In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes (The Queen’s Cove Series Book 3)
In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes: Chapter 7

“HOW TO FIND A WIFE?” She let out a laugh and her eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Is that a joke?”

My face heated. “You need to leave.”

She shook with laughter, unaffected by me. “Oh my god, I love this. So the sad, lonely Sasquatch man wants a companion. That’s so cute.” She took a sip of her tea. “Have you tried kidnapping? Sometimes that goes okay. It’s called Stockholm syndrome.”

Shame rolled through my gut. Why did I fucking Google it at work?

“I’m not buying the inn from you,” I told her. “You’re wasting both our time.”

Sadie bit her lip, still grinning. “I know someone you can marry.” She pulled out her phone and typed something. “She’s really pretty and quiet so you won’t even have to worry about making conversation with her, and the best part is she always puts out.”

She flipped the phone around to show me an image of a blow-up sex doll. “She doesn’t have a name so you can pick whatever you like.”

Her eyes sparkled as she beamed at me.

“Hilarious,” I bit out. “Heard you’re not doing too great in that department.” I glanced at her bare finger, remembering the conversation from my parents’ house last night about her failed engagement.

Her smile dropped. “Wow. Okay. Thanks, asshole.” She stood and picked up her bag. “Have a great life.”

My head snapped up to watch as she slid the glass door open, waved goodbye to Zara, and walked out.

My chest strained tight with regret, and I got to my feet to follow her. All I’d done was point out she also wasn’t married. She just suggested I marry a blow-up sex doll, for Christ’s sake.

She strode back into my office and my eyes widened as I took a step back. She gave me that cat-like, pretty smile and stared me down.

My brain went blank.

She held my gaze. “If you buy me out of the inn, I’ll replace you a wife.”

I scoffed. “No.”

“I’m serious.” She flopped back into the chair and I relaxed a fraction.

“So am I.”

“Holden, you’re Googling how to replace a wife. It’s obvious you have no idea what you’re doing.”

I hesitated, staring at my screen. I hated that she was right. “What makes you think you can replace me someone?”

Especially when she thought I was so fucking ineligible fifteen years ago.

She brushed her long hair over her shoulder. “Easy. I’ve dated lots of assholes so I can coach you on how to hide that part of yourself.”

The side of my mouth twitched but I held it down.

“Dating is a numbers game, Holden. I can do the leg work of replaceing you women who want the same thing. I’ll help you plan the dates, give you ideas on gifts to buy them, come up with a pre-approved list of conversation topics for you to rely on.”

“I don’t need any of that.”

She gave me a wincing smile like she didn’t believe me. “Sure. The only thing I won’t do? Hide the body when you get sick of her.”

I glared at her and she winked. “Just kidding. I’ll totally help you with that.” Her shoulders bounced again. “I’m very motivated.”

“Why?” My eyes narrowed.

Something dimmed behind her eyes but she blinked it away. “Because I need the money.”

“Why?”

She cleared her throat and studied her hands. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I watched her for a long moment. There was something under the surface with her. Something hurt.

“What’s with the sketchbook?”

“Oh.” The weird look disappeared and she dropped the book onto my desk before flipping it open. “Just some design ideas I had for the inn.”

It was the floor plan of the inn. I shifted the book closer to study her sketch. She had hatched out the wall separating the front foyer and the sitting room.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You want to knock a wall out?”

She shrugged. “It would open the space up, make it seem bigger and more welcoming.”

I turned back to the sketch. She had hatched out the wall between the dining room and storage room and labeled the new room library but the door had been removed.

She leaned forward and her hair fell onto my arm. I jerked back. She gave me a strange look and tapped the bookcase to the sitting room.

“The entry to the library is through the bookcase.” She bit her lip and her eyes sparkled. “A secret library would be cool. I read about this one in an old mansion back in Toronto, there was a latch under a shelf and then the whole bookcase swung out.” Her hands moved as she talked.

When she was excited like this, her whole face lit up. She met my gaze before leaning over to turn the page.

It was a rendering of one of the upstairs bedrooms, wallpaper removed and different furniture. “I’ve drawn it to scale, so you can see how different the room looks when you have more appropriate-sized furniture.”

