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THE DAYS TURNED INTOweeks, and Hallie and I settled into an easiness together that I had never been expecting.
She gave me enough space to work, and in turn, I did my best to shut off my overprotective nature and not have her followed every where she went. It wasn’t easy, though. I discovered I was obsessed with Marlon Wynter’s daughter, and if I didn’t have her pressed somewhere against me, the whole world felt out of whack.
The sex was incredible. I got to a point where I genuinely wondered what I’d done with all my time before Hallie had come into my life. I couldn’t get enough of her, and it seemed she felt the same way about me. I’d wake in the morning with her glorious bottom pressed against me, ready to receive my morning hard-on, and we’d wake during the night and find each other in the dark. I fucked her in every corner of my house—the bathroom, the kitchen, on the stairs, up against the wall—and she was always receptive to me, discovering sex with every new erogenous zone.
I’d gone from wanting to drive her out of my house to never wanting her to leave.
We hadn’t openly talked about what us staying together would mean, but we both understood the implications. Marriage, just the two of us, forever. I’d never before considered the possibility of being with just one person, and I’d thought that if this marriage ever did happen, I’d spend it fucking other women. I’d had no feelings for Hallie at that point—but now I discovered I didn’t want anyone else, and the thought of her with another man knotted me up inside.
I wanted her to be mine.
We hadn’t heard anything else from the Estonians which only confirmed my belief that Kaspar must have had something to do with the missing money, and his brother had suspected the same thing. Why else would they not have retaliated? While none of us would ever work together again, we were equal now. We’d lost our money, but they’d lost a brother.
Just as I had done.
“I’d like to invite my father over for dinner,” Hallie said to me one evening as we lounged together on the sofa. She was in my arms, her head beneath my chin, so I could inhale the scent of her hair and place kisses to her crown.
I couldn’t help it. I froze. “Why?”
“If we’re going to be a family, don’t we need to grow comfortable with each other?”
I didn’t think I’d ever get comfortable with Marlon Wynter. The bloke was a grade one arsehole as far as I was concerned, and the idea of having him in my house was repugnant to me. Business dealings were one thing, socialising was another. I hadn’t taken Hallie to any family get-togethers, either. Our two families had been at each other’s throats for so long, I struggled to imagine us all sitting around together like equals. To be fair, other than Leo, and the occasional meeting with my father that was business only, we weren’t exactly a family who socialised together. Us three brothers had always had a strong bond, and sometimes I wondered if our parents had been jealous of it, in a way.
“That agreement is between our two fathers,” I said, “not me and your father.”
She twisted in my arms. “If we get married, you’re going to be his son-in-law.”
I snorted. “Since when have I ever worried about the law?”
She elbowed me, and I mock gasped as though she’d driven the air from my lungs.
“You know what I mean,” she protested.
“I don’t see what the point is, Hals. I didn’t think you even got on with him.”
“It’s...complicated. Just like I bet the relationship between you and your father is complicated. It’s not as though we grew up with well-balanced men as role models.”
I thought for a moment before I replied, “I admire my father. He’s a clever man, and he’s decisive and ruthless.”
She raised her eyebrows. “But I can’t imagine he was quick with hugs and wiping tears when you were younger.”
“I had my mother for all that.” My mother hadn’t exactly been the maternal type either, but she’d had her moments.
“Lucky you,” she said softly.
I realised what I’d said. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
We fell silent for a moment, and then she spoke again. “So, is it okay for me to invite my father over? I want him to see how we are together, for him to understand that despite everything, this could actually work.”
She gazed up at me with such need in her eyes, I couldn’t say no to her.