you come here to critique my every move?” I glared at him, but that turned out to be a mistake. I caught a glimpse of the ground, and my skin turned clammy. Oh God, I was going to be sick all over Ryder Drake.

“Are you ill?” There was sudden concern in his voice.

“I’m afraid of heights,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “Mr. Drake, I’m twenty feet off the ground. Can we chat later?”

“For fuck’s sake,” he snapped at me. “Zoe, stop this nonsense before you hurt yourself. Come on down, and I’ll call someone to fix your roof for you.”

“Can’t pay them.” I kept my voice light. “Thank you for the offer, though.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m not going to bill you, Zoe,” he said, exasperation coloring his voice. “Will you please come down? I need to talk to you about something.”

I frowned at him. Come to think of it, he didn’t look as self-assured as he had last night. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his hair was messy. He was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, and he had a pair of battered sneakers on his feet. He looked very un-billionaire this morning.

I seized upon the most obvious explanation for his disarray. “Did Brad do something after I left?” I asked. “I already told you. I don’t control Brad.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can handle Wexley,” he said. “No, I need to talk to you about a personal matter.” His fingers closed over my wrist. “Please?”

It was the please that did it. Ryder Drake was asking for a favor, not barking out orders? I didn’t know him at all, but I still didn’t think this moment happened very often.

* * *

“What?” I was aware that my mouth hung open in shock, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Did I just hear Ryder say he needed to marry me?

“I need you to marry me,” he repeated, a thread of impatience in his voice. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

This had to be some kind of elaborate practical joke, but I failed to see the humor in the situation. “After one kiss?” I quipped, trying to calm my fluttering nerves. My heart galloped in my chest, and my head spun. My body was reacting as if I was still balanced at the edge of the roof, looking down. “I’m flattered.”

He laughed at that. A short, reluctant bark of laughter, but a laugh nonetheless. “Indeed,” he noted wryly. “Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”

“That’s a good idea,” I muttered. I’d taken him into our living room, and had shut the door so that my grandmother couldn’t eavesdrop on our conversation. Not that she’d ever stoop to that level. She had far too much class for that. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”

“No thanks,” he declined. He hesitated for a few seconds, not meeting my eyes, then he exhaled. “I really want to build Drake Towers,” he said.

“Why?” Ryder Drake’s resume was already crazy impressive. He’d won the Mies van der Rohe Award when he was twenty-five for his design of the national concert hall in Oslo. In a decade, possibly sooner, he would be a shoo-in for a Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in the world of architecture. Drake Towers was only one building.

He frowned. “What do you mean, why? I want to leave a legacy in the city I grew up in. Isn’t that understandable?”

“I guess.” I shrugged. “If I were a billionaire, maybe I’d slow down and enjoy my money, not throw myself into one project after another.”

He raised an eyebrow. “We are getting away from the point,” he said.

I resisted the urge to snort. “Pardon my attempt to try and make some sense of the marriage proposal,” I said dryly. “Please, carry on.”

His lips compressed into a tight line. Annoyance? Amusement? I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. “The second thing you need to know is that a long time ago, I was involved briefly with Bianca Russo.”

I was sure the shock I felt showed on my face. “Oh.”

“Trust me, it was a very long time ago, and it’s entirely in the past,” he clarified. “At least, it is for me. However, last night, Bianca indicated that she wanted to pick up where we left off.”

“Oh,” I said again. I wasn’t sure why I felt a stab of jealousy in my heart. Ryder had kissed me just once on impulse. I didn’t have a claim on him.

“Indeed,” he said. “Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned about the consequences of turning her down, but…”

“Bianca controls twenty council members,” I finished. The Russo voting block was a poorly kept secret. One only had to look at the records to see that a good portion of city council voted in lockstep with Bianca.

“Exactly.” He sounded admiring? “In any case, I did turn her down last night.” His dark eyes rested on mine, trapping me in his gaze. “To soften the blow, I told her I was about to propose to the woman I was in love with.”

It took me more than a few seconds to realize he meant me. “What?” I gasped when I connected the dots. “You’re joking.”

“I never joke about my work,” he replied, his voice curt. He exhaled. “Last night, you said you weren’t seeing anyone.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess I didn’t really think it through. In the town hall meeting, you seemed really passionate about the park. I thought that we could…”

“We could what? I’d marry you, and in return, you’d build a nicer playground?” This was insane.

“Like I said, it seemed to matter to you.”

“Not that much.” My head was spinning. A large part of me was still in shock. What Ryder was asking was insane. Crazy. Entirely unprecedented.