I flipped to the next image. The bathroom, redone in modern tile with a glass shower and new vanity.

These sketches looked professional. We worked with designers on homes all the time, and she was just as good as they were.

“Two shower heads?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“For shower sex,” she explained, and I choked. “People have a ton of sex on vacation, Holden.”

The image of us in the shower flashed into my head and my cock stirred.

I cleared my throat. “Yep, thanks.” I snapped the book closed and shoved it back to her. “Designers work in Autocad.”

She nodded. “For clients, I always start with initial hand sketches and sometimes watercolor paintings. I think while I draw and paint. Then, I do it in Autocad.”

A memory of Katherine teaching her how to paint on the porch trickled into my head. “Why did you do these?”

Her mouth pulled to the side and her eyebrows pinched together. “I don’t know. I started getting ideas last night. I always said I’d help redesign her inn and I never did.”

I sat back in my chair and studied Sadie. She shifted under my gaze, fiddling with her hair. I took a long breath in and out.

Promise me you’ll try, Katherine had said.

Did I actually think Sadie could replace me someone? No. Not a chance. You can’t sell a product you don’t believe in.

But letting her try would fulfill Katherine’s wish, even if Sadie did fail. It was worth a shot.

A tiny sliver of me wanted Sadie to stick around for a bit. I couldn’t help myself.

In the chair across from my desk, her expression was strangely vulnerable and exposed, like she revealed a piece of herself she wanted to keep hidden, and my heart twisted.

“Okay,” I said.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Okay, what?”

“Okay to your offer.”

Her eyes lit up and she sat up straight. “Really?” she whispered, like she couldn’t believe it.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “A couple conditions.”

She chewed her lip, waiting.

I didn’t know why, but it was important Sadie still owned the inn. It was the responsible thing to do. Katherine wanted her to have it, and she was clearly in trouble. Her being here stirred up old feelings but I couldn’t screw her over.

She was Katherine’s niece. She’d want me to help her out.

“I’ll pay you two hundred grand and based on the current assessed price, we’ll transfer that fraction of ownership to me. You’ll still own part of the inn, just not fifty percent.”

She frowned. “Why do I feel like there’s a major catch?”

My gaze dropped to the sketch in front of me, of a bathroom full of emerald green tiles and sunlight. “You’re going to lead the inn renovation.”

She froze. “Holden, these are just sketches.”

“Turn them into reality.”

She glanced out the window overlooking Main Street, considering my counter.

“I told her I’d help her renovate,” I admitted.

Her gaze snapped back to mine, confused. “What do you mean?”

Regret clawed at me. “I said I’d help her fix the place up and we never got around to it.”

She watched me, and I wish I knew what she was thinking. She gave me a quick nod. “Okay.”

“One more thing.”

“Oh god.” Her gaze flared. “Are you into something kinky? Like I have to replace you someone who also drinks blood?”

The corner of my mouth quirked but I cleared my throat. “I don’t drink blood.” I ran my thumb over the arm of my chair. “I want this done in six months.”

Her eyes bugged out of her head. “You want to marry someone in six months? Even Blow-Up Belinda would think that was sketchy.”

I held back a snort. “I want to meet her in six months. I don’t need to get married within six months.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “That, I can work with. Deal.”

“We can’t tell anyone about this.”

She snorted. “Obviously. ‘Man looking for a wife’ screams murderer.” She held her hand out. Her nails sparkled. “Holden Rhodes, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

When I shook her hand, it was warm and fit perfectly in mine, and for a split second, I didn’t want to let go.

She stood and I dropped her hand.

“Holden Rhodes, it has been fantastic doing business with you.” She winked and slid the door open. “And we didn’t even need to buy you a sex doll,” she said for everyone to hear.

Zara gave me a strange look from her desk.

“Bye, Zara,” Sadie called, striding away.

My gaze dropped to her ass. Those jeans fit her perfectly.

“I love her,” Zara murmured.

My stomach dipped like I was on a roller coaster.

What the fuck did I agree to?