Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Her brows slammed down, forming that simple groove I pushed to see. Usually, it spurred on a surge of victory to affect her enough, but this time I hadn’t been trying.
“Normal…couple…,” she said slowly. “You say that as if you aren’t blackmailing me into a marriage of five years with the promise of allowing me to own the company that should be mine in the first place.” She scoffed. “There’s nothing normal about us as a couple or our marriage.”
Her feistiness and the reminder that she already considered the company her own usually urged me to snap back, but the half-naked version of her softened any irritation, allowing me to simply smile. “As far as how we arrived at our marriage, yes, that is abnormal. However, the marriage itself with be as normal as any other couple.”
Aspen’s jaw dropped before opening and closing like a fish out of water. She blinked as if she’d open her eyes to something different. Finally, she squeezed them shut and shook her head before they snapped open again. “Wait. You want this to be an actual real marriage?”
Her tone implied I said something along the lines of wanting to show her my Care Bear collection in the basement of the building.
“Yes.”
She huffed a laugh and shook her head, looking around the room like she’d find hidden cameras and someone about to pop out to reveal we were on a game show. Slicking her tongue across her lips, she refocused her attention on me. “What does a real marriage even look like for you? Because I have a feeling, it’s very different from my expectations. Starting with how I didn’t imagine sitting across from my future husband, bartering back and forth about a contract for our future. I mean, how does that even translate into a real marriage when it’s starting as a business deal?”
“Like I said, just because we are starting differently doesn’t mean we have to go forward any differently than anyone else.”
“Of course, it does,” she shouted, throwing her hands wide. “Real marriage includes companionship, love, being each other’s partners. It’s two people who want to spend the rest of their lives together.”
I held up my hands and focused on the last statement. “You’re the one who’s trying to put a time limit on it.”
Again, her jaw fell open as she stared at me, utterly speechless.
Folding my hands on my lap, I waited her out and let her process what she wanted to say next. Although, the waiting took a hell of a lot longer than I thought. So long, I thought I might have sent her into a frozen shock.
Finally, her shoulders raised in a slight shrug. “I’m pretty sure I have a wildly different idea of marriage than you do, but you know what? Let’s just talk it out and see what we come up with. I have a feeling you might end up thinking five years is too long.”
I smirked.
If I had my way, after five years, she’d be enjoying our life my way, and I’d have her begging to stay.
CHAPTER 23
LUCIAN
“Where would you like to start?” I left it open for her to direct the conversation because when I pictured our marriage, I imagined us at the club and living our lives without complications. I imagined security and confidence of not worrying about others and fulfilling any expectations. I imagined a partner to check a box without being blindsided by anything else.
I pictured simple. What more could she want?
She bit her lip, and I drank my coffee to occupy myself from closing the space between us and biting it myself.
“What about children?”
I choked on the coffee. The coughs jarring my body, tossing around the word children in my head like a wrecking ball. Once upon a time, I’d wanted a house full of children. I’d wanted girls I could protect and boys I could guide into manhood. But that was before.
Before Daria ripped the carpet out from under my naïve dreams, knocking me down so many pegs, I didn’t want to get that high with anyone else again.
“Similar to our prenup,” I started and cleared my throat. “I would like to keep things separate should anything happen between us. Especially with you already discussing the possibility of divorce in five years. Children would complicate the situation.”
“But what if I want children someday? How does that fit into your normal marriage?”
The sun rose higher, illuminating her honey eyes to a golden hue. As if the seriousness of her question lit an actual fire inside her. Her direct and unblinking stare stole the air from my lungs like a vacuum, pulling them tight. “Then I guess you would need to have them with someone else should you decide to leave after five years.”
I barely got the words out between my clenched jaw. The idea of crossing paths with Aspen to find her swollen with another man’s child pulled my skin too tight, urging me to stand tall, break free, and throw her over my shoulder to go mark her as mine. To fuck her again and again and again until she became swollen with my child.