“Me too!” Amelia nodded enthusiastically. “And their hash browns are the crispiest around.”

  “We should go together sometime.”

  The suggestion fitted with the conversation, but it still caught Amelia off guard. She quickly regained her composure and nodded.

  “I’d love that. And I bet Grace would, too.”

  “I have to ask.” Liam’s handsome features took on a sheepish expression. “How are you getting her to eat so well? I saw her at dinner with that plate of pasta. Before you came, she only wanted ice cream.”

  “She still loves ice cream, but I have lots of tricks to make other foods appealing. For instance, she’s more likely to eat food that she helps prepare herself. And she likes something sweet with every meal, even if it’s just a banana or some apple slices. Plus, I always make sure to sit with her and eat something too, so that she feels like we’re in it together.” Amelia wanted to add an invitation for him to join them next time, but held back.

  “Clever. You learned all this from your nieces and nephews?”

  “Yes, mostly. I’m the youngest of four siblings, plus we have a wide circle of friends and there was always a baby around. And I was always the kid holding a baby, even when I was tiny myself.” Amelia shrugged. “I always liked kids.”

  “What was it like having three siblings? It’s hard for me to imagine since I was an only child.”

  “Right. Well, it was mostly nice. There was always someone around to help me with my homework or play with me. But there was also always someone around to tease me. What was it like being an only child?”

  A shadow passed over Liam’s face. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up a little more. The gesture was appealing, despite his grim expression.

  “I never knew anything else, so I suppose it seemed normal,” he said, finally. Amelia wanted to ask more questions, but she understood that Liam wasn’t ready to talk more about his childhood. A piece of the puzzle clicked into place for her. Perhaps his childhood had been difficult, which might be one of the reasons he was so distant from his own daughter.

  “I suppose that’s how it is for everyone.”

  “I suppose. Let’s eat before the food gets cold.”

  They reached for their takeout containers. Amelia took the wooden chopsticks out of their sleeve, broke them in two, and went for a big bite of the drunken noodles she’d ordered.

  “Oh, my gosh. This is amazing.”

  Liam grinned, his grim expression from before mostly disappearing. “I’m glad you like it.”

  “Oh, I do.” Amelia took another big bite. “I love Thai food usually, but this is really good.”

  “Try mine.” Liam held his container out to Amelia, and she took a piece of broccoli from his red curry.

  “Wow.” She nodded appreciatively. “So good.”

  “When I was in Thailand, I must have gained five pounds in a week,” Liam said with another grin. “The food was just so delicious.”

  “You were in Thailand?”

  “Uh-huh.” Liam nodded. “It was part of an initiative to bring Lilypad products to underprivileged children. Thailand was one of our pilot countries, so I went around five years ago. Since then, we’ve expanded to several other countries as well.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Amelia smiled. Another part of her mental image of Liam clicked into place. He might be distant and businesslike, but it seemed he also cared about helping people.

  “I can’t take much credit. Our corporate social responsibility team really ran with the idea. They grew the initiative a lot, beyond what I’d hoped.”

  “Impressive.” Amelia took another bite of her food. “Have you traveled anywhere else interesting?”

  “I travel fairly regularly for work, mostly to our partner organization in the UK, but sometimes other places. It’s all business, though, so I rarely get much time to sightsee. Do you travel?”

  “Not really.” Amelia shook her head. “At Shondyn, I was too busy all the time, and since I left, well…” She waved a hand. The truth was that she wasn’t able to afford expensive travel, but she didn’t want to get into it with this billionaire. There was no way he’d understand.

  “Where would you travel, if you could go anywhere?”

  “I don’t even know.” Amelia smiled distantly. “Everywhere. But first, maybe Hawaii.”

  “You don’t get enough beaches living in Northern California?” Liam asked teasingly.

  “There’s no such thing as enough beaches. Plus, Hawaii has lots of other great stuff. Or so I’ve heard.”

  The conversation transitioned into more of a comfortable chat, mostly about travel, and by the time they’d finished dinner and said their goodnights, Amelia was feeling very strange. She’d enjoyed her evening with Liam, a lot. And best of all, he’d even put his phone on silent and left it face-down on the desk after their food had arrived.

  Throughout dinner, Liam had been interested in her, thoughtful, and even a little funny. Sure, he’d also pushed back against a few of her questions, but overall he’d seemed happy to talk. Perhaps Amelia had read Liam wrong — maybe he wasn’t just a cold, rich man who didn’t care about anything other than his reputation.

  On the other hand, there was still the fact that he hadn’t been a part of Grace’s life until now — and now he provided only a financial contribution. Amelia sighed. As fun as he was to talk to, Liam was still an absentee father, which made it hard for her to respect him.

  When Amelia fell asleep, though, she dreamed of her and Liam at the park, her pushing Grace on the swings, Liam standing beside her. Then, Liam spun her towards him, one hand going around her waist, the other resting on the side of her face.

  “Amelia,” he said, and leaned forward.

  Amelia woke with a start, her heart beating a little too fast, and raised a hand to her lips. In the dream, Liam had been about to kiss her.

