A Deal With the Devil (10 page)

“Yes I am. Listen, I’ll admit I’m not a model parent, but I’m doing the best I can. Plus, I’m all he has.”

“Yes and because of that, he takes advantage of you,” Kate said and then she raised her voice with each word she said next. “Now—and I’m saying this with love—stop . . . being . . . a . . .
pushover
!”

“Stop yelling,” Amanda said. “You’re making my head hurt.”

“No. Your
bad decisions
are making your head hurt,” Kate continued at a slightly-lower decibel. “Promise you’ll tell him no.”

Amanda pursed her lips and tried to decide if she could make such a promise.

Kate’s voice took on her commander-in-chief edge as she said, “Promise me.”

“I promise I’ll consider it,” Amanda hedged.

Kate sighed and sounded weary as she said, “We both know what consider means.” She paused briefly. “Okay, where would you get the money?”

“I was just thinking that maybe I should agree to Jake’s deal. I mean, it’s only a
fake
engagement, right?”

“No! I suggested you go agree to his deal so you could get money to pay off
your
debts; not get more money to give to
Rob
.”

“Maybe it’s a way to do both.”

Kate groaned. “But you shouldn’t
do
both! I swear; you just don’t get it. Promise you won’t do anything until we have a chance to talk through your options in person.”

Tired of the conversation, Amanda said what she knew her friend wanted to hear. “I promise.” But in truth, she didn’t have any intention of waiting. She would think it through and then she’d move forward in whatever manner she deemed best, just as she always did. And in all matters—except those involving her brother—the approach tended to work well.

It’s not like she had a ton of options. At this point, Jake’s proposal appeared to be her most immediate—if not only—path to zero debt.

The bedroom door opened upstairs.

“He’s coming,” Amanda whispered as Jake jogged down the steps. “I have to go. Call you later.” She hung up just as Jake appeared beside her.

“What’s wrong with your head?” He gestured to the peas lying on her forehead.

She sat up, thrust her leg onto the ottoman and moved the bag from her forehead to her ankle. “I have a headache,” she mumbled.

“Need some aspirin?”

She shook her head.

Jake dropped into the chair across from her. “The snow stopped.”

“Can we leave now?” She sat up straighter and the surge of hope Jake’s words brought magically healed her throbbing headache.

“I think we have to. We’ll run out of wood and food in the next few days and if it gets any colder, the snow will turn to ice and if that happens,” —he spread his arms wide and shrugged— “who knows how long we’ll be stuck here.”

Amanda didn’t need to hear anything more. She shot off the couch, wincing as pain radiated from her ankle to her thigh, but she pushed through it and hobbled determinedly toward the stairs. “Let’s go.”

Even if they ended up in a ditch again, eventually they’d get pulled out, at which point she could find a hotel room. She wished she’d thought of that yesterday because if she had, they wouldn’t have been stuck here together last night, he wouldn’t have proposed and for the past hour she wouldn’t have been sitting there actually considering such a ludicrous idea. Jake’s engagement idea equated to sheer lunacy and she needed to get the hell out of here while she still possessed a shred of sanity and before she did something stupid, like agree to go along with it.

“The body shop called. My Escalade checks out, so we’ll swing by to pick it up and then we’ll head back to Chicago.”

An hour later, Amanda waited in the driver’s seat as Jake locked the front door. Then he jogged down the steps and slid into the passenger seat. After securing his seat belt, he pulled a slip of paper from his jacket and referred to it as he punched an address into the car’s GPS system.

She didn’t bother telling him the Garmin didn’t work out here in the boonies. As the device tried to plot their course, Amanda put the car in drive and took off. She poked along the snow-packed country roads; her fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles turned white.

“Can you pick it up a little?” Jake sounded exasperated as he cast a sideways glance at her. “I think we could walk to town faster.”

She kept her eyes glued to the road. “At least this way, we’ll stay out of the ditch.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head and he turned to gaze out the window. They didn’t speak for the rest of the trip. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Al’s Body Shop.

“This won’t take long.” Jake got out and zipped up his leather jacket as he strode toward the blue concrete building.

The tailored fit of his jacket emphasized his broad shoulders and lean hips and Amanda’s eyes were glued to him until he disappeared through the doors. Then she turned and gazed out at the mounds of melting brown, rock-encrusted snow as her thoughts drifted to his proposal. Could it be the solution she’d gone there to find? Or would it create a whole slew of new problems? It was hard to imagine having more problems at this point, but anything was possible—especially when it involved Jake Lowell.

Name your price, he’d said. He hadn’t even bothered to hide the twinge of desperation in his voice. So he must be in a pickle as well. But was he desperate enough to pay her a hundred grand? Because anything less wouldn’t be worth the emotional price she’d surely pay.

