My neck cramps holding the phone to my ear. “So Vegas is out?” I drop my water bottle into my bag getting ready to leave the gym. I find my car keys and swing my bag over my shoulder waving to Jax who is far enough away he can’t hear my conversation while spotting one of his trainees. He’s my best friend who doesn’t know about my plan yet. Guilt weasels it’s way into my head and heart. I’ve told him everything from the time we were five, but this feels different.

“Is that a joke? Please tell me you’re joking. I’m telling you Piper, you can’t go to Vegas or do a quickie wedding if you want this to look legitimate. Those immigration officers are hard asses.” Natalie scolds me. I hear a filing cabinet shut on her end of the call, she’s still at work.

“I’m kidding.”

Once I’m seated inside my car I pick at my nail thinking about my long list of things to do. Milo said we have forty days but it’s been two already so technically we’re on day thirty-eight of the countdown.

“You better be, I don’t need that kind of heart attack.”

“We still need to fill out the application.” Luckily Maryland doesn’t require a blood test to get married. Good thing because I have an appointment with the vampires in an hour to donate blood for Maisy.

“Yes, and then you both wait the mandatory two days before you do it.” Natalie sounds exasperated with me. I’ve been peppering her with a mutiltude of questions the internet couldn’t answer about marrying a non US citizen.

Jesting I say, “Is that the chicken shit clause?”

“The what?” Natalie doesn’t see the humor in my joke. I might need to schedule teaching four or five daily pilates and cycle classes to keep the edge off my nerves.

“You know, in case we get the cold feet sort of thing.”

Her sigh makes the phone connection fuzzy. “Are you getting cold feet about this?”

Don’t lie, don’t lie, don’t lie.

Yes, but I don’t tell her that in my pause and essentially lie because all I’ve thought about is Milo’s almost kiss and what the real thing might be like.

“No, I’m good.” Brushing it off was easier said than done.

“Piper, as your lawyer and good friend who happens to practice law, although not this type of law specifically. I highly advise against something like this.”

“We agreed.” I check my mirrors to see if Jax has followed me out to ask what’s wrong. He knows I’m off, I tell him everything but avoiding him for two days is a huge red flag and he’s going to catch me sooner rather than later. I see a large Jax-like body heading for the glass door and I start the car driving in reverse out of my spot.

Delay and run is my new tactic.

“What do you even know about this guy?” Natalie presses.

I know he’s a great doctor, he cares about his patients, oh and he kisses like he’s stealing your soul even though he never touched my lips. I keep that little gem of information to myself.

“He’s a doctor specializing in children’s cancer and research. He’s been great to Maisy and Diana.”

“Is there a contract? Anything on paper? A prenup? I know Isaac can draw one up if you’re worried. Shit we didn’t think about assets we only reviewed the legalities.”

“Natalie thank you, but I think Milo and I can manage. I bet he has more assets than I do.”

“He could have a shit ton of debt, student loans, and who knows what his mortgage is like for his house in Federal Hill.”

“Ugh, did you call a private investigator? It’s been less than fourty-eight hours since I told you about this.” I try to focus driving on the road as I recall both Diana and Natalie’s reactions when I told them right away. Diana was happy shocked. Natalie was less so putting it mildly.

Natalie ignores my question completely. “Pip, you have partnerships with two gyms in two different states.”

“Yeah, and huge loans to cover until we start breaking even. My life consists of working non-stop and visiting Maisy.” I can’t even think about the financial stress of being a business owner right now. Jax and his brother Will Holden have been my friends longer than Diana and this gym expansion is our baby. We’ve been working on building our brand and gym culture getting this off the ground. Those two Holden brothers are going to be pissed I didn’t share this with them. Luckily Will is in Austin and I’ve got Jax, the calmer of the two to deal with.

“You know I’m coming to the wedding just to meet this guy.”

I snort. “Of course you are. It’ll be at the hospital chapel since Maisy can’t leave right after her chemo.” I want to have her as my flower girl. Babies totally distract Natalie.

“How is that sweet child?”

“Awesome. I’m actually I’m my way to donate blood.” When I learned Maisy and I had the same blood type I donate when possible. It’s one of the few things I can do in case she ever needs a transfusion.

“Drink lots of juice.”

“I will. See you soon.”

“Later, Pip.” We hang up and I’m grateful for Natalie’s concern. She pulled in the big guns having her boss Isaac look over any legalities we might need to know about. So far things are a go. Milo and I plan to get together and talk about the details but things have been hectic with both of us working. Our communication has consisted of brief calls betweens teaching classes and seeing patients. Milo is collecting all his paperwork so we can fill out the application at the court house in one shot, but I haven’t seen him since the day I went to his office.

Going straight to the clinic after teaching a class at the gym I realize how silly it is to skip a proper lunch. I’m light headed, fainter than normal and I slide into the wall squeezing my eyes shut. Today I’m definitely feeling off more than usual.

I blame stress.

And a certain hot doctor.

I have plans to hangout with Maisy. Diana is popping over to the office dropping off files for Natalie and meeting us later for dinner in Maisy’s room. We can’t go outside since she spiked a fever and developed a cough they are monitoring with her upcoming treatment. Right now her immune system is weak and there’s little to do except entertain her and keep her in good spirits.

