Shopping for a CEO's Fiancee by Julia Kent Page A

That’s leadership.
    “What was the name of the place? Where are the marriage licenses?” Amanda asks.
    The goat stands up and wanders off toward the macaron case. Josh is still on the floor, but he sits up, revived by Geordi, who is feeding him sips of coffee.
    “Love Me Tenderly was the chapel. Some strange woman with auburn hair mumbling about bagpipes and $700,000 was the one in charge of your paperwork.”
    “Marie!” Amanda hisses.
    “She wouldn’t be crazy enough to file them, would she?” Josh asks, his voice faint.
    Amanda and I give him twin looks that make him add quickly, “Okay, okay, I know she’s more than crazy enough. I mean—she didn’t go to the license bureau and really file them. Right?”
    “And did we—” he points between himself and Amanda—“have a marriage license drawn up?”
    “The woman only had one in her hand, but a bunch sticking out of her purse. You had two ceremonies, actually.” Kari looks at Amanda with suspicion. “I didn’t marry a dog, but you married a cat.”
    “I what ?”
    “You insisted on marrying a cat you kept calling Charles Kulls. Said his nickname was Chuck.” She looks down at Shannon’s cat and wrinkles her nose, reading the Cone of Shame. “Is this the cat? Because you could do better. He looks like he has mange.”
    Chuckles glares at her like Hannibal Lecter staring at Clarice through the bars.
    Josh stands, blinking hard, looking like a white owl. Geordi’s next to him, their fingers threaded, holding hands. Even if I am married to Josh, I think he has other romantic prospects.
    “Chuck Kulls?” I can’t keep the snicker out of my voice. Amanda punches me, hard, in the breastbone. I deserve it.
    “First you married him—” Kari points to Josh, “and then good old Chuck.”
    “I did not marry a cat,” Amanda says flatly.
    “She can’t marry Chuckles,” Josh adds. “He’s neutered.”
    “Why would that stop someone from getting married?”
    “We’re talking about a human-cat marriage, people,” I say, exasperated.
    “Not because of that,” he says pointedly. “Because Amanda wants kids. Four, to be exact. Two boys and two girls. She’s talked about it forever and—”
    Amanda’s sucker punch folds him in half.
    “Four kids!” I choke out as I watch Josh with a detached awareness. “ Four? ” I look at her hips, assessing. They’re nice and wide. She could produce plenty of McCormick children. Big heads tend to run in our family.
    Case in point: Declan.
    She shrugs. “That was before I married a cat. A girl can dream, right?”
    “You plan to have them in litters?”
    Her eyes meet mine. For the first time in this madcap race to figure out whether we’re married, who we’re married to, and what happened last night and this morning, I feel a sense of peace.
    “Injured husband over here!” Josh rasps.
    “You’re not my husband!” Amanda and I shout in unison.
    Kari gives us a series of looks that make her face shift, like she’s living in stop-action animation. Maybe my brain creates the effect. What’s the half-life of illicitly-slipped-in-wedding-wine mescaline?
    “He’s mine, anyhow,” Geordi hisses. Rainbow Brite bares his teeth at me. Not only is he wearing a lip ring, but he appears to have his gums pierced.
    “Isn’t he your boss?” Josh says out of the side of his mouth.
    Geordi tips his chin up. “I don’t care. Love means sacrifice.”
    “Love?” Josh gasps, looking down at Geordi with wide, emotion-filled eyes. “You love me? How can you love me? We only met last night!”
    “I didn’t say I’m in love with you. Just that there’s, you know—” Geordi reaches for Josh’s hand and watches it, suddenly shy. “A spark.”
    “A spark?” Josh’s voice goes low.
    Chuckles stands up and begins head-butting Geordi’s shin, looking at Kari. If Chuckles had fingers, two would be pointed at Kari in an I see you gesture.
    “Let’s get going. We need to find Marie,” I say to Amanda,