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I wasn’t an idiot. I knew the possibility that Nalani would tolerate me for the required five years and then bounce was sky high.
I should’ve pushed for longer.
But as it stood, by my estimations, I had a solid two years to make remaining married seem worth her while. Nalani was a smart woman, enough to knowlovewasn’t the only—or even primary—thing that made a long term relationship work. And we both knew finding a spouse that really checked off all the boxes was… a treasure hunt, to be optimistic about it.
We couldbothdo much, much worse than each other, but the opposite?
Doingbetterthan each other?
… I wasn’t that sure about.
More than any of that, chief on my mind was the reality that I’d already fucked up enough. Calli and my grandfather were in love.
My mother and father were in love.
Ares was stuffy, but romantic at heart. His ass never recovered from my parents acting an ass about his high school sweetheart. There was no chance he was marrying for anythingbutlove. The odds of Titan settling down any time soon were low, but if he did, there was no doubt in my mind that he’d be in it for the long haul.
And here I was… making business arrangements.
Well… notonlythat, but… it was what everybody would see and remember.
The least I could do was not add a fucking divorce to the mix too.
When I got off the phone with Leon, I made my way back to the cabin just as it began snowing again. I made a mental note to check the weather as I stopped in the foyer to strip out of my outdoor gear.
I could smell coffee.
There was still too much on my mind for an in-person conversation right now, so I purposely bypassed the kitchen to make my way upstairs. In my—our—room, I stripped the rest of the way down and got in the shower.
Afterwards, I didn’t bother putting anything on once I’d dried off.
Nalani must’ve found the manual temperature controls because it was comfortably toasty throughout the whole house. I located her in the kitchen as expected, sitting at the bar counter with a cup of coffee and a bagel beside her laptop.
My wifewas fine as hell.
She’d styled her natural hair into a puff on top of her head, and paired that with her fresh, makeup free face and silky lounge robe — not the one from last night’s lingerie — and she looked…comfortable.
Until she noticed my presence in the door.
“Why don’t you have any clothes on?” she asked, eyes on my dick before she forced her attention to my face.
“Why would I?” I asked, sauntering toward her. “There’s nobody here.”
“Uh,I’mhere,” she said, frowning as I stepped into her space. “And I don’t want to look at your dick all day.”
“You sure? Your nipples are telling a different story,” I teased.
She glanced down, noticing the way they were indeed straining against the buttery fabric. Her arms went up immediately, covering them. “It’s cold,” she lied.
“You know we’resupposedto be attracted to each other, right?”
“Why?” she countered. “This is just business, remember?”
“You were singing amuchdifferent tune last night, Mrs. Sterling.”
She rolled her eyes, slipping off her barstool as she pushed her laptop closed. “To fulfill my contractual wedding night obligations. And I believe I have… what, at least another ten hours before you should be bothering me again.”
“I’m bothering you?” I asked, using a hand pressed to the counter on either side of her hips to box her in. “That’s really how you feel?”
