The next few days are agony, having to wait for Milo to get back to Honolulu so he can get me the contract Maggie demanded. For someone who came up with the idea of marrying in the first place, he sure as hell has a million reasons why it’s a bad idea. I shoot them all down. One, I’m not afraid the woman I’m tying the knot with is a gold-digger. She could have asked for more money and I would have happily obliged, but she only wants enough to get her parents’ hotel back off the ground. She’s selfless, and that makes her even more attractive. It’s also the reason I’d never back out of our agreement at this point—she’s depending on me now, and there’s no fucking way I’m willing to let her down. So I send Milo on his way, ignoring the way he bitches and moans all the way out the door about learning to keep his big mouth shut.

Then, I text Maggie.

11:18 AM: I have what you asked for. Now … about what I requested?

It irritates me to no end that she doesn’t respond to my text. Instead, she stops by at the end of the day. She sweeps into the office I maintain in my private penthouse suite wearing the Bungalow’s front desk get-up—a white button up and tiny khaki shorts—and smelling like citrus and sunblock. It takes every ounce of willpower I possess, and there isn’t much left when it comes to Maggie, not to drag her to me and pop each one of those tiny buttons. Wrap my fingers around that long ponytail and tug. Bend her over my desk and show her just how crazy she’s driven me since the afternoon she asked for this contract.

Which is why I remain behind my desk. I can’t exactly talk business when my dick goes hard every time she lifts those green eyes in my direction. “Did my contractor get in touch with you?” I ask casually.

Nodding, she slides into the leather chair, crossing her bronze legs. Her brow knits together as she thumbs through the three-page document. The contract itself is simple. Maggie will marry me before spring, and all bills from the contractor handling the Bungalow’s repairs and renovations will come directly to me. To Milo’s frustration, I’d also proposed to pay her parents past due bills and get them current on their insurance. It’s obvious when she comes to that part, because she jerks her head back and then glances up at me from beneath her lashes.

“Gabe, I can’t—”

“Consider it an engagement gift.” She gulps hard, so I continue, “And it’s not up for negotiation. I want to do this.”

She exhales deeply and silently challenges me for several seconds before she finally bobs her head. I’m glad that she turns her focus back to the contract because it means she doesn’t catch the big ass grin splitting my features.

Tonight she’s all mine.

“So this is it,” she eventually murmurs. She gathers the contract into a neat stack and blows out another harsh breath. “We’re really doing this.”

“Unless you choose not to sign.” I cock an eyebrow when she licks her lip. “Cold feet already, beautiful?”

“No.” She shakes her head quickly, and I’m shocked at the relief that shoots through me. Five years ago—fuck, five months ago—I would have avoided this type of commitment like the plague. Now, here I am acting like a goddamn fool because I’m worried she might change her mind. Twisting the end of her ponytail around her fingers, she shrugs. “I’m going to sign. I’m just still trying to figure out how to tell my parents.”

Frowning, I stand and walk around to lean against the edge of the desk. “You make it sound like telling them is the end of the world.” She shoots me a wary look, and I chuckle. “You’re wounding my ego, Mrs. Carter.”

Her lips part open and she shivers a few seconds later when I reach out, tuck my finger beneath her chin, and gently close her mouth. Truth is, I love the idea of her having my last name.

“Not the end of the world,” she says huskily, “it’ll just be a surprise. I mean, they already like you after what you did earlier this week.”

“See, I’m not all bad, am I?”

My grin returns, and she snorts. “Don’t let it go to your head, Carter.”

There’s only one place I want my head to go tonight, and she’s clenching her thighs together like she knows exactly where that is. “You have no idea the things I want to do to you.” I slide close to her and frame her face in my hand. My gut churns with desire at the soft breath she lets out against my skin. “Fuck, Maggie, I can’t wait to get you in my bed.”

She closes her eyes and moans and then, she does something that confuses the hell out of me. She stumbles to her feet and clutches the contract close to her chest. “I’ll have an attorney look this over and will get it signed and back to you by tomorrow.”

Her words punch me square in the fucking balls. I blink. “What?”

Anxiously, she licks her lips and darts her eyes toward the door. “I’m going to have—”

“I heard you the first time,” I say. But what I want to know is why. I halfway get my answer when I grab her to me and a gasp forms in her throat. She’s nervous. “I want you.”

“I know, I…” She arches into me as my hands slide down to grip her ass. “I want you too, but you confuse me.”

“And you think I’ll be less confusing in a day or two after you get that contract signed?”

She laughs. It’s raspy and so fucking sexy that this time, I swear it’s my cock itself getting punched. “No, but at least I won’t be caught off guard.” I shake my head, and she flutters her eyes shut. “The part you added into the contract? About paying off my parents’ past due bills?”

