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Chapter 23
Damon
I lean forward, elbows braced on my desk as I rake my fingers through my hair. The clock’s been ticking on the wall, slowly driving me insane, as I watch Misty speak to her friends on my phone. Nicholas’s videoing from the car, so the angle’s bad, and there’s no sound, but I can still make out her expressions. Every time she looks unsure of herself, I have to press down the urge to go to her. To make her see that even though I’d coerced her into marrying me, it was to hurry along the inevitable.
She’s always been mine.
The second she tied herself to me, my world clicked into place. Like everything I’ve lived through brought me to her. I’d endure the pain all over again if it meant making me what she needs.
Because she doesn’t need someone soft. She needs someone to see the darkness she tries to hide and worship her because of it. She needs someone who she isn’t afraid to show herself to because she knows I’ll never reject her. She instinctively knows that already. It’s why she shows me her fire and no one else. It’s why she’s comfortable pushing my boundaries every chance she gets. And I fucking love her for it.
I love the joyfulness she shows her friends, making everyone feel lighter, but it’s the sharp edge to her wit that has me willing to drop to my knees to give her what she wants.
There’s no feeling like tying the person you are meant to be with to you permanently. Because we are permanent.
I let her believe it’s only for a year, but that’s never been the plan. She’s about to learn what it means to be mine.
Fate has always been something people told themselves to justify their shitty lives, but I can see it now. Fate brought her to my team, pulled her from a different country to work for me. Now, I’m just waiting for her to admit it because I know she knows we’re meant for each other, even if she’s lying to herself.
I turn off my phone and stare blankly at my computer. Her wanting to keep us a secret itches under my skin. The way she looked away from me when she laid down that rule had suspicion growing in my gut. A nagging feeling I can’t ignore tells me there’s more than just losing credit at work. That there’s something deeper behind my Nymph’s lies.
My phone dings with a text from Nicholas, letting me know they’re on the way to the office.
I smile. She may be keeping secrets, but I’m going to do everything in my power to figure it out. I tried to give her at least some privacy, but now all her secrets will be mine.
Misty walks into my office, all sharp lines and determination. Her heels click against the tile floor as she eats the space between us. But she’s not looking at me. Instead, her head’s bowed, attention focused on her tablet while she comes toward me.
“Wife,” I say, and her head snaps up, her pale green eyes meeting mine. My lips curl in satisfaction, and I lean back into my chair.
“Husband.” Her voice is smooth, professional, and it’s grating against my skin. We may be at work, but there’s nothing professional between us. Still, the word sounds sweet on her tongue.
I want to push her, crack the cool shell she’s wrapped herself in. “So, wife, how do you suppose we go about our marriage when I’m supposed to be shopping for a wife?”
Adorable wrinkles form at the top of her nose, but she clears her expression before responding, nothing but the perfect employee showing through. “Simple. We’re going to stick to the plan, and you’ll appear to still be looking for a suitable wife. Your mother and I have put a lot of work into making this list, after all.”
Bitterness fills my mouth, and my teeth grit hard enough to break, the muscles in my jaw aching in an effort to bite back my reactive response. A slight growl forms in the back of my throat as I try to figure her out. She’s watching me just as hard, head held rigidly high, arms crossed over her chest as she waits for my response.
It’s her clenched fist and the tight tendons leading up her neck that give her away. My girl thinks she can act unaffected, that I can’t tell that jealousy is eating at her. She wants me to refuse, but it’s the perfect opportunity to find out why she’s doing this in the first place. It’s her rule that got us here, and she needs to be the one that breaks it.
My lips curl into a smirk as I relax into the back of my chair, and I give her a little push. “When do we start?”
She visibly flinches, nostrils flaring as she takes a deep breath before drawing herself up to her full height, her chin held high as she maintains eye contact with me. There’s a defiance in her gaze, a cunning willingness to play this game with me. My cock starts to harden. She’s meant for this, meant for me.
It’s her mischievous smile that lets me know I fucked up.
“Perfect, so we’re agreed. We’re not exclusive.”
Chapter 24
Misty
Ethan: Be there in ten.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as I swoop eyeliner over my right lid. I cuss under my breath when, once again, the wing jerks at the end, and I have to wipe it off for the third time. I’ve been attempting to do my makeup in my tiny bathroom mirror for the last twenty minutes, avoiding my entirely too-casual husband. His gaze tracked my movements when I got home, but he stayed silent as he watched me move about the small apartment.
Taunting Damon is like taunting a wild animal. I’d declared we weren’t exclusive, then quite literally scurried out of his office.
I found the first single hockey player I saw and asked him on a date tonight. Then, I hid in an unused office for the rest of the day, praying that my bracelet really isn’t a tracker.