“Piper?” Thick arms wrap around me holding me against a warm chest. My eyelids slide closed as I lean in and smell Milo’s spicy clean scent that’s peppered with the hospital smell. My nose wrinkles. He’s wrapped himself around me holding me up and I have no desire to untangle myself yet.

I sigh into him. “I’m okay.”

“You’re white as paper. Let’s get you sitting down before you fall.”

“Milo, seriously, I’m fine. I just donated blood.” I should have taken the juice they offered instead of trying to leave right away to get to Maisy. Milo is sweet but annoying attempting to boss me around. I’m definitely not used to it. Day thirty-eight I remind myself and we haven’t even tied the knot yet.

“You’re not fine and I’ll carry you if you keep insisting differently.” He’s been difficult since my impromptu proposal. Those short phone calls, if those are any indication of the future, lead me to believe he’s a bossy pants. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Looking up into dark eyes that melt me from the center out I sulk, “Maisy.”

“Maisy is fine playing with a few kids her age in the playroom. I just saw her, her fever is down.” Milo helps me walk and guides me into a small exam room propping me against the table. He opens a drawer and pulls out a few items I can’t see.

“I’m not playing doctor with you.” I don’t admit how good it feels to sit down.

“Not even naughty nurse?” I don’t respond to that and he laughs.

“No.”

“Someone is grumpy when their blood sugar is low.”

“I am not.”

“Really?” Drolly he snaps gloves on.

“Milo.” I’m too tired to argue when he takes my hand.

“Finger.” He follows with a sharp prick pinching my finger. He squeezes blood on to a strip.

“What are you a vampire? I just saw them down the hall.” I howl with pain.

“It didn’t hurt, stop being dramatic.” He rolls his eyes ignoring me.

“If this is your idea of kinky–”

“Shush, Piper.” He waits until the machine beeps. “It’s low. Told you so.”

“Told you so.” I mimic his slightly accented voice. Milo doesn’t think its funny and I clear my throat feeling embarrassed under his censure.

“Drink this juice and sit here for a minute.” His voice is low and a bit domineering.

“I said I was fine.”

“And I said sit and stay.” He wraps the tip of my finger in a band aide. Yup, totally bossy.

“I’m not a dog.”

“No, but the urge to spank you increases with each passing minute.” Whoa! He’s grouching and the comment startles me even though it’s said with a smile. If this is what married life will be like with Doctor Domineering I might have to rethink a few things. Maybe I should call Natalie and ask her about contracts?

I sip the apple juice box trying to not pout. The band aide on my finger is pink with princesses on it and I remember I’m on the children’s floor. He’s sweet, he cares, but if he pricks my finger again I will kick him in the balls.

“Why did you do that?” I stare at the cartoon painting on the wall instead of him directly. I can’t converse with him, his gypsy eyes might hypnotize me and his voice like honey might command me to get naked. I’m not saying no exactly, but yeah I haven’t fully wrapped my mind around his idea of a real marriage because in a normal world, in a normal situation there would have been dating and all that jazz to proceed this. Oh, and love. We were missing that too.

“Do what?” He hums throwing out the trash in the metal bin.

“Test my blood sugar.”

“Curiosity?”

“Weirdo maybe.” I grump slurping the juice box loudly.

“Habit I guess? Some of the chemo treatments leave other body systems compromised so I’m having to check levels all the time.”

“So you’re not planning on doing this when we get married or anything right?”

He husks, “No, I expect we’ll both want a full workup, you know since this will be a real marriage and all that.”

“Yeah I get that, sex and stuff.”

“I’m assuming you’re on birth control. Or are we planning on using condoms?”

“I’m sorry what?” I gulp the last of the juice nearly choking on it. He takes that and throws out the trash. Now I’m sure I’ve lost not only blood from the vampire sticker, but my mind as well.

“I’m pretty frank about these things.” He stands against the wall watching me. The distance feels like electrical currents jumping between us, or I’m still feeling the effects of donating blood. Either way its disorientating with his warm eyes following my every movement.

“Don’t call me Shirley.” I mumble attempting to put some emotional distance between us by checking out the band aide on my finger with renewed interest.

“Who is Shirley?” Obviously he never saw the movie.

“Uh, never mind.” He won’t get the movie reference to Airplane if I try explaining it and I wonder what it was like growing up in Georgia. Instead I ask, “So sex?”

“Kind of takes the spontaneity away don’t you think if I’m always reaching for a condom?” He steps away from the wall and I put a hand up stopping him. He stays put for all of one second.

“Huh, yeah.” I manage to say watching him move about the room with ease I don’t have. He says this like we’re going to be having a lot of sex. A freak ton of sex. I’m not opposed, its just that this is all new. Up until two days ago I was the logical one, but the table has been flipped upside down and I’m drifting without an anchor.

“This will be a real marriage, Piper.” His phone buzzes and he reaches into his pocket checking it not once taking his eyes off of me. He doesn’t answer turning it off. All I can do is stare at his semi-erect cock in his pants and swallow back anything smart mouthed to say. I thought we could sign some papers and then go about our merry way. Apparently Milo Lazare has other ideas. The last forty-eight hours have been very strange indeed.