If that’s keeping her from spending the night with me, I’ll have to hold off on giving her the ring until the day we say I do because I don’t want to scare her completely off. I groan but she stops me before I can say anything by putting her finger over my mouth. “Just … give me another day, okay? That way I can warm my parents up a little more to the idea of us being together.”

Setting my mouth in a tight line, I nod. “You’re killing me, beautiful.” But I’ll give her what she wants because I like seeing this woman happy. I flick my tongue out over her fingertip and she sucks in a breath and moans like it was her pussy instead.

Good.

I hope that keeps her up tonight because I sure as fuck won’t get any sleep.

* * *

She doesn’t come back on Thursday. Instead, she sends me a text that she’s got to go pick up some of her personal belongings that just arrived from North Carolina. By noon on Friday, two weeks to the day where she first strutted into my life, she still hasn’t returned the contract. Waiting in my office, I convince myself this will be the third weekend in a row where I’ll be stroking my dick in the shower and cursing her name. That she’s making me wait on purpose.

So when I get a call from the front desk shortly after four, I assume it’s to let me know that my appointment has arrived early. Then the clerk informs me that Maggie is here. Suddenly, the end of the week is looking even better. A smile spreads across my face. “Send her on up. And for future reference, make a note in the system that Miss Kinsella is free to enter any part of this hotel.”

“Yes, sir.” She sounds flustered but then I hear her telling Maggie that I’m available.

A few minutes later, she’s standing in front of my desk for the second time this week, her lip pulled between her teeth as she hands me a manila folder. I flip it open to find the contract, signed and notarized. “Sorry it took so long,” she eventually says. “And thank you for the flowers.”

Even though she doesn’t strike me as a flowers and candy kind of girl, I couldn’t resist sending the arrangement this morning. Judging by the ghost of a smile tilting the corners of her lips, it was a smart move. “Did your parents see?”

She drags a hand through her hair and laughs. “Dad’s given me so much shit about it all day. I swear if he said the words ‘I knew something was going on with you two,” one more time, I was about to scream. I—” At the soft knock at my office door, she cuts herself off. She glances over her shoulder and then back at me. “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d still be working this late in the afternoon.”

“I’m not.” Her green eyes follow me as I stride across the office. Stopping at the door, I give her a smirk. “I have an engagement with a friend.”

“A friend?” she repeats in a flat voice. She sticks her tongue in her cheek and then offers me a tight smile. “I don’t want to impose. Should I come back later or…”

“No.” She looks like she’s about to say something else, but then I open the door and her eyes widen as Kale walks in. He’s wearing a grin and already telling me about some new girl in his class that he’s planning on making a move on. I nod to Maggie. “I figured you’d come with us.”

She blinks up at me and then lowers her stare to Kale, eyes narrowing as she tries to make the connection. “Gabe…”

“Maggie, this is Kale Mahelona. Kale, this is Maggie.”

“Nice!” He steps forward, wiggling his eyebrows and grabs her hand. He moves his head to one side and gives her a slow onceover that would worry the fuck out of me if he weren’t ten years old and almost a foot shorter than her. “You Gabe’s girlfriend or something?”

“Thought your grandma told you to stop being so nosy.” When I flick the brim of his baseball cap, he scowls. I look at Maggie and hook my finger into the belt loop of her shorts before she can skulk away. “Kale’s grandparents work for me. I take him out every couple weeks to hit some balls at the batting cage.”

“I’m better than Gabe.” He grins from ear to ear, and I roll my eyes. This kid is as cocky as they come but one hell of a little ball player.

She blinks again, but her shoulders fall in relief. “Oh.” She fans her face and rolls her eyes up toward the ceiling. “I thought…”

“I know what you thought.” That I had a secret kid. I feel her eyes trained on my back as I grab my keys from my desk. I turn around to find her shuffling her feet and laughing at something he’s telling her. The kid’s probably moved on from the girl in his class to my fiancée. “Don’t buy anything he says to you, the guy is a ladies man.”

He snorts as she throws her head back and laughs. “I can’t help it, girls love me.”

“Actually, I was asking him how he puts up with you,” she admits.

“Yeah, well, you can see for yourself.” She crosses her arms over her chest, shaking her head as I add, “I want you to come.”

She knows exactly what I mean because she tears her gaze from mine and focuses it on Kale. He’s gushing about surfboards now and looks like he’s head over heels as soon as she tells him how much she loves to surf.

“So what’ll it be, beautiful?” I demand, pulling her attention back to me.

“Please, come watch me practice,” he pleads.

Her spine stiffens and she takes a few seconds before she faces me. The smile she sends my way lights up the entire room, this entire fucking hotel. “You know what, Carter? I wouldn’t miss this.”