My head comes up fast, my mouth falling open. ‘You seemed to exit the door pretty well. In fact, you seemed to do it very efficiently.’
‘It doesn’t mean I wasn’t tempted.’
‘Is it because you just want someone to control?’
‘Yes, because you’re such a docile flower. So biddable.’
‘Someone beholden to you?’
‘Someone who fights me at every step? Someone who can be quite ridiculous? Look, we’re going around in circles, and I have a lot to do before we leave for New York.’
‘I’ve already told you, I’m busy tomorrow.’
‘Then you’ll need to choose another day. Tuesday, Wednesday. Just fucking say.’ The cracks in his façade are shown in the tension in his jaw and the way his eyes begin to flame. ‘You want me, and I want you on so many levels. And we both need this marriage, no matter how temporary, to work. Looking at this on a more practical note. Let’s discuss the very valid reasons for annulment, which would ruin both of our plans.’ He sits forward suddenly, poised to tick the points off his left hand. ‘Bigamy. Incest. Age of consent issues. Idiocy—’
‘That’s it!’ I throw my hands up dramatically. ‘There’s no point in marrying me. Because Imustbe crazy to even consider it.’ Crazy desperate, maybe.
‘Coercion,’ he continues without even a pause. ‘Fraud and non-consummation of the marriage.’
‘Non-consummation of the fake marriage,’ I repeat. ‘Did I get that right?’
‘It isn’t a fake marriage, Olivia. Just a temporary one, but with the same commitments and the same legal pitfalls. Make no mistake, you won’t be allowed to back out of this. There are consequences should you say yes, then try to renege on this deal.’
‘Is it a deal or a marriage?’
‘Both.’
‘And what kind of consequences are we talking here?’
‘I urge you to seek the help of your legal team, but in brief, you’ll lose everything. Seek an annulment or divorce or walk out before the end of the term, and you lose it all.’
‘What about if you end it?’
‘There’s a penalty clause. You get an obscene payout, but that won’t happen. I need six months of your time and acting skills. I want this company, Olivia, and I’m willing to do what it takes.’
‘Including me,’ I mutter unhappily. ‘What difference does it make if we don’t, you know, have sex? If only the two of us know, who’s going to pick fault?’
‘I will,’ he states bluntly. ‘And you will. And we’ll probably kill each other in the interim without it because we both need to get this out of our system.’
Listening to him, looking at his expression, it’s like he thinks sex between us is some kind of virus. Something debilitating. Something he needs to sweat out of his system.
‘And like it or not, what happened in the car wasn’t all one-sided. I didn’t force you to respond. You enjoyed it as much as I did. The proof was in those breathy little noises you made and the way you rubbed yourself against me.’
His eyes were like fire as I slid myself over the hard length of him, his upward thrusts making my insides clench violently.
I shake my head and the sensory memories away, and as I look back at him, I realise he probably just read every pornographic thought I just had.
‘In fact,’ he says slowly, softly, temptingly. ‘I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping us from tearing the other’s clothes off right now is this table between us.’
He kicks the thing with his foot. Then with what can only be described as a look of pure incitement, he hooks his foot around the leg and moves it from between us.
Chapter 16
BECKETT
I promised myself I wouldn’t do this. I promised myself when she called that I’d bring her here but not touch her. Arguing with myself that I should wait until the deal is sealed, the ink is dry on the contract, and the wedding license is in my hand. Yet here I am, pushing the coffee table across the floor, my gaze unmoving from hers.
Not even as she gasps as the table drags across the rug.
