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“We’ll stay out of your hair until then.”
“It’s fine. I’ve got some work to see to as well. But then tonight, after you put her to bed, I think we need to get to know each other.”
“That works for me.” She rose and took her empty plate over to the sink.
“And if you have swimsuits, there’s a lovely pool out back,” Jasper said, his voice directly behind her.
She spun, and he was just there. All six feet, four inches of him. This man should be wielding broadswords on ancient battlefields and commanding leagues of soldiers, not marrying a single mother to gain their inheritance. This close, she could smell his heady aroma that was all male. It fired her engines.
She wanted to touch his chest, discover if his pecs really were that rock solid. Flutters erupted in her belly. Her body felt as if she had doused herself in gasoline, and he held a burning match. If he let it fall, she couldn’t be held responsible for her actions.
She cleared her throat. “Um, we don’t have suits. In fact, Maddie’s never been swimming.”
“That’s something we’ll need to rectify. It’s going to be a long summer.”
“Oh well, I-I-I…what I meant to say—”
He lifted a strand of her hair between his long, blunt fingers and rubbed it between them. She inhaled. Her breath shuddered into her lungs as electricity zapped through her.
The corners of his mouth turned into a wry grin. “Do I make you nervous, Freya?”
“No. Of course not,” she denied. But it was a bald-faced lie. He walked into a room, and a rush of electricity zapped through her. Her gaze descended to his lips. The memory of their one kiss was still fresh, leaving her aching.
“Mm hmm, I think I do. But like I said last night, I won’t do anything you don’t ask me for. Keep in mind you’ll need to become familiar with my touch. Because it won’t do if you flinch and stutter every time I get this close to you, lass.”
“I’m sure once we get to know each other, I’ll be better.”
He leaned in, towering over her five-foot-six frame. This close, she felt dainty and feminine. And her ovaries, the little bastards, were batting their eyes and making kissy noises. “But keep in mind we will be married before the week ends, lass. Which means you need to become comfortable with my touch, with being near me, fast. A lot of good it will do for us to go before a judge claiming to be madly in love when you startle every time I’m near.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll work on it.” Easier said than done.
“Just how big a wanker was your ex?” He leveled her with a hard stare.
“The biggest. It’s why I left.”
Fury flashed across his cobalt gaze for a moment, but he tamped it down and nodded. “Thought so. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
Her breath expelled in a rush the moment he vacated the kitchen. She sagged against the counter. Being near him felt like standing in a field right before a thunderstorm began. The air rife with kinetic energy as mother nature was about to unleash her fury upon the land.
Would she be able to keep her emotions intact, or was she headed toward a treacherous cliff and didn’t realize it?
7
Jasper strode into his office after breakfast. His future bride was skittish around him. He wanted to laugh it off and do what he normally did when he seduced a woman into his bed. But this was a business arrangement. The contract had to be in place before he attempted any seduction.
And he finally figured it out. It was her goddess eyes. They sucked a man in until he was drowning.
Nor was it lost on him that he affected her. He’d noticed the way her nipples had pebbled beneath her top and her pulse fluttered in her neck. And that when he walked in wearing only his shorts, she’d eye fucked him.
But for this to work, he had to seduce her into coming to him. Because he’d bet if he made the move and tried seducing her, she would shut it down. She might have been knocked down and struggling to regain her footing, but he bet the woman would be a force to be reckoned with once she found her bearing and got back onto her feet.
The quality was part of what drew him to her.
He wiped a frustrated hand over his face. He was too far in to go back now. But perhaps he should just give her the promised money and leave it at that.
Except he couldn’t walk away. He wanted to know she and her kid were safe. That they didn’t have to worry about her ex. So that’s what he would do. He would marry her, give her the protection of his name, and then they would figure it out as they went along.
But bloody hell, he never thought this was how he would get married.