  CHAPTER 12

  LIAM

  The next day, Liam sent a message to Amelia around lunchtime, asking if she would be available for another dinner and preparation session. She replied about half an hour later, saying that she would be ready — and Liam found it difficult to concentrate for the rest of the day.

  Their evening together last night had been… interesting, to say the least. Amelia was a fascinating woman. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but she also let things go when Liam clearly didn’t want to discuss them. She’d even been funny — Liam smiled as he remembered them joking around over last night’s takeout. At the end of the night, he’d been tempted to walk her back to her bedroom, like they’d really been on a date. He’d held back, though, instead staying in his study for another half an hour to work.

  Today’s conversation needed to be more focused, though. Liam had gotten to know a lot about Amelia just from chatting with her, but there was still a lot of biographical information he lacked. He didn’t know where she’d gone to college or what her opinion on pets was, which Liam was pretty sure was information that a married couple should know about each other.

  After a quick internet search, he printed out a list of questions he felt they should cover. Then he did his best to focus on his work, counting down the hours until the day was over and his evening with Amelia would begin.

  Like the night before, Liam arrived home just as Amelia and Grace were finishing up dinner. Grace was cleaner than yesterday, with a dinner of a PB and J and carrot sticks instead of last night’s messy pasta, but Amelia still asked him to wait while she gave Grace a bath. Liam retreated to his office, where he spent far too long analyzing two competing bids for a consultant. He was distracted by the sound of Amelia and Grace laughing and singing and splashing from the bathroom down the hall. They sounded so happy, like actresses in a movie about childhood.

  Or, perhaps, like they really cared about each other.

  Another pang swept through Liam. He shouldn’t feel left out, but some part of him did.

  The laughter slowly wound down and, after about half an hour of silence, Amelia appeared in the doorway of Liam’s office. She was dressed in what Liam had come to think of as her “mom uniform” — a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Her hair was up in a messy bun on her head, but as she stepped into the office, she removed her hair tie and her long blond hair fell around her shoulders in soft curls.

  “Did she fall asleep okay?” Liam asked. He felt a little clumsy and awkward asking about the child, but he truly did want to be sure she was all right.

  “Yes. She wanted a few extra stories, but eventually tiredness won out.” Amelia grinned and sank onto the couch where she’d been yesterday. “Are we ready to get down to business?”

  “Yes. Shall we order some food first?”

  “That would be great. I’ll leave it up to you, since you’re the restaurant expert.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Liam considered. “How about we go for Indian tonight?”

  “Perfect. I need a samosa, stat.”

  Liam grinned at Amelia’s phrase. “Then we can’t waste any time.” He got out his phone, pulled up the restaurant’s menu, and handed it to Amelia. She bent her head over the screen to read, occasionally scrolling up or down, and Liam took advantage of her focus to get a better look at her.

  Amelia really was beautiful. Liam’s past flings, now relegated to distant history, had been primarily with women who wore tons of makeup and dressed in clothes so tight it looked like they’d been painted on. Amelia wasn’t like that at all, especially not in her mom uniform, but she was somehow all the more beautiful for that. She looked real. Her brown eyes were warm, and her blond curls looked like a golden waterfall on her shoulders. Even in her loose clothes, Liam could see the outline of her feminine curves.

  Liam knew that it was important to maintain his distance, but he could notice that Amelia was objectively attractive without letting himself get too close to her.

  “All right, I picked a few things out.” Amelia handed the phone back. Liam quickly added his go-to butter chicken and garlic naan to the basket, then placed the order.

  “The food will be here shortly. How was your day?”

  “It was okay. Grace learned a new word, squirrel, but she can’t quite say it correctly, so it always comes out as skiwl. It’s so cute.” Amelia beamed, and Liam saw genuine affection in her eyes. The look warmed his heart. Grace deserved to have someone like Amelia watching out for her. Of course, Amelia would leave eventually, after the ruse was complete, but it was better not to think about that now. “How was your day?”

  “Not bad.” Liam sighed. “But also not that interesting.”

  “Really?” Amelia looked a little surprised. “You said your work was fascinating.”

  “It is. I don’t know. I suppose everyone has off days.” In truth, it had been harder and harder for Liam to work since Amelia had come into his home. He’d spent more hours at the office but had struggled to get as much done.

  “I suppose so.”

  “Anyway, in preparation for the barbecue, I’ve put together a few questions that I think we should prepare answers for.”

  Amelia nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  “First, where did you go to college?”

  “I went right here in San Francisco — SF State. I thought about going a little further away, maybe to the East Coast, but at the last minute I decided I wanted to stay close to my family. I never regretted it, although it does mean I’ve never lived anywhere but here. How about you?”

  “I went to college on the East Coast,” Liam said.

  “Which one?”

  “Harvard.”

  “Wow, impressive.” Amelia sat back. “I shouldn’t be surprised, though. You seem very dedicated. Why did you choose Harvard?”

  “They gave me the best financial aid package.” The honest answer slipped out more easily than it should have. Embarrassed about his financially insecure past, Liam had a stock answer in place about how Harvard had a good mix of academics and real-world experience. Yet something about Amelia brought out the truth.

