“Will this work?” I asked as we reached the most private bench. There was no one out here tonight, but give it a month and a half and it’d be teeming with people.

Chloe nodded and crossed her arms over her chest as if she was chilly. She wore skinny jeans, ankle boots, and a lightweight black sweater. I took off the jacket I’d worn all day for work and held it out so she could slip it on.

“Might smell like the restaurant,” I said in apology.

“Thank you.” She slid her arms in, pulled the sides together in front, ducked her face, and sniffed. “Smells like you.”

I laughed. “Hope that’s a good thing. So…” I waited while she sat, then I lowered myself next to her on the bench, keeping several inches between us. No charades here, and I didn’t know where we’d come out on the other side—fake engaged or broken up or something else.

Before I could fully exhale, Chloe popped up off the bench and paced a couple of steps away. “I have a proposition for you.” She pivoted toward me but kept her eyes to the ground, and I waited.

After a little more pacing, during which I fought the urge to remind her this was me and she could say pretty much anything, she seemed to gather her courage, faced me, and sat on the edge of the bench beside me. Pulling one leg up underneath herself, she sat sideways and her eyes drilled into me. I straightened, raised my brows.

“I want to up the ante.” She clung tightly to the cuff of her jeans above the ankle boot, her knuckles white in the light from the lampposts along the length of the dock. “Instead of being fake engaged, we make it real—but temporary,” she said in a rush. “We can discuss how long the marriage is, but that way we’re not lying. I’m thinking a year or so, and I know that’s an eternity, but before you say no, hear me out.” She paused, sucked in a big breath. “I want to invest in your brewery. I’ve got a quarter of a million freed up, or it will be in the next couple weeks. Is that a suitable amount?”

Whoa.

I wondered if I needed to clean out my ears, but there was no debating what she’d just said. My eyes popped wide open and words failed me.

With a glance back at Chloe, I confirmed she was looking at me expectantly, and then I noticed something more in her eyes.

This beautiful girl who’d just offered me everything I’d ever wanted actually looked at me with a hint of insecurity, as if afraid it wasn’t enough. Maybe afraid she wasn’t enough. I hated that that was so ingrained in her.