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“Try again?” I repeated, nonplussed even as my eyes tracked the hard lines of her body, memorizing the sight. She made me sweat in thebestways, and I was both confused and excited by this. “There is nothing to try. Look, I’m sorry, but it’s just as I said. I applied on a dare and…”
“I said try again, because I won’t accept this!” she hissed, coming closer—so close her scent drifted up to me, making me blink in a stupid daze.
Damn, she smelled good. Like something cool and tart, her scent made me think of cranberries over crushed ice. I drew in a breath, trying to be surreptitious about it, and savored her fragrance as it sat in the back of my throat. It made my body buzz with pleasant anticipation, completely at odds with my current circumstances.
Maybe the temples were on to something with the blood matching. Because the way I reacted to Scarlett was too intense to be a coincidence.
“How…” I began, my mind growing foggy with lust and the simple pleasure of being near her.
“How about you get down on one knee, apologize for being late, and ask me to be your wife?” she said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked up with challenging eyes. “Can you handlethat, monster boy?”
I shook my head, trying to clear it. Was this slip of a girl… ordering me to marry her? Damn, that was hot. But I couldn’t. Could I?
“I already told you…” I began but broke off the moment she stepped closer, her body almost pressing to mine. My chin pushed into the dip between my collarbones as I struggled to keep looking at her upturned face.
“What is it? You can’t pay?” she asked, staring at me with such vicious intensity, tingles ran down my spine.
“That’s not it,” I said, because Icouldpay. I carried the payment for my latest job, an intricately carved dining set, in my pocket. It was more than enough for the temple’s fee, and even that special oil they wanted me to get. “But it’s too early for me! Look, if you’re still interested in five years or so…”
She let out a bark of bitter laugh, slicing me deep with her cutting gaze. “I’ll be dead in five years. You have to marry me today.”
Chapter 4
Scarlett
Imade a fool of myself, standing there and demanding that the furry monster marry me, but I couldn’t stop. Panic churned in my belly because the thought of going back and facing my mother and the goblins was far more terrifying than the prospect of getting married to an enormous, furry stranger.
So I kept fighting the losing fight, knowing it was for naught, because I couldn’t force him to marry me if he didn’t want to. And even though I wanted to leave and save the shreds of my self-respect, I stayed put, watching him squirm.
He actually looked flustered and unsettled, and it gave me a vicious stab of pleasure. At least I wasn’t the only one suffering in this ridiculous situation.
“What do you mean, dead?” he asked, and I stepped away when my neck gave a twinge. Why did he have to be so ridiculously tall? I would have to climb him like a tree if I wanted to reach his face.
Now, where did that come from?
“My father left debts behind,” I said, shrugging. I was honest, because I had already humiliated myself to the point where my dignity couldn’t be salvaged. “And his creditors want my blood. And my mother’s. I’ve waited over a year for this match, because it’s the only way out for me.”
I looked away, swallowing tears, because if I started crying here, it would be the last straw. I would just run to the goblins and beg them to off me. There was only so much humiliation I could handle.
“I… I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, his deep, rumbling voice feeling like a stroke of warmth down my back. For the briefest moment, it made my defenses crumple when a deep yearning for comfort overwhelmed me, making me feel weak and pathetic. I clenched my jaw and reset my purpose, doing my best not to let intrusive thoughts slither in and shatter the remains of my self-control.
They pushed through, anyway, because I was too shaken, too weak to withhold them. My father’s hideous voice whispered in my ear, gleeful and cackling with triumph.“See? He doesn’t want you. Told you, girl. No man in his right mind would marry such a bossy shrew. Even a monster. You are his perfect match, and he still doesn’t want you. Here is your proof I was right, because I’m always right. You’re good for nothing, not even to spread your legs for a man.”
I usually didn’t let the echoes of Daddy Dearest poison my thoughts, so it was a testament to how unsettled I felt that I couldn’t stop them today. But I wasn’t about to give up. When my father was still alive, he often crushed me with his cruel words, but that just made me more furious and eager to fight. And so I took a deep breath, looked up at my monster groom, and shot my last shot.
“You being sorry solves nothing,” I said looking into his orange eyes with black pupils, slightly narrower than human ones. “Look, Jack. The temple matched us, and they are never wrong. We are perfect for each other, believe it or not, and I just hope from the bottom of my heart you’re not too dense to see that. I don’t care how old or young you are as long as you’re a grownup. All I’m telling you is that either you marry me today or not at all, and if you don’t, you’ll regret it. So man up and decide.”
In the short moment of stunned silence that followed my desperate final speech, I heard whispers. When I glanced to the side, I realized with mortification everyone in the temple was staring at us. Because, of course. We were a spectacle. I closed my eyes for a moment, bracing myself for Jack’s final rejection.
After he told me he was done with me, I would run and hide somewhere until everyone who saw this little scene was gone and I could slip out unnoticed. And then, I would… I didn’t even know. I just wanted this to be over.
“I’m sorry,” Jack began, and I pressed my lips together to trap my whimper of defeat inside. But honestly, what did I expect? It was just as my father always said. It was impossible to want me.
Jack cleared his throat and spoke again. “I’m sorry for being late,” he said, making my heart thump painfully as I shot him a sharp look. “Will you please forgive me and marry me? Please?”
My mouth fell open as I stared at him. The floor wobbled under my feet, and I struggled to keep my balance as laughter and cheers came from the onlookers. But the sounds were distorted, the relief pouring down my spine so powerful, it blurred my vision and muddled my hearing.
“I believe I told you to kneel,” I heard myself saying, my voice coming as if from afar. And then I cringed, because why was I doing this? I didn’t want him to turn away now. So why did I push him?
