It’s my turn to give her a dirty stare. “Look—are you going to marry me or not?”
She exhales in an angry huff. “Ugh. Sure.”
A weight rolls off my shoulders. I suck in a deep breath, and then I take hold of Jules’s hand. It feels so tiny and delicate in mine. I sweetly kiss the back of it, pretending not to notice the goosebumps that pop up on her forearm.
I clear my throat, and look up into her eyes from my spot on the floor. “Jules—what’s your middle name?”
She frowns. “Mei. It’s Mei.”
“Jules Mei…uh…”
“Lannister,” she supplies with an annoyed grunt.
“Jules Mei Lannister, will you do me the most helpful of honors by marrying me?” I hold back a smirk.
“Yes,” she answers, her voice a little breathy. I don’t miss the way her eyes flutter when I slide the cheap ring onto her finger.
Something passes between us. An unavoidable chemical reaction in the spot where our hands are touching.
Jules quickly snaps her hand away from me. “Okay, good. Now we need to lay out the ground rules.”
“You’re right. Absolutely. Ground rules.”Rising to my feet, I rush back to my desk, wake up my computer, and immediately start typing up a one-page agreement.
Together, Jules and I list out all the important clauses to our unique arrangement, putting my law degree to use for once.
1) Lincoln Raines and Jules Lannister are entering into a temporary marriage that shall last only until Jules gains access to her trust fund, and Lincoln closes his business deal.Said marriage is solely a mutually beneficial business deal, and both parties shall remember that.
2) Said marriage will not be a real marriage in the traditional sense.The parties acknowledge that no romantic feelings shall be involved.
I run out of ideas there, so I pause to read aloud what I have so far. “What’s missing?” I ask my wife-to-be.
“What about…affection?” Her eyes shift to my mouth.
My cock throbs in my pants.Stop!
“Like, we have to make this look legitimate, right?” She seems uncomfortable at the idea of having to kiss me again.
When her honey brown stare crashes into mine, electricity explodes all over. Shit. I’d almost forgotten the effect her eyes have on me.
I clear my throat and look away. “Uh. Yeah. Good point. We have to look legit when we’re out in public.”
“But in private, it would probably be for the best if we take hooking up off the table,” she hurries to add.
I nod a little too zealously. “Completely.”
I get back to typing.
3) Both parties acknowledge that public displays of affection may be warranted to achieve the primary goals of said marriage.
4) However, the parties shall refrain from engaging in any form of physical intimacy behind closed doors.
That last part is painful to add.
My stare meets Jules’s again. “Anything else?”
“Money. Our money stays separate,” she says. “I don’t want you paying for me.”
I shrug a shoulder. “If money needs to be spent, I’ll spend it. I don’t want your money, Jules.”
