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Because he was overqualified and incredibly professional.
He was also, a he.
Win for me!
But since lunch, as I watched the clock get closer and closer to the end of the day and the time that we left for our wedding, I was painfully aware that I needed help. Yet I had no idea who or where to get it from.
“Cora!” Reid said, snapping his fingers in front of my face. “What’s with you? You’re acting strange.”
I chewed my lip again and looked down at my empty notebook page. “I need your help.” I said to him quickly, closing my book with a resounding thud.
“Uh.” He backpedaled, “No offense Cora, but I get into trouble when I help you.” He said and I deflated a bit, before a wide devilish grin crossed his rugged pretty boy face. “Who am I kidding, I love your kind of trouble.” He said, leaning forward again and clapping his hands. “How are we making Maverick raging mad today?”
His eyes gleamed with mischief, and I laughed, feeling a bit of stress leave my shoulders.
The other door to the boardroom opened and Dexter strolled in from his office, looking at ease. And I couldn’t help the shiver of embarrassment that coursed through my system, remembering the look of lust on his face as he stood outside of Maverick’s mirrored door yesterday, listening to us have sex.
He looked at me, and for the briefest of seconds, I thought I could see the look of trepidation in his eyes as he walked further into the room, but his cool composed mask slid into place so quickly, I couldn’t be sure.
“Are you going to sit in here and bother her every day?” Dexter asked Reid who flipped him off.
“Like you weren’t coming in to do exactly the same thing.” Reid deadpanned.
Dexter shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way, and I relaxed a bit into my chair, if he could act like it wasn’t weird, so could I.
“Actually,” Reid started, “Cora here was just asking for my help in making Maverick pissing mad again, and of course I agreed. You in?” He asked his friend.
Dexter’s eyebrows raised to his hair line, and he looked at me with question, “You want to make Maverick mad and you’re enlisting Reid’s help to do it?” He asked, holding my stare in a way that I’d learned was his signature intimidation move. “I’m a bit offended you didn’t come to me first, considering how close of friends we’ve become.”
I rolled my eyes and threw one of my extra pens at him as he sat down on the other side of me and leaned forward on his elbows. I could have laughed had I not been so plagued with concern over my current conundrum. I had two of the most powerful and eligible men in New York City boxing me in, the very center of their attention like they were willing to do anything for me in that moment.
“Spill it. What are we doing?” Dexter asked, serious now.
I fought the doubt in my head and then just spit it out. “I want a prenup.”
Reid choked and coughed into his hand in shock and Dexter stared at me, without blinking.
When Reid could finally breathe again he shook his head back and forth as he stared at me in wonder. “Oh he’s going to be so much more than just raging mad at you.”
I hit his arm and turned my attention to Dexter, who still hadn’t blinked. “You want a prenup?” He asked and I nodded my head. “To one of Forbes’ richest men in the world?” He asked, and I once again nodded. He cocked his head to the side and leaned forwards towards me on his elbows and looked like he was actually struggling to say his next sentence. “You know they typically protect the party that comes into the marriage with more, and not the one who comes into the marriage with… nothing.” He said. And while I appreciate his attempt at delicacy, I still rolled my eyes at him.
“Believe it or not Dex, I was top of my graduating class and earned my full ride to Duke on academic grounds, but the only reason I chose to go there, was because it was Maverick’s dream school. I also won scholarships to other schools like Berkley, NYU and Columbia even if my fucked-up family took away my chance to go. I’m actually a very smart person, so yes, I do know that in our situation, a prenup would normally be requested by Maverick to protect him from me taking any of his money if we divorced.” I kind of snapped, but that was because I was already on edge about the topic. “And protecting Maverick is exactly why I want one.”
Both men looked downright guilty for their shitty reactions to my plea for help and stayed quiet while I worked through my feelings on it. “I don’t want anyone to ever be able to say I’m anything like my family. I don’t want to benefit from this marriage financially, that’s never been an interest of mine and I want to be able to prove that to the world if I need to.”
“He’ll never sign it.” Dexter said finally, looking compassionate to my cause. “He’d give you his entire empire today if you asked it of him Cora, he’s never going to allow you to cast yourself out. He’s already redrafted his will and trusts to leave you everything in the case of his death, there’s no way he’d go and sign a prenup.”
“Yeah Cora, I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, honestly it’s fucking refreshing to see someone be selfless in this dog-eat-dog world that we live in, but even if Dexter wrote one up, Mav would never sign it.” Reid said, laying his hand on my arm.
“I know he won’t sign it, guys. I know Maverick better than anyone else, and I’m not going to force him to either, because it would take me threatening to not even marry him to get him to do it, and I won’t leverage our marriage and union against him like an ultimatum. But if I sign it, if I know that he’s protected, it will make me feel better.”
“You want to sign a piece of paper that basically says if you and him divorce for any reason, then you’ll walk away with nothing you didn’t gain together through marriage? Correct?” Dexter asked.
“Kind of correct.” I said, grimacing, “If he cheats, in any way, I’m taking that fucker for every fucking dime and draining him dry. After I cut off his dick and shove it down his throat, of course.”
Reid snorted and Dexter smiled knowingly. “I don’t know if I’ve actually told you this or not Cora Valentine,” Dex said, “But I’m quite a fan of yours, and I’m glad to have you joining our ring of friends.”
I smiled and leaned back in my chair, feeling lighter and more at ease, though I still knew Maverick was going to cause an earthquake in New York when I gave him the prenup.
