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How could I ever let him touch me again?
“We sleep in separate rooms,” I said.
“No.”
“That’s not up for negotiation. Take it, or we have no deal.”
He was quiet, mulling over the situation in silence. “You’ll fuck me but won’t sleep with me?”
“Sex is meaningless. Who you sleep beside every night…that’s intimate. I’m not doing that with you. It’s ridiculous that I have to make this sacrifice just to have what’s mine. You’re taking everything from me, but I’m not letting you take that.”
He stared at me from across the table in silence, his fingers brushing over his lips as he became lost in thought. “So, we have a deal, then?”
It made me sick to say it. “Yes.”
He closed his eyes for an instant and released a breath, like he’d been holding it this whole time. He looked at the ring in front of him and picked it up.
“I’m not wearing that until I have to.”
He returned the ring to the box and put it back in his pocket. His expression hardened once more as he stared at me, his presence large enough to cross the table and touch me.
The waiter arrived with our dishes.
“I’m sorry, but can I have this to go?” I asked. “Something came up.”
“Of course.” The waiter left to retrieve a takeout container.
“You’re going to marry me but won’t have dinner with me?” he asked, his voice hurt.
“Yep.”
The waiter returned with the container and set it down.
I grabbed it and placed my dinner in the box before I closed it up. “Goodnight, Axel.”
He said nothing as he watched me get up, the steam rising from his hot dish.
I walked off and waited for him to stop me.
But he didn’t.
12
AXEL
We sat there in the parlor, smoking and drinking, waiting for our guest to arrive.
“You got the answer you wanted,” Theo said. “That’s all that matters.”
I stared at the cigar between my fingertips, watching the smoke slowly rise to the ceiling. “It’s not the fairy tale I hoped it would be. Wouldn’t even have dinner with me.”
“She thinks you lied and cheated, Axel. How else do you expect her to react?”
I continued to stare at the cigar.
“It’s gonna take time. If you aren’t going to vindicate yourself with the truth, you’ll have to win her over the hard way. Which is going to take a lot of time. And a lot of fucking patience.”
I brought the cigar to my mouth and let the smoke fill it again, the taste of licorice distinct on my tongue. Then I pushed it out from between my lips before I took a drink of the scotch.
“You can do it, Axel.”
My butler entered the parlor. “Dante has arrived. Shall I show him in?”
“Yes.”
He gave a quick bow then left.
Theo refilled his glass and got comfortable in the armchair.
It had been in this very room that Scarlett had shown up unannounced and we’d faced each other for the first time in six months. I’d seen her at the restaurant, but it wasn’t as intimate as that night. The rain had pelted the windows, and I’d looked at those lips I longed to kiss.
Dante entered the parlor a moment later, the cut still visible on the side of his temple.
I wondered if Scarlett had asked him about it.
Dante greeted us both with eye contact before he took a seat. His arrogance had been stripped away by siege, and now he was a quiet little bitch like I wanted him to be. He crossed his leg and rested his ankle on the opposite knee.
“Scarlett said yes.” I felt a thrill at the thought because I’d been reflecting on our memories together, the way she made me feel, the way she kissed me like I meant the world to her. I wanted that again…desperately. I knew it wouldn’t be that way, at least not for a while, not unless I gave her a reason to trust me when I’d never broken that trust to begin with.
“She told me.”
“How did you change her mind?” Her rejection had been venomous, spiteful. But somehow, she’d had a change of heart—or, at least, a change of mind.
“I reminded her how important that company is to us. I told her we were Romans?—”
“And the Romans were overthrown by the barbarians,” I said. “I guess that makes me a barbarian.”
He did his best to keep a calm composure, but the anger shone through just a bit. “Through marriage, Rome still rules.” His arms moved to the armrests. “She’ll outlive you. And her children will outlive you both. We take back the throne—with a hint of barbarian blood.”
He talked about the business like it was a dynasty for the history books, but no illegal activity would have a legacy like he thought it would. The only people who would remember it would have a quick death. “She wants to resume her position. I’ll take care of everything else. She won’t be attending meetings or counting ounces like you had her do before. That was reckless and stupid.”