Amanda rested her head on the seat and examined her peeling nail polish. She needed a manicure. But more than that, she really wanted to be out from under all this debt. It would feel pretty sweet. Not exactly the full on do-over she’d fantasized about on the way to the cabin, but pretty damn close.

On the downside, the only path to zero debt seemed to lead through Jake, which made it an incredibly risky proposition. A fake engagement with Jake sounded brutal, even in theory. The reality would probably be closer to emotional Armageddon. All things considered, she might be better off with the debt.

Still, she couldn’t let go of her financial fantasy. What if she asked for
two
hundred grand? Zero debt and a hundred thousand in the bank. That level of financial security might make the inevitable emotional devastation worthwhile.

Holy crap, it’s hot in here.
Amanda shrugged off her coat and turned the dial to lower the heat. Hoping for a distraction, she pressed the radio button and cranked the dial to tune in her favorite station. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in time with her favorite Nelly tune.

Jake emerged from the building and she watched as he jogged to his SUV. She sighed. In the year he’d been gone she had almost forgotten how gorgeous he was; almost.

Kanye West’s Gold-Digger came on as Jake climbed into his Escalade. The lyrics caught her attention and she frowned as Jamie Foxx finished crooning the opening ‘
Oh she’s a gold-digger, way over top that digs on me.’
A gold-digger.

Amanda straightened her spine and snapped off the radio. Just because she was considering Jake’s deal, it didn’t make her a gold-digger. This was just business. Well, business with a little heartbreak and mental torture thrown in for good measure. And business that would require her to lie to pretty much everyone she knew in exchange for money. Which was technically the definition of a gold-digger, right?

Oh, who gives a crap. I’ll worry about it later.

Jake pulled out of the parking lot and Amanda put the car in drive and followed him. Thank God she was headed home. After just a day in his company, she was clearly losing it.

The main roads appeared in much better shape than those near the cabin had been and, as they hit the highway, they were able to travel at close to normal speed.

A red sports car shot past with what looked like two twenty something guys inside. Its back window displayed a sticker which read
No Fear
. Amanda pursed her lips and contemplated the phrase as her gaze shifted from the sticker to Jake’s silhouette in the SUV ahead.

In a sudden flash of clarity, she knew what she needed to do. While there might be many ways to solve her money problems, none offered as quick or as total a solution as Jake’s deal. As Kate had said, the universe delivered this way on a silver platter. Now, she needed to follow the signs, walk through the door; to show no fear.

Before she could over-think her decision—as she typically did with everything but her brother or beauty products—Amanda picked up her cell and punched in Jake’s number.

She saw him glance in the rearview mirror as he said, “Everything okay?” Concern was evident in his tone.

Amanda mustered every available iota of courage and then said, “I’ve been thinking about your proposal.”

“Really,” he said, his concern morphed into surprise.

Amanda flung the words out before fear or good sense could stop her. “I’ll do it, but it’ll cost you.”

Chapter Six

ake settled into his favorite corner booth in Lou Mitchell’s and gazed broodingly out the window. A steady stream of bundled-up pedestrians scurried past, but they didn’t register. He was too busy trying to figure out the reason behind Amanda’s sudden and illogical change of heart. He’d thought of nothing else for the past twelve hours; had examined it from every conceivable angle and still couldn’t make sense of it. So before things proceeded any further, he intended to get to the bottom of it. Hence, the early morning breakfast meeting.

Amanda limped up to the table. “Sorry I’m late.” She shrugged off her coat and slid into the booth. Her cheeks glowed from the brisk November wind, which emphasized the light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks.

He picked up the menu and pretended to study it, trying to ignore how cute she looked. “You’re still limping. How’s your ankle?”

“A little better. Still hurts, though.” Amanda blew on her hands and then rubbed them together. “I need coffee. It’s
fareeezing
out there!”

Jake smiled at her dramatic emphasis of the word and resisted an urge to nestle her hands between his the way he used to do. Instead, he set the menu on the table and lifted a hand to signal the waitress.

She hustled over, filled their coffee mugs and took their order.

Jake blew on his brew and watched Amanda doctor hers.

While in Iraq, he had replayed this image over and over whenever he wanted something pleasant to think about—something more enticing than watching a bunch of filthy guys guzzle their food. She performed the task with the precision of a brain surgeon, as though life itself would cease to exist if she failed to get the taste balance just right.

Jake swigged his black coffee, in part to hide his grin.

Oblivious of his scrutiny, Amanda tasted the mixture, made a face, added a dash more cream and stirred.

His grin widened.

She tasted it again and smiled. Satisfied, she set the mug aside and pulled a piece of paper from her purse. She scanned the contents and then slid the note across the table. “We didn’t have a chance to discuss the details before, so I took some time to think through my terms.”