“What is the saying, you might as well give me a test drive?” Oh no he isn’t using his lack of idioms to get to me. Arms spread wide, he shrugs smiling and I want to grab something, anything to hit him.

“Test drive?” I stare at the way his dress shirt stretches across his wide muscular chest, the buttons threatening to pop. Being the gym nut I wonder what kind of workouts he does to stay in fantastic shape like this. I might lose more than my last name in this arrangement starting with an eye if the shirt buttons ping. I know I’m staring but so is he, and I feel like turnabout is fair play.

“I thought American women were more lax in their views on pre-marital sex?” I sputter in confusion. Milo couldn’t be a doctor, he had to be insane. We went from talking about getting married to getting his Visa status so he could save Maisy to having sex without condoms. Is this real life?

“Maybe this was a bad idea?” I whimper biting my lip. Me and my big mouth, my big stupid mouth offering to marry this hunk of man in a brash decision. Is is too late to blame Diana? Images of my sweet Maisy sting my eyes. She needs Milo, and if I am honest I want Milo, and we were out of options.

“Was I wrong?” He takes a step forward and my ass bumps into the exam table behind me. Oh this is wrong for certain, just not the kind of wrong he’s thinking.

“W-wrong?”

“Come on now, Piper. You can’t proposition me without at least knowing what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I-I can’t?” I make the mistake of looking down to see the outline of his cock tight against his dress pants that hide nothing. Abso-freaking-lutely nothing.

Milo lifts me up by my hips and places me on top of the table, paper crinkles under my butt and I shift to move back. “Of course not. It’s called due diligence.” I’m utterly speechless. I don’t get far when he grabs me again and pulls me forward pulling the paper with me.

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind for due diligence.” My hands press against his chest over his coat and my fingers trace his name embroidered on the pocket over his heart.

“No?”

“Definitely not.” My hand brushes against his pectorals slipping under the coat this time and those hard buttons press into my fingertips or maybe it’s the other way around, I can’t be sure. His cologne is light, spicy filling my nose. There is something totally wrong about being in here at the hospital but nether of us seem to care about the rules.

“Your pulse is elevated.” Holding my wrist, his eyes concentrate on the pulse of my skin under his fingertips.

“I’m weak from blood loss.” I cop out.

He snorts, “Nice try Piper.”

My other hand slides up around the collar of his dress shirt. His head leans down and for the first time I realize how tall he is standing flush against me. My thumb touches the pulse in his neck feeling the same thump-thump-thump-thump that’s coursing through my own body.

“Yours is elevated too.” My hand continues its travels pulling his head down to me. We are so close the only thing separating us is the faint scent of sweet apples from the juice. I lick my lips and taste them. It doesn’t satisfy me nearly as much as Milo’s lips.

“I was going to wait to kiss you, but fuck it.” Milo presses his lips against mine, chins extending to breach the distance. I don’t know why he would want to wait, heck I don’t want to wait. His nose rubs my face as he inhales.

“Piper.” Crooning his lips find mine again and our kiss deepens.

His mouth tastes mine, his tongue licks swirling inside my lips sucking on my tongue. I twirl my tongue with his stroking inside his mouth meeting his for each step of this slow dance. His mouth devours mine until he stops kissing my cheek with a tenderness I don’t expect.

“I guess you like apples?” I say feeling strangely shy.

Grunting he replies, “I like you.” It feels like he’s holding back and I don’t press him again.

I try diffusing the moment with humor. “An apple a day?”

“You’re not keeping me away.” He kisses me again drawing me deeper into his spell. I don’t have time to think about anything but him and where this is and isn’t going.

Temporary, right?

Divorce after a year, maybe two?

I hesitate needing something firmer to stand on. Maybe it’s too late to question our decision but I do it anyway. “We don’t even know each other.”

Milo frowns. “We don’t, but we could try. That’s why I wanted to wait to kiss you, but I’m not very good at denying myself.”

He laughs but it sounds strangled.

“What are you saying?”

“People have married for lesser reasons. In my country, marriages have often been arranged. When I think about it, is this really any different?” Milo moves in to kiss me all over again, but I lean back hands pressing his chest to put space between us. He obliges but doesn’t seem to like it. I’m still wrapping my mind around what he said.

“Arranged marriages?”

“Yes, I’m from Georgia. I’ve been in the US since medical school.” I hadn’t thought about what this would mean to him.

“So you’ve already thought about all of this.”

His hands run down my shoulders. The juice perked me up, but his eager kissing mouth left me hazy.

“I have. I think we can make this work. We’re a little short on time to court each other, but we’re adults.”

“Court?” Such an old fashion word, I hope he didn’t think I would turn into some pliant housewife kneeding bread at dawn.

“Ah, date.” Milo clarifies catching my hair in his hands pulling me in and I wonder what the hell I agreed to after all.

“Do we really have time for that?” I ask as I calculate the days in my head.

“For you I’ll make the time.” He tells me with a kiss on my forehead that lingers and I believe him.