“It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
She sucked in a breath. “And you want me to marry you and live here with you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She studied the inflexible way he held himself. “But it’s so wrong. What you’re considering is wrong. I should say yes just to teach you a lesson.”
“I don’t need you to be my conscience, or my moral compass, or worry about my soul. I just need you to agree to the deal and help me present a façade of marriage to the world for awhile.”
“Sort of like a marriage of convenience, right?
His eyes ran slowly down her length and back up again. His reply was slow in coming. “Sort of.”
Jenna felt both a flare of excitement and a quiver of fear at the all-consuming, territorial look he was giving her.
Before she agreed or disagreed to anything, she needed to get to the bottom of why he wanted this, and what exactly it meant. To her person, and for her future. But she didn’t feel capable of dealing with it just yet, and besides, she was hungry.
“You have a lovely home. Can we go to the restaurant now?”
“I didn’t say we were going to a restaurant.”
Jenna began seeing red from being manipulated and anger came to the fore as belligerence took over. “Listen, Mr. Bennett, the only reason I came tonight was for the food. If you’re not feeding me, you can take me home now.”
David watched the bristling inferno in front of him. Her breath was coming quickly in agitation, lifting her breasts up and down as she dragged in oxygen. The red sweater was stretched tightly over her chest, and David began to swell and harden in his jeans. He had been semi-erect all through the drive here. And now, the sight of her raging in front of him, had his cock rigid and his control close to splintering. He forced himself to check the testosterone fueling his blood.
“Calm down, sweetheart. I’m going to feed you. My housekeeper made us a meal before she left.” He took her hand and pulled her behind him into the kitchen.
The kitchen was huge, yet cozy at the same time. Jenna glanced around, seeing the warmth and vibrancy the room generated. A wall of windows was the focal point, and the river glistening in the distance was stunning to the eye. Granite countertops wrapped around the kitchen, complimenting the pedestal style cabinets underneath. She sat at a huge island in the middle of the room on a wrought-iron barstool, and swiveled it a bit so she could watch him as he quickly warmed two plates in the microwave, and opened a bottle of wine.
Within minutes, he was sitting across from her, lightly touching his wine glass to hers before putting it to his chiseled lips and taking a drink. Jenna felt the scorch from his eyes as his gaze held hers. She lifted the glass to her lips and took a small sip.
The wine was good, but she needed to be careful. Wine went to her head from zero to sixty, and she was already in a predicament she didn’t know how to handle.
He picked up his fork and dug into the flaky salmon and wild rice. Jenna followed suit. The food was perfect, and she tried with all her might to enjoy the sensations on her taste buds. Tomorrow, she would be back to eating ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
They didn’t speak while they ate, and after one aborted attempt at conversation, Jenna quit trying and concentrated on the ambrosia hitting her palate.
Supper was over too soon.
David tossed the plates and silverware into the dishwasher, grabbed his glass and the bottle of wine and walked over to the door and waited for her to follow him.
Slowly and with great hesitation, Jenna slid off the barstool, retrieved her glass, and moved to the doorway. They had come to the part of the night she had been dreading. It was time to pay for her meal by listening to his spiel.
They sat in the living room, the wine on the coffee table in front of them, and Jenna scrunched herself in the corner of the couch and prepared herself for the inevitable.
David swirled the wine in his glass and studied her for a moment. “You need to know something.” He took a quick sip, and deposited his glass on the coffee table. “No matter how this turns out, even if you don’t accept my proposition, your job is safe. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m warning you up front, I’m about to turn on the screws and try to get you to agree, but if you don’t, in the end, everything will be the same for you. I’ll find someone else for the deal, and you go back to accounting. Got that?”
Feelings were banging around inside Jenna. Turn on the screws was panicking her and she was shocked to feel an arrow of disappointment when he said he would find someone else, but she managed to nod her head, her eyes fastened to his as he continued.
“This is the way I see it playing out. We get married immediately in a civil ceremony with only the required witnesses. There will be a lot of questions at the speed of things, and we’re going to pass it off as a secret love affair that’s been going on for months that we hushed up because of our different positions in the company.”
Jenna held herself in a stiffened, rebellious position in the corner of the couch. Denial pulsed from her body. “Nobody will buy that.”
His eyes ran over her length, scanning her eyes, her lips, then dropping to the full curve of her breasts. His muscles seemed to clench as his gaze fastened on her lips once again. His mouth hardened as his voice hissed out, “Everybody will buy that.”
Her eyes flared, but she didn’t say another word and waited for him to continue.
“I’ll deposit a hundred grand in the account of your choice. You get the other half when the first year is up. You’ll move in here with me, and I’ll cover all your personal bills for the duration of the marriage. You’ll get a credit card and a monthly allowance.” He stopped talking and waited for the count of three beats. “But you have to give up the job, and you can’t get a different one. I need a wife for the whole family values scenario, and the relationship needs to look as traditional as we can make it. That includes you staying home and playing the part of my devoted wife. If you get bored, you can find a charity you’re interested in and spend your daytime hours volunteering. Whatever you want to do. I don’t really care. As long as you’re not out partying without me, your time is your own.”
Jenna studied him and found herself actually thinking about the possibilities. One major question ate at her. “Why?” Her eyes searched his. “Why do you need a wife so badly? Why now?”
“Nothing nefarious. I don’t want to get into it with you before you agree, but it’s enough for you to know it’s office politics. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
Jenna wanted to take the deal and run with it so badly she couldn’t believe it. She needed the money. Desperately. It was almost as good as winning the lotto. Or as bad as signing up to be the devil’s wife? She needed time to think it through. Could she live with a guy she didn’t know? How could she marry a guy she had no reason to trust? And what about— “What about s-sex?” She blushed red after the question popped from her mouth.
His dark eyes tangled with hers, his nostrils flaring. “The sex will be good, sweetheart.”
Her pulse went spinning as butterflies quivered in her stomach. Her mouth ran dry and she clenched her hands together in agitation. She was no virgin. She was twenty-five years old and had been in several relationships before. But this guy was—this guy was on a different level. That’s why his dark appraisals had always intimidated her.