Forever With The CEO: A marriage of convenience romance (The Whitley Brothers)

The next morning, things were a little bit crazy. The twins woke up unhappy, which sometimes happened. Only today it was problematic because we were on a schedule, and they disliked being on a schedule. Especially on Saturday mornings. I bribed them with gummy bears, and they dutifully dressed in their outfits.

At nine o’clock on the dot, the doorbell rang.

“Leo is picking us up,” I told Annie and Jack. They were sitting on the staircase, looking so pretty that I wanted to cry. If only Nora could see them now… They were truly adorable.

“Who is Leo?” Jack asked. I wanted to fist-pump the air every time he said something. After his parents died, he really withdrew into himself, but after four months, we were finally making some headway. The daycare was partially to thank for that.

“Uncle Nick’s brother. He’s driving us.”

“Okay.”

I opened the door to find Leo smiling broadly. I hadn’t seen him more than once or twice over the years, probably.

“Hi, Allison. Nice to see you again.”

“Likewise. Those are Nick’s?” I pointed to the two huge suitcases next to him.

“Exactly.”

“Just leave them here by the entrance.”

Leo rolled them inside, then turned to me. “Damn, you look a lot like a bride.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I raised a brow.

“Nothing. We all just assumed…”

“I like to dress up.” Then I made a shushing sign and glanced at the twins. “They don’t know everything,” I whispered.

“Right.” Turning to them, he said, “Uncle Nick told me that you’re Annie and Jack.” He pointed at Jack when he said Annie and vice versa.

“No, doofus,” Annie said, and I gasped.

“Annie. We don’t call people doofus.”

“I didn’t know it was a bad word,” she replied.

It wasn’t per se, but I just hadn’t expected her to use it. Had she picked it up at daycare?

“All right, group, let’s go.”

Both twins came with their hands stretched forward, which meant that they wanted me to hold their hands. We drove in my car because I already had the car seats there.

On the way, I asked Leo, “Is the family already there?”

“Yes. Mom too. She can’t wait to meet you.”

“Oh.” Suddenly I felt a lot of pressure. “Um… how is she? I need to know how I can impress her.”

Leo gave me a shit-eating grin that looked a lot like Nick’s. “You don’t have to impress her, Allison. Trust me, she already loves you.”

That caught me off guard. “Wait, what?”

“Because you managed to get Nick to say yes.”

“I… That’s not… I mean, she knows, right? Nick said she did.”

“Yes, and she totally ignores it. She acts as if it’s, like, a real thing.” Leo sounded as miffed as I felt.

“That’s bizarre,” I whispered.

“I know. But Mom works in mysterious ways. Gran is kind of singing the same tune.”

“So, your grandmother and your mother get along well?” I asked.

Leo glanced at me before focusing on the road. “How much do you know from Nick?”

“He told me some things, but… You know what? Forget I asked. This is only, like, the third time I’ve seen you. You don’t have to share any personal things with me.”

“You’re part of the family, Allison. There are no secrets between us. I wouldn’t say they’re exactly friends, but they do communicate regularly. Maddox, Nick, and I were worried about Mom attending the event along with our half brothers, but so far everyone’s been civil.”

“I can’t even imagine how difficult that situation is.”

“It’s hardest for Mom, so it’s even more surprising that she wanted to come. But it’s good to see her. She’s not in Boston very often. She keeps asking us to travel to wherever she is in Asia, but we never really do. And—”

The twins started to fight then over who had more gummy bears, and I spent the rest of the route half turned around while trying to play referee—pretty unsuccessfully.

Miraculously, they stopped as soon as we pulled up in front of city hall. It took me a second to realize it was because Nick was coming to the car.

“Uncle Nick looks like me,” Jack said proudly.

Will you look at that? This was the day that Jack decided to start speaking more. I loved my little boy so much.

When Nick opened my door, I practically jumped out of the car. He took a step back, looking me up and down.

“You look stunning.” His voice was laced with surprise.

I turned around once on the spot. “It’s an actual bridal gown, albeit a bit of an unusual one. I didn’t want to show up here underdressed.” He looked absolutely handsome in his suit.

He opened the door to the back, and in no time at all, we got the twins out of the car seats.

