AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I work my jaw. She’s giving me that stubborn glare, and while I find it weirdly fucking attractive, right now isnotthe time to think about the feeling of her hips under my hands, or my palm brushing against her breasts, or her lips working against mine.
How goddamn pent-up and horny am I right now?
“I already took the first steps the second I left the meeting with the Crowleys. If Liam decides to dig, he’ll find the proper documentation.”
Her jaw drops. “Wait. Hold on. Back up. The properwhatnow?”
“Documentation.” I stare at her straight-faced. I had hoped I wouldn’t need to tell her this part. I’d quietly dissolve the whole thing before she ever noticed. Just a blip in the system. “I know a judge in Las Vegas, a friend of mine, and he was willing to file the marriage certificate plus backdate it to a couple months ago. He forged both our signatures. Good guy.”
She jumps to her feet. “You did fuckingwhat? Gareth!”
“What did you expect? You don’t have to play along, but we need proof that we’re married. Do you have any idea what the Crowley family is?”
“You can’t just—you can’t just—force me into marriage. This is, like, beyond insane.”
I come around the desk, staring at her. “Listen to me, Fiona. The Crowley family is powerful. They bribe politicians. They buy local elections. If they wanted to scratch the surface of my lie, they could easily do it. I needed to make sure that there were no holes in our story, and filing the paperwork was the most obvious first step.”
“The most obvious first step was maybe you shouldn’t have lied to them in the first place.” She’s seething now. Not that I can blame her. It must be an ugly surprise to find out that she’s married. Legally, anyway.
“We can’t go back and change that. I did what I did to keep you safe.” Mostly, anyway.
“Oh, you’re my savior.” She rolls her eyes. “Asshole.”
“Don’t start insulting me.” I jab a finger at her. “You’re being stubborn. Can’t you just see that I’m doing this to help you?”
“You’re doing this to win your stupid client.” She jabs a finger right back. “Quit pretending like you’re all noble. And what about that kiss, huh? Was that tohelpme?”
I blink rapidly at her. “I was selling our story.”
“You enjoyed it. You were practically drooling for more.”
“You moaned in my mouth. You’re telling meI’mthe one that enjoyed it?”
Her eyes widen. “I did not moan. How dare you say I moaned?”
“You moaned.” I stand inches from her, breathing hard. Fuck, she’s hot, looking back at me with that messy hair like she wants to kick me in the throat. She’s an absolute train wreck right now, but hell, all I can think about is kissing her again. Grabbing her messy bun, palming it hard, pulling her mouth against mine.
Making her moan for real this time.
We stand there, facing off for several tense seconds. My heart’s racing. My palms are sweating. I haven’t felt this alive, this angry, this frustrated in a very long time, if ever. For years, I’ve been drifting, throwing myself into work, ignoring everything else around me.
Now there’s Fiona, lighting up the fucking world.
Burning it all down too.
“Admit I didn’t moan,” she says quietly. Her voice is less angry now, more controlled. She takes visible, deep breaths, and I notice that her blouse’s top two buttons are undone, giving me just a glimpse of cleavage. Again. Fuck, did she do that on purpose? “Admit it, Gareth.”
“All right. You didn’t moan.”
“Thank you.”
“There might’ve been a whimper, and you definitely enjoyed it.”
“God, you’re such a prick.” She storms away to the opposite end of the room. “What are we going to do?”
“My offer stands. Be my wife. Help me win the Crowley contract.”
She pauses, but shakes her head. “No, absolutely not. Definitely not after finding out you went behind my back and filed the paperwork.”
