I’ve never slept on such an expensive couch before, let alone next to an infant sleeping in a cardboard box.

Alexa only wakes up once during the night, which is lucky. I feed her some of the formula from the diaper bag, give her a quick change, and get her back to sleep. Logan pokes his head into the room, clearly not sleeping, but I send him away. It’s weird enough that I’m going to marry him, I don’t need to spend all night with him, either.

The next morning, he wakes up early and gets us breakfast. “Take this,” he says, handing me a credit card.

“What for?”

“Buy whatever Alexa needs. I have a nanny coming over to watch her while you go out.”

“I guess I’m not going to work,” I say.

He shrugs. “You can take a day off.”

I sigh. “I didn’t picture myself buying baby stuff today.”

“I didn’t picture myself marrying you and becoming a father, but things change.” He hesitates and sighs. “Thanks for doing this.”

“You’re welcome.”

Fortunately, he doesn’t linger too long. I don’t know why, but being around him gives me a strange feeling. It’s not a bad feeling, far from it, in fact. I feel good when I’m around him. Although he’s pushed me hard in the past, the way he’s handling this makes me think that he really is a good person deep down at heart.

Plus, he’s handsome as hell, and now I can’t stop thinking about becoming his wife. What does that even mean, anyway? It won’t be real, of course. It’ll just be for show. But we’ll have to live together and I will help him take care of Alexa. We’re going to be living in very, very close quarters for a while.

I don’t know what it means that the very thought of sleeping in the same bed as him makes me excited.

The nanny shows up about a half hour after Logan leaves, and so I head out to buy everything we need. I spend a stupid amount of money getting a crib and all the furniture and toys we’ll need. I hire some guys to go into his apartment and to set everything up, and it all costs double since we’re doing it in such a rush. But Logan told me to do whatever needs to be done, and so I’m taking him at his word.

It takes me all day and a bunch of trips, but finally I get most of what we need, or at least all the big stuff. I’m sure more things will crop up as we go along, but at least I can safely feed her, change her, and we have a place for her to sleep. She doesn’t seem to mind the formula, which is really good. I know some babies can be fussy about that, so I’m thankful Alexa isn’t one of them.

I relieve the nanny from duty around six that night and Logan still isn’t home yet. I carry Alexa into her bedroom and feed her a bottle while sitting in the rocking chair I had set up next to the crib for late night feedings. She seems so peaceful, and I have a sudden stab of surreal emotion as I watch her drink her pre-bed bottle.

I don’t know what I’m doing here. Logan is basically a stranger to me, but suddenly I’m in his life in a serious way. I’m going to marry this man and for what, for money? I don’t care about money that much, although $1 million seems pretty good. The promotion will be nice, but the promotion isn’t it, either.

I think it’s him. I think I want to help him more than anything else. He’s such an arrogant bastard at work, but seeing him totally out of his depth made me realize that he’s just a man like everyone else. He’s an impressive man, handsome and rich and intelligent, but still just a man. He seems so much more accessible now.

I want to know him. I know there’s more to Logan than meets the eye, but I only got a single glimpse of that person last night. Marrying him and lying for him is probably just about the most insane and absurd way of getting to know him, but I know it’ll work at least. And he really does need someone to help him take care of this baby, even if it’ll only be temporary.

I get Alexa down around six-thirty and head back into the kitchen to make myself something to eat. The door to the apartment opens not long later and Logan comes in.

“Hey,” he says, dropping his bag on the table.

“How was work?” I ask him.

He can’t help but grin a little bit. “Good,” he says.

“What?” I ask, smiling back at him.

“That just felt… normal.”

I laugh a little. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“And there’s nothing normal about this arrangement.”

“No, there really isn’t.”

He eyes me for a second and I feel exposed, though I don’t know why. I have to look away from his intense gaze.

“How is everything?” he asks.

“It’s all set up,” I say. “Crib, changing station, toys, everything.”

“How is she?”

“Asleep,” I say. “You can go see her if you want.”

He hesitates. “She’s still a stranger to me.”

“I know,” I say softly. “Give it time.”

He nods. “Thanks, Everly.” He cocks his head at me. “Do you want to, uh, go home?”

I bite my lip. “I probably should, at least to get some stuff.”

He smirks at me. “Since you’ll be staying here.”

“I mean, we are going to be married.”

“All part of the illusion, right?”

“If you’re implying that I want to move in with you, think again.”

He laughs softly. “Oh, please. It’s not so bad here.”

I glance at the view. “I guess not.”

“Go ahead, go home and get what you need. You can have whichever room you want.”

“Thanks.” I motion at the baby monitor. “You can see and hear her, in case she wakes up.”

He looks afraid for half a second. “Will she wake up?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But you’ll be okay. Just check her diaper and see if she’s hungry. I’ll be back soon.”

“Right. Diaper and bottle.”

“You going to be okay?”

He shrugs and grins at me. “It’s just a baby. I think I can handle a baby.”

“Of course you can.” I watch him for a second before gathering up my stuff.

He turns on the baby monitor and watches her sleeping as I get myself together. I feel something strange, watching him like that. He seems totally engrossed with it, like he enjoys looking at her.

“I’ll be back soon,” I say to him.

He glances at me. “Okay.”

I give him one more look before leaving the apartment.

I know I don’t need to be worried. He’s going to take to fatherhood. He just needs a little time to get adjusted. But I know he’s going to be okay. You don’t look at a baby the way he was if you’re going to be a bad father. He just needs to learn.

I’ll teach him how to take care of her. And hopefully I’ll get through this in one piece.