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He winked. “Everything?”
“Yes! Everything. I think I screamed your name really, really loud.”
Now he grinned wider. “Well, I did that thing you liked and...”
She held her hand out. “Too much information.”
“I’m your husband.”
“You’re a stranger.”
“A stranger... Seriously? After all the things we did? Like...”
“Okay, that’s gotta stop. So, why did you marry me?”
“To secure my inheritance.”
“Oh.”
“Disappointed?”
“A girl likes to be married for her personality, her brains, at least her fine ass.”
“Your ass is especially fine, Mrs. Cates.”
She blushed. “Um, thanks. So I married you to help you out of a tough bind. Why did we have sex?”
“Because we couldn’t keep our hands off of one another.”
Passionate images of their lovemaking raced across her mind. Biting her lip, she gazed down. “Yes, I seem to remember that very well.”
“You were so beautiful and we had this connection, this spark.”
“I remember the crazy chemistry between us.”
“That kind of chemistry is very hard to find. When I find it, I don’t ever want to let it go.”
“At least for a year,” she mumbled.
He let out a long sigh. “What happened to fighting injustice and oppression? Together, we were going to conquer the Wicked Queen. You even promised me the keys back to my kingdom.”
She put her head in her hands. “Oh my gosh. I do remember saying that. Listen, I was really drunk. I must’ve sounded like an idiot. I’m so sorry.”
“How do you feel about monograms?” he asked.
“They’re stupid and stuffy and I refuse to own one.”
“Good answer,” he said, “so apart from the bit where you threatened to sue me and the part where you thought I was filming you for a reality show, we’re off to an excellent start.”
“Because I don’t like monograms, and I remember the cake?”
“It’s a start. Arranged marriages often have even less to go off of.”
“That’s hardly encouraging. Especially since we’re getting this annulled as soon as I find my pants.”
She stood and backed away from him with the pillow clutched to her front. She made her way walking backward through the doorway and looked behind her just in time to stop herself from plummeting down the three steps into the sunken living room. Her hasty stop and turn may have flashed him her bare ass, but it sure beat taking a grand piano to the back of the head which was the alternative.
“Why do they have a piano? People who can afford this kind of room don’t sit around playing the piano,” she grumbled.
“You can hire an accompanist through the hotel, have piano music during a cocktail gathering or so you can show off your operatic tenor.”
“Or do high-class karaoke? Think the accompanist knows any Lady Gaga? I can rock the shit out of Paparazzi.”
“Speaking of paparazzi, you should be prepared for the media coverage that’s going to surround us.”
Her jaw dropped.
“Don’t give me that look,” he said. “You signed up for this.”
“I have to give you that look because there is no ‘us.’ There is me and the new boss I very stupidly screwed and married.”
“You married me first,” he countered.
“How unusual for me. I hate to disillusion you, but I wasn’t a virgin.”
“Neither was I,” he said.
“Where the hell are my clothes?”
“Look over by the cake. Other side of the sofa,” he suggested.
“That’s not my underwear. Where’s my underwear?”
“I don’t know. I removed the lacy, silky material with my teeth, but I can’t answer for where it ended up,” he said with an insouciant shrug she found as infuriating as it was sexy.
Marj struggled into her clothes, hopping around with one stiletto on, in search of her discarded panties. Mind reeling, she wondered what her choices were. If she filed for an annulment...and how did you even DO that? Did you have to find a priest or the guy who did the ceremony? Was it something she could trust his/their legal team to handle or was this something she needed a lawyer for? Because she couldn’t afford a lawyer. And getting waitlisted at Legal Aid for a free lawyer to go up against rich boy and his team of thoroughbred attorneys wasn’t high on her list of optimistic possibilities. If she had to file for divorce, it would take longer and what if he contested it? He didn’t seem like he was panicked and in a rush to unload her and forget the whole sorry episode.
