Page 36 of All In

His eyebrows draw together as he looks down at his lap. “We can end it. I’ll call and tell everyone. Post on socials and stuff.”

Goddammit. I can’t even resist. Reaching out, I tilt his head back so he’s forced to look at me. “We don’t need to do that, but I do think we actually need to talk about it. What it means for us. Our boundaries. Our plans. How long it’s going to last.” That part makes me swallow hard, but I know it’s something we need to address.

“How long it’s going to last?” Harlow echoes.

“Yes.” I drop his chin, letting my hand fall away. “We can’t just be married forever. You already said you want a love that sets you on fire.” And that’s not me. It hasn’t been me so far, and I don’t think it’s going to be me now. “And I…” Well, I just want him, but that’s not going to happen. I clear my throat and try again. “I want you to have what you want. So we need to set a time limit on this. I think we need that. We also need to set boundaries and parameters and define what this means for us. Both in private and around other people.”

Chapter 12

Harlow

I blink at Grayson, my eyes burning. I’m not someone who frequently has regrets. I’ve always sort of just jumped into things with both feet. Does that always work out for me? Hell no. Do I continue to do it anyway? Yeah.

But right now, with Gray talking about parameters and time limits and boundaries and how long we’re going to be married, I can’t help but feel like I fucked up. I fucked up in a real big way.

I’ve never felt a kiss that deeply in my life, and I don’t know if it’s because I know and trust Grayson so much or if it’s something else. All I know is that one single kiss—or at least the one single kiss that I can remember—seems to have rewritten my entire brain chemistry.

And now, even though I know I shouldn’t be, I’m hurt that Grayson doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” I say instead of responding to any of the things he said. I’m sure he’s right and that we’ll have to talk about all of them, but right now, I really don’t want to. I don’t want to think about what this all means. I don’t want to think about a… fucking time limit on our marriage.

Maybe that’s selfish.

Shaking his head, Grayson sighs. “It’s okay. We just need to talk about what we’re going to do.”

I nod. I don’t want to. But I’m also not gonna go against what Grayson wants. “Okay.”

“Like I said, we need ground rules. We need a time limit—”

“A time limit?” I ask, cutting him off. “What does that mean?”

His throat bobs as he swallows. “I mean,” he says, glancing away. “That we need to put a time limit on it. At that time, we’ll announce our divorce.” My heart slams against my ribs. “A few months? A year? I don’t know. But we need to decide, and then when the time comes, we can just tell people that it didn’t work out and we’re better off as friends.”

“Fine,” I bite out. “What time frame do you want?”

Grayson’s eyes find mine. He looks just as lost as I feel, and something about that makes me feel better. “I don’t know.”

“Three months, then,” I say.

“Three months? That’s not a lot of time.”

I shrug, my heart hammering. “It’s plenty of time to fall out of love and move on and decide we’re better off as friends.”

“Okay.” Gray swallows hard again. “Three months then.”

“I have conditions,” I blurt out.

Gray’s eyebrows shoot up. “What kind of conditions?”

Fuck, I can’t believe I’m going to ask for this. It’s not like I have any bargaining power. He’s only doing this to help me. I know that. “I want this to be a real marriage.”

Grayson barks out a laugh. “I think the marriage license with our names on it is pretty real, Harlow.”

I shake my head. “Not what I mean. If I only get three months, I want a real marriage. Not just in front of people.” My throat convulses when Grayson frowns. “I want to kiss you and sleep in your bed. If we’re going to pretend, I want it all.”

If he says no, I’ll give up. I’d never want to make Grayson do something he isn’t comfortable with. But I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t at least try.

“Let me ask you this,” I say when he doesn’t respond. “Did you like kissing me? Would you want to do it again?”