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“I have some conditions.”
I pull my arm away and look down at him from where I’m standing, indignation burning hot inside my chest. “Wasn’t you forcing us to stay married after all this time, condition enough?”
“Hardly,” he says as he motions me to sit back down with a quick flick of the wrist. I eye a vase on a side table near his chair and daydream about smashing it over his head before finally sitting my ass back down on the couch with a huff. As if plucking the thought right out of my head, Connor’s glare lingers while he slowly pushes the vase further away.
He leans back into the chair, looking me up and down as if appraising me. I bite into my lip, the pain centering me while I wait for him to finally voice his conditions. I can’t help but to speak first. “What is it Connor? Out with it.”
He smirks.
“If you want this to work in your favor. You need everyone to believe we’re actually happily married.” Connor’s lip curls into a sneer as if him even saying those two words together is making him physically ill and my stomach sinks. I hear his words before they’re even uttered out of his mouth. “That includes Sunny.”
“She doesn’t need to know for this to work,” I say quickly in protest.
“Oh yes she does. If your ex-fiancé is like any other loser out there moaning over the loss of ownership.” He gives me a hard stare, daring me to react. In my head I do, the vase’s already in pieces around him. In reality I sit still, my hands balling into fists to fight the urge to rip his eyeballs out of his skull. “Your best friend of all people needs to believe the lie.”
I take a long inhale, while I let what he just said sink in.
“She won’t buy it,” I mutter.
“Make her. And oh,” he says abruptly, raising a finger as if he just thought of something. But I know better to believe it—everything is calculated when it comes to Connor Maxwell. “You’re moving in.”
“What?” I practically screech.
Connor runs his tongue along his front teeth while he watches me react, seemingly enjoying every second of this.
“Regretting roping me into this yet?”
“Fuck you.”
“Careful darling… if you want my help? You’ll behave like a good—"
“Don’t you dare say what I think you’re about to say.”
He chuckles low with fire in his eyes. “Stop making this harder than it has to be. And besides I don’t know why you’re the one bitching and moaning about this.Youcame tomewith your little problem.”
I wouldn’t call being forced back into a life of servitude and God knows what else a little problem but I bite my tongue and swallow the hard pill Connor is currently shoving down my throat.
“Fine,” I say, stubbornly crossing my arm over my chest. “Anything elseyour majesty?”
“You accompany me to any social function I need to attend. As long as this little arrangement lasts.”
“Why?”
“Some of the men I deal with are old school, being married gives me something for them to relate to. If I’m married, I become more trustworthy in their eyes. There’s a few closed circles I’m still not invited into for exactly that reason. Also,” he trails off, waving a lazy hand around. “I might have fucked a few of their wives.”
Connor’s devious grin is enough to give me a heart attack. I’ve never seen someone so full of themselves. This time I don’t react, instead I stand up.
“As long as you don’t continue to fuck their wives, you have yourself a deal Mr. Maxwell.” The words slip out unencumbered and I regret them immediately. I manage to keep my expression neutral, ready to get the hell out of here and enjoy my last night of freedom before I’m ensnared into what might be the stupidest decision of my life.
I brandish my hand towards him and he stands up, taking my hand in his to shake. But then he pulls me towards him and I stumble into his chest, his familiar scent of cedarwood and orange blossom warping my senses. His other hand lands on the small of my back, keeping me in place. His lips find the shell of my ear while my heart beats wildly in my chest.
“This is going to be fun,” he growls.
Chapter 16
Leaningontherailsof my balcony, a joint hanging loosely between my fingers, I watch the smoke curl up and up against the city’s night sky and sigh.
I wish I was smoke.