But a tiny part of me, the part that would do anything to help my grandmother, began to pay attention. I needed money. A lot of it. Desperately. And I couldn’t think of another way to get it. “I won’t do it for the park,” I said slowly. “But I will do it for money.” I swallowed. “Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

He lifted his head and surveyed me in silence for a long time. “So money does really buy everything,” he said at last. “Ironic, after your protests to the contrary last night. I hadn’t pegged you for a greedy sort, Zoe.”

Neither had I. Funny the things I could manage to do when my back was up against the wall. But his words still stung. “You don’t know me, Ryder,” I snapped. “We owe the city two hundred thousand dollars in back taxes, and if we can’t pay it in eighty-two days, my grandmother’s going to get evicted. And the house is falling apart, and I need some cash for urgent repairs. You can call it greedy. I prefer to think of it as survival.”

He nodded, the expression in his eyes unreadable. “Fine,” he said. “You’ll do it, then?”

“How long would this marriage last?” I tried to conceal my nerves, keeping my fingers cupped around my cup of coffee so that Ryder couldn’t see my hands shake.

“The city council vote’s been delayed because of the addition of the park and the playground,” he said, his voice all business. “It’ll probably take six months to get the project approved. If you are on board, I’ll have my lawyer draw up a contract for a six-month marriage. The day you sign it, I’ll transfer two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to your account.”

“And I can clear the property tax debt.” A weight lifted off my shoulders. It sounded too good to be true. “Can I keep working?”

“No,” he said flatly. “Bianca recognized you from the town hall. I managed to divert her, but she’s still suspicious. You can’t do anything to make waves. Everyone has to believe that this is real. That we are in love with each other.” His voice turned arrogant. “My wife wouldn’t work as a receptionist.”

I snorted. “Elitist much?”

He looked uncompromising. “Quit your job, Zoe.”

I shook my head. If Ryder Drake thought I was going to do whatever he wanted like a mindless puppet, he was about to be very surprised. “What if I don’t find a job easily when our marriage ends?” I challenged. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Damn it.” He ran his hands through his hair once again in a gesture of frustration. “Surely there must be something you want to do that isn’t menial labor.”

Menial labor my ass. Some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Ryder Drake was evidently born with a golden rod up his ass. But his words did make me think. “I’ve always wanted to go to college,” I confessed. “I just couldn’t afford it.”

“Perfect.” A satisfied smile flashed on his face as a solution to his problem suggested itself. “I’ll throw in college tuition as part of our deal.”

“Can I start college right away?” I bargained. I didn’t know why I was still negotiating. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and college tuition were more than a fair exchange for six months of marriage. “I can’t see myself as a socialite.”

“Neither can I,” he said dryly. “Sure. As long as you don’t schedule classes in the evening, that’s fine by me. I’ll be at work during the day anyway.” He looked up. “One more condition, and an important one. No one can know our marriage isn’t real. Not even your friend Brad.”

“Deal,” I agreed readily. “My grandmother can’t know either,” I stressed to Ryder. “She’ll never forgive me if she knew.”

His expression softened. “You love her very much,” he said quietly.

“I do.” I stared into my now-empty coffee cup, wondering how much of the truth I should tell Ryder. “My mother is an alcoholic. She took off to Vancouver shortly after I was born. I haven’t seen her since.” My mouth twisted, and I swallowed back the familiar lump in my throat. “Grandma took me in. Took care of me, brought me up. Kept me out of the foster system. She would have never fallen behind on her taxes if it hadn’t been for the burden of raising me.”    

My entire body started to shake. I was in shock. I’d never been engaged; I’d never even come close. And now I was going to marry Ryder Drake in exchange for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I needed some time for it to sink in.

“Hey.” He moved quickly and sat next to me, pulling me into his arms. His voice was gentle. “I know this is unorthodox, but we aren’t hurting anyone.” He kissed my forehead. “You are a good person, Zoe Robinson.”

I sniffed, blinking back the tears that filled my eyes. “This is weird,” I confessed, with a shaky laugh. “I’ve never done something like this before.”

He chuckled. “Me neither,” he said, a pensive note in his voice. “But yet, here we are.” His fingers found my palm, and he brought his lips down to it. “Will you marry me, Zoe?”

Sensation filled my body at that kiss. An ache started at my core, threatening to consume me. The attraction I felt for him last night hadn’t gone away. If nothing, it was more powerful than before.

And because of how intense my need was, I knew I had to make one thing clear. I could cope with a fake marriage, but if I needed to protect my feelings, I couldn’t sleep with him. Even though I really wanted to. “No sex,” I whispered. “That will only complicate things.”

He stayed silent for a very long time. “Okay,” he said finally. “If that’s what you want.”

It wasn’t what I wanted at all. Not even close. But I nodded firmly and lied through my teeth. “It is.”

He rose to his feet. “I’ll have the contract drawn up,” he said. “In the meanwhile, why don’t you introduce me to your grandmother? I am joining the family, after all.”