Page 30 of The Arrangement

“All this time?”

“Hmm?”

His confusion had her lips curving with a sentimental smile. “I can’t believe you held onto that feeling for nine years, is all. People grow up, and we were separated for all of it. I mean, I always held onto you because that’s all I ever knew and when it wasn’t going to be anymore, I was fucking lost. Just … why?”

“I told you,” he said gruffly, “you’re mine. I found who I wanted when I was eighteen. I still got to live, do what I wanted, whatever, but I knew where I was ending up. That’s what I was working towards. I fell in love the one time, it was more than good enough for me; I wasn’t about to let it go.”

Viviana felt overwhelmed again. Like her heart had grown double its size and her lungs wouldn’t accommodate the growth. Their attraction had been one thing, and it came naturally, but hearing those statements had all but whipped away any doubts she might have had about the rest. Still, there were people she knew who loved and loved and loved, but time moved all things and feelings changed.

“Can you say you’ll never stray, though? Six years, ten years … it could change.”

“Not for me. Don’t think you’re just here to hang pretty on my arm and birth a few kids. I want a wife—my wife. And she can be whoever the hell she wants to be so long as she’s with me.”

She went to speak, but his rising head stopped her words up short. When their gazes met, the faintest smile played on his full lips. “Don’t apologize again. You have every right to wonder if you want this, baby. There’s very little I expect from you, except for you to follow the rules for your own safety, to get dressed up in something pretty when I want to take you out, and to turn the other cheek when the time is not right for you to step in. That’s all.

“Here …” he added, waving his hand to the space they were in, “… is your zone. When it’s just me and you alone, Vine, the only thing I want and need is for you to just be you. Normal. Happy. Mine. That’s it.”

Resting back into the bed, she let his fingers trace pathways over her stomach and sides. There wasn’t much else for her to say when he laid it all out bare for her like that. The comfortable silence that enveloped them didn’t feel awkward. She wasn’t even sure how long they stayed like that before the light hum of Anton’s phone vibrating out in the hallway had him sighing an unhappy sound.

“Insufferable idiots,” he grumbled.

“You’ve ignored them for hours.”

“They pissed me off. You had a terrible bruise on your back and cheek; I’ve got a massive bill to pay in Toronto, and a shipment is coming in at the end of next week that is probably going to get intercepted by the authorities if they can’t get the cargo in after midnight. Given the way the trip has been going, it’s probably not going to happen. I need a goddamn break.”

Viviana coughed, knowing Anton probably shouldn’t be telling her some of those things.

“Well, I’m here and the bruises have already started to fade.”

“True,” he agreed, sounding sullen. “But I’ll still remember.”

“Everything is taken care of in Toronto with all the important aspects, right?”

“For now.”

“And this … cargo …”

Anton’s brow furrowed in the sexiest way as he glanced away from her. “What about it?”

“Guns or other?”

“Does it make a difference?”

“I don’t know,” Viviana replied just as quiet. “You told me, Anton. Does it?”

“Not really.”

“So, delay it.”

The laugh that barked from him sounded a bit contrite. “It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. A few loose bolts on the ship’s mainframe can cause a complete security failure. Engines stop. Ships just float. Maybe it’ll float for a few extra hours just out of US waters with a viable excuse to be doing just that while someone else keeps an eye on the docks and coastguard to give a signal. See, simple.”

The surprise that registered in his eyes had her grinning.

“That’s brilliant.”

“I’ve overheard a few things here and there. Some of it could be useful, but a lot of it really isn’t.”