The Agreement (An Indecent Proposal) by J. C. Reed, Jackie Steele

the
corner. I’ll be over in five.”
    And then he hung up, ignoring my
question. I stared at the phone, flummoxed. What the hell was that all about?
And how could he possibly be over in five minutes? Unless…
    He was around the corner, literally, because an instant
later the intercom rang.
    Shit!
    I peered around, panicky, suddenly
aware of the fact that I was a sweaty mess, and in desperate need of a
shower. And not only that; the apartment didn’t look much better. I jumped up and began to strip off my clothes
while simultaneously picking up Jude’s scattered interior design magazines and
clothes. I had barely made it to the bathroom to discard my armful of clothes
and magazines when the doorbell rang.
    Someone must have buzzed him in,
because he was here. Right behind the door, inches separating us.
    I stood frozen to the spot, unsure
whether to claim I wasn’t at home after all, or open the door, but pretend that I was too busy to let him in.
    The doorbell rang again, the piercing sound lingering in the
air. An instant later, Chase’s faint voice echoed over.
    “Laurie ? I know you’re in there.
Open up.”
    Was he angry? I had no idea, but I
didn’t like the sense of urgency and seriousness in his voice. He rapped at the
door. Once. Twice. With a sigh, I shrugged into a bathrobe and wrapped the cord
tightly around my waist, then pulled my hair up in a ponytail. As soon as I
opened the door, Chase barged in, hot waves of anger wafting from him.
    “Hello to you, too,” I muttered,
closing the door behind him.
    Ignoring me, he headed straight
for the living room and slumped down on the sofa, then turned to face me, eyes
blazing, his beautiful lips pressed in a tight line.
    What the heck did I do wrong?
    “Are you okay?” I asked, sliding
down opposite him with as much distance as was possible between us. “You seem a
bit upset.” Upset was an understatement. He seemed livid.
    “Are you alone?” His voice was
hard as his eyes scanned the room in search for Jude.
      I nodded and he
breathed out, but his muscles remained unnaturally tense. “We don’t have much
time.”
    I regarded him, confused. “For what?”
    “You went to choose a wedding dress,” he said reproachfully,
ignoring me again.
    I nodded slowly. “Yes, Chase. I did.”
    “Why?”
    His question caught me off guard.
    “Why?” I laughed. Had he smashed in his head or something?
“In case you have forgotten, we’re supposed to get married. I need to make it
look authentic.” A wave of shame washed over me at the cold look in his eyes.
He thought me desperate. Or maybe realization had dawned on him and now he was
having cold feet at the prospect of tying the knot with a complete strangerwho might decide to file for spousal support, or
worse—half of his belongings. Given that he seemed to own more than I
did, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the latter was the case.
    Suddenly, my air supply was cut off and I felt as though the
ceiling was about to crash down on me.
    What was I doing, pulling him into
this mess with me? How the hell could I have relied on him to follow through
with the marriage?
    I walked to the window and opened
it to let in the warm afternoon air, then turned around, watching him closely.
    “What’s going on, Chase?” I asked.
    “Let me rephrase,” Chase said, his
voice low but cold as ice. “One moment you don’t want this, and the next you
buy a dress. You haven’t thought this through, Laurie.”
    “Believe me, I have,” I
muttered. For years I had been planning on getting
those letters in the hope that it would give me the chance to look into the
mystery that had consumed most of my life.
    “No, you don’t understand.” Chase
let out a slow breath. “I mean you sent me a text talking about calling the
whole thing off. Are you sure you want to go through with this? Because you
seem to constantly change your mind, and I have no time for this. I have no
time for playing games.”
    “Yes, I’m