“Ifyou want to,” he added, and the way he said it—slow, deliberate, his gaze dropping to my lips for a fraction of a second before meeting my eyes again—making heat curl low in my belly. “I won’t force you. I don’t take what isn’t offered. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t want you there.”
“And if I don’t want to?” I forced out.
“Then you sleep in the guest room, and I sleep in mine. The arrangement stands. You’re not a whore, Zara. You’d be my…partner.” He leaned back, spreading his hands. “But I think you will want to. Eventually.”
I hated how my body reacted. The ache between my thighs. The way my nipples tightened beneath my shirt as if responding to his voice alone.
“You’re arrogant,” I whispered.
“I’m honest.”
Still, I shook my head. “You can’t just offer people money to marry you.”
“Sure, I can.”
I stared at him, trying to figure out whether he was manipulative, just brutally honest, or both. But his gaze never left mine. “You wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore.”
That almost broke me.
Because no one had ever said something like that to me before.
Not my father, not Nathan, no one.
I hated how badly I wanted to believe him.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You probably need some mental help…or something”
His eyes followed me immediately.
“Zara—”
“No,” I shook my head quickly, grabbing the handle of my suitcase before I could second-guess myself. “No, this is actually insane. I should go.”
“Zara.”
The way he said my name nearly stopped me where I stood.
“This was…” I laughed nervously, adjusting my grip on the suitcase. “Honestly, this was probably the weirdest night of my life.”
His gaze remained fixed on me. “It doesn’t have to be the last.”
The words wrapped around my chest — too intense, too much. I needed distance from him before I completely lost my mind. So I stepped backward toward the exit, heart pounding hard enough to hurt.
“This is not happening right now,” I whispered again, more to myself than to him.
Then I turned, grabbed my things tighter, and walked out of The Gilded Cage, trying very hard not to think about the fact that I could practically feel his gaze on my back.
Chapter Six
Lorenzo
I watched as she walked away. The door swinging shut behind her, cutting off the cold night air that had seeped in when she left.
I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just sat there at the high-top table, staring at the empty stool across from me, the half-eaten burger, the milkshake glass with condensation sliding down its sides.
She said no.
I expected that. Hoped for it, even. A woman who said yes to a marriage proposal from a stranger within two hours of meeting him wasn’t the kind of woman I wanted. I needed someone who could push back, someone who didn’t just go along with what was easy or expected. Resistance meant she had her own mind, her own sense of self that couldn’t be bought or charmed away. That mattered to me—maybe more than I was willing to admit.
