“Whoa. Hey, buddy,” I laughed, steadying him. “Are you trying to take me out?”
He blinked up at me like he didn’t understand the question. “Yes.”
“Respect.” I held out my fist for a bump. “Let me talk to your dad first, then we’ll wrestle, yeah?”
“Okay,” he said, immediately losing interest and toddling off to cause chaos in another room.
I chuckled as I watched him go. I pulled off my sunglasses and shut the front door behind me, finally finding Alex in the living room. He glanced up from his phone and smirked when he saw me. “Nice entrance.”
“Your son has a bright future in tactical ambush,” I replied, dropping onto the couch and looking over at him. “What’s going on? It’s not like you to summon me on a Sunday.”
He nodded slowly, setting the phone down to look at me. “I wanted to say thank you for stepping up the way you have. Going public with the relationship has worked a charm and Jacqueline seems to be playing the part well, so thank her for me too.”
Playing the part.I felt my jaw tighten before I could stop it, my good mood brought on by her and Cameron suddenly not so great anymore. “Yeah. We should talk about that.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed immediately. “Talk about what?”
I sat forward, planting my elbows on my knees. I hadn’t been looking forward to this conversation, but it had to happen sometime, and sooner was better than later. Especially after that comment from Nate last weekend.
It was time my family knew what was going on—before someone said something that would make her think this didn’t mean anything to me. My pulse kicked against my ribs, but I looked my oldest brother straight in the eye, mentally grabbed my balls, and jumped in.
“We’re not playing a part anymore, Alex,” I said. “It’s not fake. It was back at the beginning, but it’s not anymore and I don’t want to go back there.”
Alex let out a short, disbelieving laugh and shook his head. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am,” I said firmly. “In fact, I’m so serious that I’d like to marry her. As soon as possible.”
Everything about him went rigid, his teeth suddenly grinding like I’d just told him I was planning to set fire to the company for fun. “Absolutely not.”
I scoffed. “You can’t say no.”
“Yes, I can,” he said without skipping a beat. “What’s more is that I am. I know you, Jesse. I’m not about to let you marry someone you’ve known for all of ten minutes.”
I stood up and paced to the window. “Why not? You knew Jane for less time when you married her and look how that worked out.”
He scoffed. “You’re not me.”
“And thank God for that, but I’m not themeI used to be anymore either,” I snapped. “This is different, Alex.”
“You said that about Claira just a few weeks ago,” he reminded me. “Before this whole thing with Jacqueline started, you wanted to marryher. Then you wanted to look for someone else. You can’t expect me to believe you’ve changedthatmuch between then and now that you’re actually ready to marry anyone at all.”
“I have,” I insisted, but as I stared out the window, evenIwondered how true that was.
It really hadn’t been so long ago. So maybeIhadn’t changed, but Jacque had changed the world as I’d known it before.
Alex watched me struggle for a second before he shook his head again. “Do you trust her, Jesse?”
“Yes,” I said immediately, feeling my brow furrow as I spun away from the window to look at him. “Why?”
He studied me for a long moment, that calculating gleam creeping into his eyes. “I know about her. Nate told me about her mother’s adoption and that Jacqueline is a loose relative who’s not related by blood.”
“Exactly,” I said. “We’re not related, which means that Icanmarry her.”
“I’m aware,” he said impatiently. “That’s not the point, though.”
“Then what is?”
His gaze sharpened on mine. “She came out of nowhere and you barely know her. Did she tell you that her parents got left out of the Westwood inheritance over there because of the adoption?”