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“This relationship has been built on ultimatums. I believe relationships end in the way they start. If a man cheats on his wife and leaves her for another woman, then he will cheat again, and the cycle will be never-ending. This relationship started like this,” she holds up a contract. “And it will end like this.”
“I’m going to change your mind.”
“I doubt it.” She flips the page, and my anticipation grows when I realize she is on the last page.
She’s going to be furious.
Her cheeks redden and her blazing blue eyes fire at me from above the contract. “What the hell is this?” Rosie grips the paper with both hands and reads the clause I put in there last night. “Ms. O’Connor agrees to immediately stop taking any forms of birth control the moment she signs this contract and for the contract to be valid, the marriage must be consummated?” Her voice rises. “You have got to be kidding me!” she flings the pen at me and I dodge it before it hits me in the face. “You are unbelievable. Are you really that pathetic? Surely, you can go find a woman to scratch your itch while I wait here.”
“I don’t want any woman. I want you.” I pick up the pen and give it back to her.“Also, continue reading. Your annulment idea won’t work,” I might say with too much eagerness.
Her eyes narrow at me before falling back to the paper.“She will not ask for a divorce for three years.”She clenches her jaw. “You have got to be kidding me.”
I cross my arms, feeling victorious. “Go on,” I urge her.
She sighs in annoyance.“Rosie O’Connor’s family will be protected financially, and Aristide Milazzo agrees to pay for everything and anything when it comes to relocating them out of the country for their own protection. The O’Connors, including Rosie, will never be in financial need again.”
I notice when she gets to the bottom because her eyes soften. “Sign the contract,” I say gently, not wanting to seem like I’m pushing her.
“Well, you’re going to be waiting around forever then and you’re going to be very disappointed when a year is up, and you don’t have a child.”
There’s the sass that’s been waiting to come out while she’s been reading. I love it.
She scribbles her name on the contract and then the license. “Congratulations,Honey,” her voice drips with sarcasm. “Here’s to the worst year of our lives.”
She tries to leave the room, but I grip her by the arm and sling her against one of the leather chairs placed in front of the desk. “Make no mistake,wife,” I place my hand at the bottom of her throat, my thumb sweeping back and forth across her collarbone. “This is just like any other marriage. You will beg for me just like I’ll beg for you. This is going to be the best year of your life; I’ll make sure of it.” I tease her lips, not kissing her, just ghosting mine over hers.
I want to kiss her, but I know my kiss won’t be received well. I can wait until she’s ready. She will be. There’s more than hate between us. I feel it, clawing at the marrow of my bones. It’s explosive, whatever it is, and the more we ignore and try to bury it, the more the fire burns.
Sooner or later, the blaze will take over and there will be nothing left but ash in the pathways we took to ignore each other.
She yanks out of my grasp and hurries to the door, pulling it open only for me to get a view of Rilo making a giant sandwich.
He holds up a butterknife, watching Rosie stomp down the hallway.
“Which one is my room?” she shouts.
“The doors at the end of the hall.” My voice echoes and the door slams a second later.
Rilo goes back to swiping the mayonnaise over the bread. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say she has no idea that’s your room too.”
“Nope, she doesn’t.” I sit on the stool and reach over, grabbing half of a sandwich he has already made.
“Hey, make your own.”
“No.” I bite into it, the lettuce crunching as I chew.
“You have your hands full with her.”
“I know. Isn’t she amazing? I love it.”
He doesn’t laugh. “Why are you doing this?”
“I need an heir,” I frown, knowing he knows the rules.
“Come on, you can get an heir with any woman. Why this?”
“I have to be married too. Rilo, you know this.”
