AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She ignored the nickname. “We’d live together? Eat together? We’d be like …a family?”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, you’re very busy and I guess important. Presumably you have lots of places to be, and I just wondered if I’d be … lonely.”
Something strange swirled through his heart, filling it with an emotion he didn’t recognise. “I’ll make sure you’re not.”
Uncertainty swarmed through her.
“That’s not an answer.”
“Do you want us to be a family?”
She bit down on her lip and looked away. It was such a foolish notion, but Sarah had never had a family before. The possibility of being able to provide one for Lexi was even more tempting than the trust fund he was going to establish.
When she spoke, her voice was measured if slightly uneven. “I don’t want you to tie me up in a marriage just to stop me from being with someone else.” Her eyes met his and he was impressed by the obvious strength in her gaze. “You’re possessive but I’m not a possession. After five years, you’ve come back into my life and you seem to think you have a right to think of me as your personal plaything. I’m not. And it’s not fair to expect me to marry you if it’s just so I won’t marry anyone else.”
His cheeks were dark slashes in his handsome face. “Is there someone else you plan on marrying?”
“No! Not now. I mean, but… you never know. And if it’s just that you want me to be under your thumb … surely you can see how impossible that is?”
The very idea of her walking down the aisle, dressed in white, smile glued to her beautiful face, all for another man… his gut rolled. Damn straight he didn’t want her marrying anyone else. “Impossible is not being with you for a day longer. Surely you feel that too?”
Sadness was her shadow, because he was right. It was crazy and it was wrong and she suspected she’d regret it, but she found herself nodding, being swept into the tide of idiocy that dogged their relationship as much now as it had then.
“Fine. I’ll marry you.”
And with that, she sealed the million-dollar deal.
She would become his bride. His wife.
His princess.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“It’s so big, mommy!” Lexi’s little face was illuminated with wonderment as she stared around the apartment.
And it was big. So much bigger than she’d even appreciated at first. She hadn’t really had a full tour though; her visit had been contained to the lounge area, the bedroom, and the bathroom. She bit down on her lip, wishing away the flush of tell-tale colour that blushed her cheeks as she followed behind Lexi and Syed.
“This,” he said dramatically, wigging his thick, dark brows at Lexi as though he had all the experience in the world dealing with little children, “is your room.” He crouched down and smiled at her, his denim jeans straining across his groin.
Sarah had to look away from the distracting sight of his impressive bulge, but it wasn’t quick enough. She’d seen it; him, and needs she wished she could control soared through her.
“In here?” Lexi’s voice was soft.
“Yes. Why don’t you look inside?”
She nodded, but there was a gravity to her movements now and she curled her little hand up behind her, reaching for Sarah’s reassurance. Sarah squeezed it, carefully concealing the fact she was every bit as nervous.
Lexi pushed the door inwards at the same moment Syed stood, placing a hand at Sarah’s back. It momentarily distracted her; his touch had the ability to spark flames through her soul. She tilted her head to him, her eyes clashing with his in a charged moment of sensual heat.
“Oh, wow.” Lexi’s voice was a perfect imitation of Sarah’s tone, when she was particularly impressed or awed.
Like in that moment, as Syed’s hand gently stroked her back, spreading warmth and need through her.
“Oh, wow, wow, wow.”
Sarah turned to look into the room, and felt a burst of something strange in her chest. Disbelief, certainly. Frustration. Impatience. Gratitude. And a sense of failure, for surely this is how Lexi should always have been living. Well, perhaps not quite so grandiose as this, but in a room more suitable than the tiny shoe-box she’d slept in back in Iron Oaks.