  Sure enough, Amelia looked a little surprised. “You needed financial aid?”

  “I did.” Liam needed to change the subject, fast. This was getting uncomfortably personal. “Next question. We should set a story for our relationship. I already told Stanley that we met when your nephew spilled ice cream on me, which is the truth, but we should flesh out some additional details. How long ago did we meet? Have I met your parents? That kind of thing.”

  “Ideally, let’s keep it a little vague.” Amelia bit her lip. “If we offer too many details, it’ll be suspicious. But I suppose we should say we’ve been married at least a year or two.”

  Liam nodded. “You have a good point about keeping things vague. If we give too many details, Stanley might start asking specific questions about Grace’s parentage, and I don’t want to lie about that. Grace should never be confused about where she came from.”

  Amelia tilted her head to the side. “Grace’s mother… you’ve never talked about her.”

  Liam didn’t want to admit his rather sordid history to Amelia. It was better not to tell her about Cora, at least not right now.

  “I doubt that’ll come up at the barbecue. For now, we should focus on things that will.”

  Amelia shrugged. Unlike last night, when Liam had redirected her, she didn’t blush or look uncomfortable. She just looked thoughtful. She was clearly becoming more comfortable with him. He didn’t have anyone he was close with in this way.

  “So, have I met your parents?” Liam asked.

  “Yes, definitely, you’ve met my father. If we’ve been married at least a few years, you would have met him quite often. And he would have been at our wedding.”

  “Okay, then. Tell me more about your parents. What should I know?”

  “Okay. My dad’s name is Jim, and he was an architect before he retired a few years ago. He and my mom were high school sweethearts.”

  “And your mom?”

  Amelia bit her lip, and Liam wondered if he’d made a mistake in asking her. Then she took a breath.

  “My mom passed away almost ten years ago. Cancer.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Liam felt like a total jerk for pushing Amelia to talk about her parents. It must hurt that her mother was gone.

  Knowing that Amelia’s mother had passed away also helped him understand why Amelia was so caring and wonderful with Grace when the child was sad about her mother being gone.

  “It was a long time ago. How about your parents? Have I met them?” It was a clear signal that Amelia didn’t want to talk about her mother anymore, so Liam moved on.

  “No.” Liam shook his head firmly. “You haven’t. How about our wedding?”

  “I don’t know.” Amelia shrugged and crossed her legs. “What about it?”

  “I mean, was it big, small? Where was it? What were the… you know, colors and flowers, and all that wedding stuff?”

  “I don’t know.” Amelia crossed her arms over her stomach. Now both her legs and arms were crossed, giving her a very defensive posture.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Liam said. “We should just agree.”

  “All right. We got married in a garden lit with fairy lights and strewn with flowers, in June. It was a small wedding, just close family and friends.”

  “Great.” Liam realized, belatedly, that Amelia might have just described a wedding she’d dreamed of having. Guilt swept him. He shouldn’t have pushed her on this detail — but he needed to. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t exactly easy, for either of us. But it’s important that we know all we can about each other and about our fake relationship history.”

  “I know, I know. It’s fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  They looked at each other for a long moment. Amelia’s brown eyes were inscrutable.

  Just then, Liam’s phone began to ring. Perfect timing.

  “That’ll be our food.” He got to his feet. “I’ll get it.”

  He answered the call on his way to the elevator, but had some time to kill once he was there. As he waited, his eyes swept the apartment. Slowly, subtly, Amelia had added her touches to his previously barren home. Just in the living room, which was visible through an open door, Liam could see floaty white curtains, pastel throw pillows, and a play mat patterned with roads. Liam imagined Grace there, playing with toy cars, while Amelia sat beside her.

  It was a relief when the food came and interrupted Liam’s thoughts.

  Back in the study, he unpacked the food.

  “It smells delicious, again.” Amelia smiled.

  “I hope it tastes just as good.” They took their containers and began to eat. Amelia gave an appreciative mmm that Liam felt somewhere deep inside.

  “Shall we continue with our preparation?” Liam asked after a few minutes.

  “Yes.” Amelia set her container down and sat up straighter, her hands folded. “But before we go back to the questions, there’s another… thing… that we should address.”

  “What do you mean?” Liam took another bite of his butter chicken.

  “Well, you and I can learn about each other, fabricate stories, and act while we’re in front of Stanley. But Grace can’t. And if I understand correctly, you aren’t just proving that you have a wife, but that you have a beloved daughter, too.”

  Liam felt her words in his chest like an icy dagger. It was true that Grace couldn’t pretend. “You’re right. But what can we do?”

  “Well… I think you’re going to have to spend a little time with Grace. She needs to know that you’re her father and she needs to know that you love and care for her. Otherwise it’ll be like the photography session — she’ll be shy and reserved, and it’ll be obvious that you two don’t know each other well.”

  Liam’s first reaction was panic. There was a reason he kept his distance from Grace. He knew he wouldn’t be a good father to her, and it wasn’t fair to her for him to try. The little girl had just lost her mother. If he told her he was her father, but was never around or made a mistake, it would be a terrible blow to the child.