“Not particularly.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not opposed to casual sex, in the right circumstance.”
“What’s the right circumstance?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never experienced it. I just know I don’t judge.”
Briggs laughs. “So, each of your five was serious?”
“They all had potential to be serious. But none ever really hit the mark.”
“I can relate.”
I feel my nose scrunch. Briggs watches. “How long is this marriage supposed to last?”
“I think it’ll be around a year, a year and a half.”
“A year and a half?” Yep. I just screeched. “And we’re going to abstain from sex the whole time?”
Briggs pins me with those green eyes. They feel heavy and hot on my skin. He says darkly, “You’re the one who said you wouldn’t sleep with me. You’re the one who took sex off the table, Lilah.”
My mouth pops open again. “It was on the table for you?”
Briggs pushes away from the table to move closer. He feels taller than usual as he leans over me, and that fire that’s smouldered in my core since his kiss erupts in a full firestorm inside me when he catches my chin between thumb and finger, forcing my eyes to his.
Breath lodges in my lungs as he rumbles, “You’re to be my wife, little lunatic. Loyalty and fidelity mean something to me. If anyone outside of you is seeing to your needs, it’ll be me. Do you understand?”
“This is fake, Briggs. It’s a business deal.” My words hardly sound more than a whisper, but we both know it’s a dare. A dare to let this be more than it is.
A dare he doesn’t meet.
“This is a business deal, yes. But this marriage will be very real, Lilah. Legal.” He doesn’t remove his eyes from mine or his fingers from my chin. “If you can’t give me monogamy, tell me now.”
“If I can’t?”
“Then this is over.”
Why do those words spark fear inside me?Gosh, I should let it be over. Should protect my heart.
Briggs watches the emotions play behind my eyes. He tells me, “I’m giving you the option to walk away now, Lilah. Your debts are paid, consider that a gift.”
“A gift?”
“I should have made the terms clear when I proposed the deal. I didn’t. That’s on me, but before we proceed, I need to know you can give me what I require.”
“You’d just let me walk away from the deal; all debts paid?”
He nods once. “Yes.”
I should take it and run.
I frown. “That’s not right.”
“Lilah.” My name sounds like a warning on his tongue.
My heart doesn’t heed it, because I say, “I’m in. I can and will be the picture of monogamy. But I won’t sleep with you.”
His expression doesn’t change as he gives me another nod. “Very well.”
