He got that. They’d let her follow her dream, and he admired any parent who encouraged their kids. “And then what? You make it sound like your career has already ended, like there isn’t any hope.” Blake hated hearing her talk as if it was over. She was doing what she wanted to be doing, and nobody was trying to hold her back, stifle her dreams.
“I tore three ligaments in my leg one night when I was dancing Swan Lake. I was finally in the role I wanted, as the lead, and I didn’t even dance for an entire season at the top before my accident.” She was looking away now, couldn’t seem to meet his gaze. Blake wanted to reach for her, but he didn’t, couldn’t. The pain of what he’d lost and left behind was too raw for him, and he was barely coping with it on his own without having to help someone else.
“You could recover from that,” he said gently, careful to choose the right words.
“No, I won’t. I have a form of arthritis that I’ve battled for years. It first showed when I was stressed over a big performance, and in the past my doctors have been able to manage it. But from what I’ve been told, we’re past that point now. That’s why I’m out, why they wouldn’t just let me stay on leave due to injury. They don’t ever expect me to make a full recovery.”
Blake steeled his jaw, hating that someone had had the nerve to put a damper on her dreams. On anyone’s dreams. As far as he was concerned, the fight was worth it until the very last.
“You need to see more specialists, research more treatment, get your body strong again,” he told her, wishing his voice didn’t sound so raspy and harsh. “You can’t take no for an answer when you’re so close to living that dream.”
Her eyes were angry, glaring when she met his gaze. “Don’t you think I’ve done everything? As much as I could?”
He held up both his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to jump down your throat like that. I just...”
“I don’t need to be told what to do,” she said angrily, still holding his stare. “The only thing that will save me now is winning the lottery or a miracle. Money is the only way I can stay a part of this world, to keep searching for help, trying to keep training. Either money or a new treatment to help me get back on stage.” She slumped forward, looked defeated. “Instead I’ll be back in Hicksville, the girl who had so much potential and still ended up a nobody.”
Blake bunched his fists, wished there was something he could do. He didn’t know why her situation made him so angry, but it did.
Just then his phone buzzed and he glanced at it quickly. He read the screen, cursed his sister for wanting to be so involved in his love life.
So? Spill! Is she really a ballerina? She looked gorgeous. Keep this one!
Blake didn’t bother replying, not about to engage with his younger sister over anything personal. And then he looked up and found Saffron watching him, her full lips parted, dark eyes trained on his.
She needed a way to stay in New York. He needed a wife.
He pushed his sister from his mind and pulled his bar stool closer to Saffron’s, thinking that she was the most intriguing, beautiful woman he’d met in a long time. He didn’t want to be married to anyone, but the truth was, he needed to be. That text just before was a slap-in-the-face kind of reminder. He was at the helm of a family business that was worth tens of millions of dollars, and he needed to maintain the right image. They were negotiating for a huge contract, one worth millions over the next two years alone, not to mention the investors he was trying to bring on board to grow the business. But his biggest potential investor had made it beyond clear that he was worried about Blake’s playboy status, didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t settled down and married. They were rich men with strong family values, the kind his own father had always managed to impress. Being married could be the key to finalizing those deals, and no matter how much he’d tried to pretend otherwise, it was true, which meant he had some serious damage control to do.
He reached for his coffee and drained it. Real marriage wasn’t something he wanted, hadn’t been on his agenda since the day his first love had walked away from him as though what they’d had meant nothing. He could still feel the cool sting of betrayal as if it was yesterday. But if he could package a marriage of convenience into something that could work for both him and Saffron? Now that was something he’d be willing to do.
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