That, finally, made Amelia smile, and relief washed over him all at once.
Her eyes narrowed at him, her lips twisting in deep thought. “Okay, fine,” she said at last. “We’ll give this relationship a trial run. I will date you, Tyler, but there are some ground rules I want to lay down first. Number one, no one is to know we’re married, or that I’m pregnant. Especially not your family. Did you tell anyone?”
“No,” he said quickly. He’d never thought their marriage would last as long as it had. His family loved Amelia, but he wouldn’t get their hopes up for nothing.
“Okay. My three coworkers found out this morning, but they’re the only ones and that’s how I want it to stay. Number two, I’m putting a time limit on this so it doesn’t drag on too long. You’ve got thirty days to win me over. And I mean it. I want to be wooed, Tyler. I want romance and passion and excitement. You’re not going to get off easy because we’re friends. I’m going to be harder on you because you should know what I want and need.”
A wide grin broke out across his face. Tyler never backed down from a challenge, and this wouldn’t be any different. He could win her over in thirty days, no problem. He knew her better than he knew himself. She just had to let him try. “That’s fair.”
Amelia turned to look across the coffee shop and survey her surroundings. She sighed heavily and shook her head. She seemed disappointed by everything that had happened. Worn down. He didn’t like seeing her that way. If there was one thing he loved the most about her, it was her optimism when it came to love. She believed—really, truly believed—in the power of love. But she didn’t believe in them. He would change that. To make it happen, he would lift her up, make her smile, make her believe this was the right choice for them both, even if he wasn’t entirely sure of it himself.
“All I’ve ever wanted,” she said softly, “was a marriage like my grandparents have. They’ve been happily married for fifty-seven years, and they’re just as in love today as they were the day they got married. That’s what I want, and I’m not going to compromise that for anything or anyone.”
Tyler took a deep breath, wondering if she was on the verge of changing her mind. He knew all that about her. She’d always talked about her grandparents and how she wanted a love like theirs. That was a high bar to set, but he was up to the challenge. If she didn’t fall in love with him, it wouldn’t be for lack of effort on his part.
No, he wouldn’t even allow the negative thought. Amelia would fall in love with him. There could be no doubt of his success.
“At the end of thirty days,” she continued, “we’ll decide how we feel about each other. If we’re in love, you’ll propose again—properly—and we’ll announce our engagement to the world. I want to get remarried with the big ceremony and all our family and friends there. And if one of us doesn’t want to continue, we quietly agree to end it.”
“And then what? Are we just supposed to go back to how things were and pretend it never happened? That will be pretty hard with a child.”
“If we divorce, we make the best of things. I hope there won’t be any animosity between us. We stay friends, okay?”
“Okay.” Tyler knew failure wasn’t an option, but he was comforted by the idea that he would have her friendship no matter what. She was notoriously picky when it came to men. He refused to become just another guy thrown onto the reject pile with the rest. “Anything else?”
“I think that’s it,” she said with a smile that betrayed she already knew it was too much.
“Okay, then, I have one demand of my own.” If she was only going to give him thirty days, he needed to make them count and get every advantage he could. That meant proximity. There was no way this was going to work if they went to dinner a couple times a week and went to their separate corners when it was done. He couldn’t disappear to Antwerp or work eighteen-hour days. If they wanted to figure out whether they could cut it being married, they needed to go all the way. “I want us to live together the whole time.”
He watched Amelia frown into her lap with dismay. “My apartment isn’t really big enough for two people. It’s just a one bedroom, and my closet is already overflowing.”
Tyler had zero intention of living in her tiny little apartment with her. There was a difference between proximity and being locked in a cage together for thirty days. He was certain only one of them would make it out alive. “I’ll get us a new place,” he said simply.
“I have a lease.”
“I’ll pay the fee to break it.”
She sighed, obviously irritated with his ability to shoot down her every concern. “And what if at the end of thirty days, we’re not in love? I’ll be pregnant and homeless.”
He sighed. “You will be nothing of the sort. If we don’t work out, I’ll help you find a new place that’s big enough for you and the baby. I’ll buy you whatever you want.”
“You don’t have to buy me a house, Tyler. I’ll just keep my apartment for the month, stay with you, and we’ll figure out what to do about it when we’ve made a decision about us.”
He chuckled, knowing there wasn’t much sense in continuing to argue about this when that wasn’t how it was going to end. “Fine, but you’ve got to get used to the idea of someone else helping out. You’re having my child and I’m taking care of you. That point is nonnegotiable. Have we got a deal or not?”
“It’s a deal. Congratulations, Tyler,” she said, holding out her delicate manicured hand to shake on their agreement. “You may now date your wife.”
Game on.
He took her hand, shaking it for only a moment before pulling her knuckles to his mouth to kiss them. She was soft and warm against his lips, reminding him of how he’d spent an entire night kissing every sensitive curve. His skin prickled where it touched her, the sudden rush of need to have her again rocketing through his veins like a shot of adrenaline.
Amelia’s reaction was just as potent. Her lips parted softly and she sucked a soft gasp into her lungs. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment as his lips pressed to her skin and she leaned in to him.
He was going to enjoy this challenge. Pulling her hand to his chest, he leaned close. The air was warm and charged between them, her eyes widening and her pupils enlarging as he neared her. Her breaths were short and rapid, and her tongue moistened her lips on reflex. She wanted him to kiss her. Winning her over might be easier than he thought if she reacted to him so easily.
He pressed his lips to the outer shell of her ear and whispered in a low, seductive tone, “What do you say we seal the deal with a real kiss?”
When he pulled back, he noticed that a smile had lit Amelia’s eyes and curled her lips. She moved ever so slightly closer to him, placing a hand on his cheek.
“Sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “I don’t kiss on the first date.”
Amelia watched a flicker of emotion cross Tyler’s face before he leaned back and sighed. He seemed tired. The familiar blue eyes she’d looked into a million times were lined with fatigue, and the muscles in his neck and shoulders were tense. She didn’t know if it was the early flight, the stress of their marriage or the pressing worry of impending fatherhood that had him tied in knots.
She wanted to reach out and rub his shoulders to loosen him up, but she realized that probably wouldn’t help. She might be the reason he was exhausted, as she was refusing to play by his rules and making everything harder than he probably thought it needed to be.