He had to know exactly what he was offering me right now. Not just money, but power. Which meant he wanted what he was getting out of this deal badly, too.
His inheritance, for my agency.
A solution to both our problems.
“The agency would be mine?” I said.
“Yes. Full ownership.”
“What kind of price are we talking?”
“Whatever will make Superior happy. And whatever it is, I give you the money for it.”
Interesting.
Tempting.
“If I agree to this, there will be ground rules,” I told him.
“Of course.”
“For starters. If I don’t want you to touch me, you don’t touch me.”
His cool green eyes held mine. Somehow, just talking aboutnothaving sex with him was… sexy.
I tried to ignore that fact.
“Obviously,” he said. “I’m not a sex offender.”
“Even in public.”
He frowned a little. “Remember that thing we just talked about? You have to pretend to like me or this doesn’t work.”
“Couples can fight,” I asserted.
“Fine. Within reason. But the idea is we’re generally happy to be together, publicly, until it’s time to break the news that we’re headed for divorce.”
“Right. And it will go a long way to helping me appear happy if I’m actually happy. So, if I’m not happy here, you’ll buy me whatever house I want.”
“Okay.”
“And if Chaz has any trouble finding a new roommate to replace me, you’ll cover the rent.”
“Okay.”
“And if I need a car or clothes or want a trip with my girlfriends, or any other damn thing, the answer is yes. You’ll treat me like your actual wife. Like you would’ve treated Tina. I’m your partner and your equal, in your eyes and in the eyes of the world. And you don’t show up in any more sex tapes.” I pointed a finger at him. “Are there more sex tapes?”
“No.”
“Good.” I dropped the finger. “And you give that nice taster of yours a generous bonus. We’ll call it the bosshole bonus. Hazard pay for having to work with you here, in the ice tower.”
“Taster?”
“The gentleman with the wine. You know, how royalty had people taste their food before they ate it in case someone was trying to poison them? I assume that’s his role here, since there are probably many people who want to murder you.”
He sighed a little.
“Also,” I pressed on. “You don’t speak ill of me. You don’t treat me badly, or you’ll end up with that divorce a lot sooner than you expected, and you can try to get some other girl to make you look good for your family. You treat my family and my friends with respect. You leave me alone to eat ice cream and binge watchSex and the Citywhen I have my period. If I want to have my girlfriends over or go out for dinner or order myself a pair of ten-thousand-dollar shoes, the answer is yes. It’s always yes, Dane.”
