Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
“What’s the catch? There’s always a catch. What do I have to do?” Her fingers grip the edges of the paper so tightly her knuckles turn white.
“You move in with me. Immediately. Tonight, if possible. Your things can be brought over tomorrow.” Cory shakes her head. A humorless laugh tumbles past her plush lips.
“Why? Why me? You don’t need a charity case, Dom. You could have any woman in the city. Why me?”
“It’s simple. You have a problem. I have the solution.” I shrug, keeping my expression cool, even though she’s the one I’m putting all my cards on the table for.
“A solution that’s going to cost you millions?” Cory questioning me is obvious. Cory questioning herself that she wouldn’t be worth this much sits like a dead weight in my stomach.
“A drop in the bucket compared to what I could lose,” I reply, straightening to my full heigh and walking over to spin her around. This requires direct eye contact. I brace my hands on the marble counter on either side of her and settle between her thighs. I’m essentially trapping her, though I’m keeping my hands to myself. “There’s forty billion dollars sitting on the table. The board members at Sterling Capital won’t put up the money for an investment I’m going after. They think I’m a wild card, unpredictable, untamed, and not the image they want. They want me to settle down, so they feel safe. It doesn’t matter that I pulled my dad out of the world of bankruptcy. After I worked myself to the bone for years and years, I let off steam, a little too much, and now it’s catching up to me. A marriage of convenience will work in both of our favors. It gives them an illusion of stability, and it provides you with a clean slate.”
“First of all, how did you find out I’m in debt up to my eyeballs? Nobody knows, Dom. Not Alex, not Jett, not Seraphina, not Romy, not Mischa, not Genny, and definitely not my mom.” Cory stares at me, her gaze searching my face for any sign of a joke. She doesn’t find one. Her expression hardens, and a spark of fire meets my eyes.
“Money can buy you anything, sweetheart. Including a private detective who can make the three-letter government agencies look like amateurs.” It’s the truth. Miller has a military background that rivals no other. He got out, started his own company that involves detective work and other shit we’ve never gotten into.
“This is blackmail, Dom. You’re leveraging my mother’s health and my financial ruin to buy yourself a wife.” I let my gaze drop, slowly, deliberately, dragging my eyes from her face down the column of her throat, over the swells of her breasts down to the curve of her waist and thighs, before bringing my eyes back to hers.
“You call it blackmail.” I drop my voice, a slow smirk spreading across my face. “I call it protecting my assets. Emphasis on assets.” Cory lets out a snort of laughter, the sudden sound breaking the heaviness in the room.
“You’re an insufferable bastard, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told. Time and time again.” She taps her nail against the contract, looking at it with a mix of trepidation and resolve.
“Say I’m crazy enough to consider this. When does this need to be signed by?”
“Tonight. The board meets Monday morning. I want to make an announcement of sorts by tomorrow afternoon.” I also don’t want to give her too much time to overthink this.
“And how exactly are we going to swing people into buying this?” She gestures with her finger between the two of us. “We’ve barely spoken in public. People know I don’t work in your orbit, and they aren’t stupid. They’re going to see a sudden marriage and smell a rat.”
“That’s easy.” I lean in a fraction closer, enough so she can feel the heat radiating off me, close enough that her eyes flicker to my lips. “We’ll dabble in a fake relationship. A couple of weeks of dinners, charity galas, and the likes. Then we’ll play it off as a whirlwind romance, a passion so intense we couldn’t contain it. A simple Justice of the Peace wedding, and we’ll live happily ever after.” Cory’s chest rises and falls, unsure of the portrait I’m painting, I’m sure.
“And you think people will believe we just, I don’t know, fell in love?” I reach out, my thumb catching her chin, tilting her face up. My thumb brushes across her lower lip, reminding her of the kiss that was so hot, it nearly consumed us.
“Look me in the eye and tell me it’s a stretch.” My voice is thick. I’m barely able to keep myself in check. “There’s no denying our chemistry, Cory. Everyone in the room sees it when we’re together. It works in our favor. We won’t even have to fake how this feels.” The contract lies beside us. I let my hand drop, pick up the pen, hold it out for her, and say, “What do you say, Cory. Will you be my wife?”