She frowned. Yeah, I definitely had her number, and she wasn’t really happy about that. “I—but you—you can’t justbuya career for me.”
“Beg to differ, sweets. I could do that in a second.” I snapped my fingers as if to demonstrate.
“I donotwant your money.”
“Well, you’d get some anyway, since I was dumb enough to do this without a prenup. My family’s going to kill me, by the way. But that’s a bridge we’ll cross in Boston.” I grabbed her hand, begging her to look at me. “Think about it, Laney. You can take a second to breathe. Do whatever you want, whether it’s finishing your dissertation or talking more to your dad or just taking time for yourself.”
“I don’t understand.” She fell back into the headboard like she’d been shoved, then peeked up at me. “So, what, you want to stay married so we can keep sleeping together? Is this a sex for money situation? Am I basically a gold-digger-turned-trophy wife?”
Now I was the one to scowl. “First of all, never talk about yourself like that in front of me unless you want me to get really fucking mad, Laney.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s fucking not!” I couldn’t have said why, exactly, the idea of anyone thinking she married me for my money or that I married her for sex really pissed me off. And I wasn’t the type to lose my cool. Not this easily, anyway.
Suddenly, I couldn’t stay in the bed, so I reached down to locate my trousers (I had no clue where the fuck my underwear had gone—and they were a mess anyway), and yanked them if only for something to do before I started pacing the room.
“Why?” Laney pressed as she too got out of bed. I only got a brief view of her luscious body before she wrapped it with a kimono and turned to me as she pulled her hair into a bun. “You’re making all these points about why it would be good for me, but I’m having a hard time seeing whatyouget from this arrangement. You’re rich, gorgeous, and, if the tabloids are correct, a total playboy. You clearly have no problem getting laid on a regular basis, so why would you want to tie yourself down to one person?”
This time, my mouth was the one to fall open. I knew she had done some research on me, but I hadn’t realized she was aware of that side of my reputation. Normally, it wouldn’t have bothered me. It had never bothered me before.
But Laney thinking I was nothing but a degenerate womanizer seemed wrong. I didn’t like it. At all.
Now was the time to tell her the truth.
That in order to step into the role I never thought I’d play, I had to meet my family’s old-fashioned ideal of who the person in that role had to be.
That finding myself married right at this moment wasn’t just a mistake—it was shockingly convenient. Fate, maybe.
That she could have just about anything she wanted from me if she would just play along for a few months.
Make it clean. Make it a transaction.
And yet… I couldn’t.
“First of all, ‘playboy’ is a stupid term.” I stalked around the room to where she stood, back against her bureau. “I’m not a gross old man in a grotto or a dumbass kid chasing tail. I wantyou, Delaney Fisher. I’ve wanted you since the second I saw you cross the street to go into that nightclub. I followed you in there like a bloodhound.”
Her eyes had grown into bright green stars. “Youfollowedme into that club?”
“Yes, I fucking did. Just like I followed you here, and frankly, I’d follow you anywhere just to give me a chance. This isn’t about sex. It’s aboutyou.”
I didn’t know why that felt more honest than the actual truth, but it did.
By the time I was finished, she had completely backed up against the bureau, and I was looming over her like a shirtless gargoyle. Both of us in bare feet, our height difference was even more pronounced. I was struggling not to pick her up and toss her back on the bed just so we could be eye to eye.
Then again, I kind of liked letting her know who was in charge. And by the way her nipples were perking through her robe, I had a feeling she liked it too.
“We barely know each other, Ronan,” she whispered, even as her gaze drifted down across my naked torso.
I masked a smirk. Yeah, I definitely wasn’t the only one who could multitask. “So, we’ll get to know each other.”
Then something else occurred to me. Something I was shocked I hadn’t considered.
Carefully, traced a finger down her neck, enjoying the way she arched at the contact, then flattened my palm over her sternum.
“You could fix your heart, Laney. For good.”
For a moment, she didn’t breathe. I could feel her heart pounding under my hand, and while we stared at each other, I tried to feel the irregularity she said happened from time to time.
