A jealous man. The words shouldn’t have made my pulse skip. They damn sure shouldn’t have made something low in my stomach go tight, but they did.
Because jealous meant… what, exactly? Was he dangerous? Controlling? Possessive? Or just… invested?
I swallowed hard.
Was that really the kind of man I was supposed to marry? Someone who inspired fear in a man like Jacob? Someone who controlled entire rooms without raising his voice? Someone who could make or break a life with a few lines in a contract?
Someone who might one day look at me and think I belonged to him?
My breath stuttered, and I hated the part of me that didn’t recoil from the idea.
What would it even feel like to be wanted that way? To be claimed? To be… hoarded? What would it feel like to be protected so fiercely it crossed the line into possessiveness?
Had anyone in my life ever looked at me like I was valuable enough to guard?
God, that thought alone was humiliating.
Because maybe — deep in the smallest, stupidest part of me — it sounded intoxicating. Not the control or the fear, but the idea of being wanted so much that someone fought for me. The idea of being chosen, kept, and even treasured.
I rubbed my hands over my face, mortified at myself. This was exactly how girls got eaten alive by men like that.
What if Jacob wanted me like that? What if he was the one who fought for me?
It didn’t matter anyway because I wasn’t allowed to want Jacob, and I didn’t know a damn thing about Mr. Stonewood besides his money, his power, and the fact that he apparently had a jealousy problem big enough that it needed to be spoken out loud as a warning.
He was a stranger, one who might control my entire future… a stranger I was supposed to impress enough that he’d pick me… one I might end up married to in less than two weeks.
My stomach dropped.
Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
That was the only reason I was here. That was the reason I had to win. I needed the money and that was that.
I needed to stop drowning. I needed a future where I wasn’t waking up every morning in survival mode, even if it meant tying myself to a man whose jealousy put Jacob on edge. Even if it meant suppressing whatever this… thing… was between me and Jacob before it ruined both of us.
Even if I had to choose a stranger over the one person in this place who’d shown me real kindness.
I stopped pacing and pressed my forehead against the cool wood of the door.
“I can’t screw this up,” I whispered. “Not for me. Not for him. Not for Granny.”
But my heart was still racing from two different men for two very different reasons.
And that terrified me into motion. I needed to find something to do with my hands. I didn’t even mean to unpack. It just kind of… happened because I needed something to ground me. So, I dragged my suitcase onto the bed and started folding things into drawers: socks, sweaters, a satin nightie I wasn’t sure I’d have the guts to wear. Toothbrush in the bathroom. Lip balm on the nightstand.
Each little task was a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
The room was… perfect, rustic and luxurious all at once, with thick rugs underfoot, rich wood-paneled walls, and a view of the dark trees just beyond the frost-kissed window. The bed was big and plush, draped in a heavy down comforter and crisp white sheets that smelled faintly like cedar.
It was too much, too tailored and on the nose, like maybe someone had studied me, then built a room meant to feel like safety. Or perhaps seduction.
A chill slid down my spine.
I turned to the head of the bed, intending to fluff the pillows, needing something else to focus on, and only then remembering what Jacob had said – that I would find something on the bed – and that’s when I saw it… another envelope. It was thicker than the one from before, and heavier, too. My name wasn’t on the front. No seal. No flourish. It was just… waiting for me.
I picked it up with both hands and opened it carefully, breath catching in my throat as I pulled out the single sheet of thick, cream-colored paper inside.
There were three rules typed at the top of the page:
