Page 7 of Fools Rush Flynn

His question hangs in the air, but I know what he’s asking. “Inexplicably still alive. The doctors have given up trying to give us a timeline anymore. Her body is definitely weaker, but it’s her mind that we’re losing more rapidly.”

That warrants me a knee squeeze from one of his big hands. I bet his hands are big enough that he could legitimately cup my tits.

For fuck’s sake, Temple, get your head out of the slutty gutter. Focus.

“In any case, she’s having more bad days than good days at this point. I know that Rick and Lotus are conspiring to put her in a memory care facility. But Granny was very specific when she said she wanted to live the rest of her days in her own home. She has twenty-four hour care. She should get to make that decision. It’s her damn money.”

“Right now you’re still listed as executor, right?” he asks.

I blow out a breath. “Technically, no. That is tied up in court because of my cousin. So the family attorney is executor.”

“And Rick the dick is calling our marriage into question?” Flynn asks.

“Correct.”

“I take it you’ve shown him the marriage license and all of that?”

“Of course. I think for him it’s less about whether or not the marriage is legal and more about if it’s a real marriage,” I say. “Honestly, it feels like any moment he’s going to call a doctor in to examine me to see if we’ve been intimate.”

Flynn’s already dark eyes go black. “Has he threatened that?” his tone is sharp and jagged.

“No. No one does that anymore. And I’ve clearly read too many medieval romance novels.”

Stop talking, Temple. Stop talking, especially about being intimate with Flynn.

I wave my hand as if to wipe away the last few moments.

“Please understand it’s not about the money. I truly do not care about her money. But I do care about some of the family heirlooms and what happens to Grandma when the rest of her memory fades. I think Rick preys on her memory issues, planting lies and ramping up her paranoia.”

“Hey, I’m not judging you, whatever your motives are. If you were just in it for the money. It’s your family inheritance; you deserve at least half of it.”

“I know, I just hate for people to think I’m some money hungry loser. I own my own business. I have an income to take care of myself. If Grandma hadn’t created that weird competition in the first place, maybe Rick wouldn’t be so angry with me.”

“Agreed. Having a race to the alter has strong Hammerstein musical vibes.”

That makes me smile. “You were so tolerant of me and Daisy singing showtunes in the backseat of your car.”

He gives me a fond smile that just about breaks my heart. He still sees me as a little sister type.

I blow out a breath.

“We’ll figure this out,” he says.

I nod. Regardless of how he sees me, at least I’m not in this completely alone. “Flynn, I need you to know that, had I known this would stretch beyond that first year, I never would have asked you. I know this is inconvenient, and now I’ve come here to hijack your life even further.”

“You haven’t hijacked anything,” he says. “Now that I’m retired from the military, I’m starting over.”

I snort. “So it’s the perfect time to have an inconvenient wife?”

“Something like that.”

“I suppose we need some ground rules if we’re going to be suddenly living together.”

He stares at me blankly for a minute, then nods. “Right. Because we need to live together to make it look as real as possible.”

“Exactly.” Piglet rolls over on his back, legs in the air, and releases one of his snort-snores. “You’re not allergic to dogs, are you?”

“Is that actually a dog?”