“Uncle Nick, doesn’t Auntie Allison look pretty?” Annie asked.

Looking straight into her eyes, Nick said, “Yes, she does. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”

His words went right to my heart, I swear. Did he mean it? No, he was probably just saying that because he knew it would make Annie happy.

He took both of them in his arms, which was the sexiest thing ever. Carrying one kid in each arm was no small feat. They were very heavy. I could barely lift Annie, let alone Jack. We headed toward a huge group just outside city hall.

“Hi, everyone!” My stomach was suddenly somersaulting, like it was preparing for bungee jumping. I searched the crowd, but Violet and Danielle, my friends, weren’t here yet.

“All right, everyone. Some of you know Allison, others don’t, so let’s get introductions out of the way,” Nick said, putting the twins down. They were both still holding his hands, though.

“I’ve got this,” I assured him.

Over the next few minutes, I introduced myself to everyone. It was impossible to remember who was who. I vaguely knew who Maddox was, but I’d never met the rest, and I got all of their names mixed up.

“By the way, I’m sorry we didn’t get to throw you a bachelorette party,” the woman named Meredith said. “Everything happened too fast.”

“We’re very good with celebrations,” yet another woman said. I think she was Natalie. She had a cute baby in her arms who kept fussing about. I wanted to reach for the baby and hold her close.

Since the twins moved in with me, I’d started having baby fever. Before, I’d never had that in my life.

“The group is complete,” Nick said. “We should go upstairs.”

“Actually, Violet and Danielle aren’t here yet,” I said. “But they know which room we’re in. They can join us upstairs whenever they arrive.”

Nick opened the door, and just as we were both about to walk in, I heard Bob call, “We’re here too.”

I sighed. Secretly, I’d been hoping they’d missed their plane or something.

I swear I felt a current of awareness go through the group.

Panic rose in my throat. “Nick, your family—”

“I told them everything about Bob and Sophie.”

It was such a weird feeling to realize that I could trust him.

Bob and Sophie looked like they were attending a movie premiere. Oh, for God’s sake. They were a bit ridiculous. Bob was wearing a suit, but it was far too shiny for this time of day. Sophie had on a floor-length black dress. You’d think she was attending the Oscars, not a ceremony at city hall.

They made a beeline for us.

“Bob, Sophie. I see you made it in time,” Nick said.

“Yes, we did our best,” Bob replied dryly.

“Let’s all go in,” Nick urged. “Otherwise, we’ll be late, and city hall works on a very tight schedule. We’ll leave introductions for later.”

“Don’t worry,” his grandma said. I remembered distinctly that her name was Jeannie Whitley. She looked at me with so much kindness that I wanted to hug her.

Nick released Annie’s hand to put an arm around my waist, keeping me almost glued to him. For a split second, I was confused as to why. Then I realized that with Bob and Sophie here, we had to act like a couple. It was a good thing I’d splurged on this gorgeous dress; otherwise, they would have gotten suspicious right away.

Up close, I couldn’t miss the smell of his aftershave. It went straight to my head. I even felt a little lightheaded.

Annie came to the other side of me, giving me her hand. A knot formed in my throat. We looked so much like a family.

It’s not real, Allison. All this is so that the twins stay with you, but you can’t expect Nick to be in the picture forever. At least not in this capacity.

The twins would be sad further down the road when Nick parted ways with us, but I couldn’t think that far ahead. I needed to take it one step at a time.

Our room was on the second floor. I was stunned when I stepped out of the elevator and saw gorgeously decorated signs with our names pointing toward the room. There were balloons as well.

I looked at Nick in surprise, and he winked at me. “I told Frances to go all out.”

“Why?” I whispered.

“Why not? You told me you were in the mood to celebrate. I figured you’d enjoy this.”

I was about to ask what “all out” meant, but it became obvious when we stepped into the room. I assumed this was going to be a very terse city hall room. Normally, it probably was, unless it was professionally decorated by someone who clearly knew how to do weddings. There were flowers pretty much everywhere, along with balloons and even a photographer in the corner to commemorate the event.

“Nick,” I murmured, “this is too much.”

“Nah. It’s exactly right.”