"Why are you doing this?" she whispers. "Why are you making everything so difficult?"
"I’m doing you a favor, and you know it." I tilt my head. “Without my help, you’re going to lose all rights to your child. You need this arrangement, Princess."
"Aargh!" She closes her eyes. "You are a piece of work, you know that?"
"So I’ve been told. What’s it gonna be then, Frozen?"
"Stop calling me that."
"You prefer Princess, I take it?"
"Call me by my name, will you?" She snaps her eyelids open and frowns at me.
"And you can call our arrangement by any name you want, but it’s the only way forward for you."
"And for you." She props her hands on her hips. "At least, admit that you need me to marry you, and that you have no one else who fits the bill on such short notice."
"You’re a persistent little thing, aren’t you?"
She scowls at me.
"You do realize that I could have any woman in this city agree to this arrangement."
"So, go ask them, then," she scoffs.
"However, the chemistry between us makes this a much more believable proposition to the rest of my family. Besides," I close the distance between us, "you’re not too hard on the eyes, either."
Her features contort. She raises her hand to slap me, but I grab her wrist. I twist her hand behind her back and haul her close to me. She brings her other arm up, but I grab it and bend it behind her back, shackling both wrists together. She struggles, but she’s trapped. I bring my other hand up to grip the nape of her neck.
"Let go of me," she hisses.
I pushed her earlier, wanting to see what it took to push her over the edge, wanting to feel her anger, see the crackle of those silver sparks in her eyes. She wriggles against me and I fit my hips to hers. She must feel my hardness against her thigh, for she stills. Color suffuses her cheeks; her gaze grows wary. She swallows, and her chest rises and falls.
"You sense it, too, don’t you, this connection between us?"
"All I sense is a man who thinks he can use his dominance to get his way in anything."
"If I were using my dominance, you’d be bent over the back of your sofa, ass out, and me, balls deep in your pussy as I fuck your impudence out of you."
Her breathing hitches; her gaze drops to my mouth then back up to my eyes.
"No church wedding."
"Excuse me?" I frown.
"I am not marrying you in church. It will be a quick wedding at City Hall, without any of your family in attendance."
"It will take a few days to make the arrangements," I say slowly.
"That’s fine. I need time to organize things at the shop so I can take a half-day for the wedding."
"You’ll take the entire day off."
"No, my job is important to me."
"The day off, and you’ll attend a wedding lunch with the rest of my family."
She seems like she is about to hesitate, and I slide my fingers around her neck. My fingers almost meet in the front. "What do you say?" I squeeze gently, and her pupils dilate. Well, damn, she likes that, hmm? I press my thumb into the skin right where her pulse skitters. "Do we have a deal?"