Chapter 14
Jameson
She said no.
And I’m still reeling from it.
Late into the night, I’m awake when I should be sleeping, reading more of Megan’s book.
And thinking about her.
I thought about her, and about our conversation in the restaurant, while I sat in the limo, alone, outside the nightclub she met her friends at. Waiting for updates from Rurik, one of my bodyguards, who drove her there, then followed her inside.
I didn’t bother going into the club. No-sex challenge and all. Last thing I needed was to spend my night watching Megan Hudson dance in her shimmery little top and velvet leggings after she told me no.
I thought about how she told me no all the way home, after Locke and I tailed her back to her friend’s apartment and made sure she was all tucked in for the night.
Not the most exciting Friday night I’ve ever spent. But at least I’ve managed to read a bit more of Megan’s book. The truth is I’ve been sneaking in pages all damn day. It’s becoming a problem.
Especially if this story is turning out to be the romance I suspect it is.
So far, it’s definitely a survival story, featuring several near brushes with death and a lot of bickering between the two main characters. The scenes switch back and forth between Wolf’s point of view and Rowan’s, and I’m still reserving judgment on which one I’m going to sympathize with more.
Wolf lost his little brother, sure.
But he’s still being a dick to Rowan, who’s basically on a death march to sell herself off to some stranger who might turn out to be a fucking psychopath for all we know.
Only Megan knows for sure.
Even though it’s subtle, I’m pretty sure Rowan is starting to like Wolf, though. She’s been calling him savage the whole time, and when she finally asks him his name, several chapters in, he gives her such shit about her manners, I somehow want to high-five him.
I pick up my phone and type.
Me: You know what, I changed my mind. Wolf is charming.
Moments later, as I’m reading, my phone chimes in the dark. It’s the middle of the night. Why is she still up?
Did I wake her?
Megan:You’re reading my book again??
Me:I never stopped.
She texts me five “mind blown” emojis in a row.
It’s not a yes, though.
I bury the brief thrill of victory that courses through my veins like a drug and resist the urge to text her back. You haven’t won her over yet. Relax.
In truth, Megan’s mind is becoming a trickier web to unweave the more I read.
She’s written two characters into a pretty dangerous scenario where, according to her, they’re going to fall in love, she’s three books in, and she doesn’t even know if they’re going to get to a happily ever after.
In real life, she stayed with a guy for a decade, in hopes of that happy ending, probably, even when it didn’t get there.
Yet she said no to my proposal, when I really wasn’t asking much of her in return for a hell of a lot of security. Because, presumably, she’d rather be in a real relationship or no relationship at all than a fake one.
Have I ever met a woman who’d say no to the offer I made to her tonight, fake or real?
Plenty of women from my past would balk at the idea of being hired to be my gardener, sure. I can’t see a one of them doing it. But being my fiancée, especially with so few strings attached? I can think of more than a few women who would jump at that chance.
Even the ones who have their own money. Some of the wealthiest women I know would happily find a way to relieve me of that two million, given the chance.
Clearly, Megan Hudson is not like the other women I’ve known.
But, interestingly, Graysen never told me I should get engaged to any of those women.
The more I think about it, the more interesting it gets.
Megan impressed Graysen, without even trying. Without even being aware of it. And that’s not an easy feat.
Graysen Vance is not easily impressed or won over. He’s not warm and fuzzy. And he’s definitely not trusting of outsiders.
But he liked Megan.
Hell, I have a hard time impressing my brother. If I show up with her on my arm, and a ring on her finger, it will go a hell of a long way to winning his vote right now.
I need her to say yes to me.
To meet Graysen’s expectations, for sure. But also, if I’m being honest with myself, for my ego. If she won Graysen’s stamp of approval that fast and I can’t win his or hers, what the hell does that say about me and the state of my life right now?
I just need to figure out how to convince her.
I told her at dinner that I’d give her anything she wants, but maybe that was too vague.
Maybe she didn’t even believe me?
As I read, I’ve been trying to find hints about her in Rowan’s character, but I really don’t know her well enough to know if it’s all fiction or if there are bits she’s pulled from her own reality.
But then I get to the trust-fall scene, and I’m pretty sure I feel Megan speaking right through the page.
It’s been bothering me all morning.
Wolf doesn’t seem bothered at all, which just bothers me more. All he does is walk and walk and walk and expect me to keep up.
But I know it bothers him.
“Why does it bother you being called a savage?” I ask him.
He frowns at me.
“What else should I call you? You have no tribe.”
“My people are nomads,” he says, like I’m stupid. “We live in tribes. We just don’t give our tribes fancy names that are supposed to mean something to anyone else. We know who we are. When I was born, my grandfather said I had the blood of a thousand men in me.”
“You say that like it’s something to be proud of.”
“Why not? My people are from all over the Eastlands and beyond. We mix with other tribes to keep our bloodline diverse. We take the best of all qualities and pass them down to our children.”
He does look like he’s a bit of all over. There’s something wildly exotic about his green eyes. His skin is tanned but not quite brown, and his hair is unruly and thick. He looks exactly like the epitome of the savage Aunt Rose warned me about.
He shakes his head. “You Westlanders give away your Ladies as brides and you think it’s noble, but it’s barbaric, sending a girl away from her home to marry a man she’s never met.”
“And I suppose you have a better way?”
“We trade, so it’s mutual, and both males and females leave for other tribes. And not without their choice.”
“It was my choice to leave my homeland.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
And now he’s arguing with me. Again.
“And by the way, you called me savage, not a savage,” he says. “There’s a difference, you know.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’s the way you say it, like I disgust you.”
“You don’t disgust me.”
He stops walking. His expression is sore as he comes over to me, and I back up. “But I scare you.”
“I’m not scared of you.” I don’t want to tell him the truth, that pretty much any man I didn’t know who was left alone with me in the woods would scare me.
His lips curl in a cruel smile. “No? Let’s see you prove it.” He takes me by my shoulders and turns me around. “Fall back, straight back, and let me catch you.”
I huff, trying to glimpse him over my shoulder. “This is stupid.” He’s already saved my life, and we both know it. What will this prove?
That he doesn’t want me dead? I know that already.
“Don’t look back, just fall.”
“Are you going to catch me?”
“That’s the point.”
“Fine. One, two?—”
“Don’t count, just do it.”
I fall back, straight back, and he catches me in his arms. He stands me up again, and I pull away, turning to keep an eye on him.
“Now kiss me,” he says, “if you’re not afraid.”
“No way.”
“So. You trust me not to let you get hurt, but you won’t kiss me.”
“This is a stupid test you just made up so you could kiss me.”
“So to you, kissing me seems a greater danger than falling on your ass and hitting your head on a rock.” He starts walking again. “Now that’s interesting.”
I hurry to keep up with him. “It’s not interesting! It’s not really anything at all. It’s just something you made up.”
I lower the tablet to my lap in bed as it strikes me: that Megan doesn’t trust me.
She’s just left a man who treated her badly. She was with him for years, and according to what she and Cole told me about him, he was a real piece of shit to her, in the end.
He even stole from her.
How can she trust me, a man she just met, no matter what I say or what her brother says about me?
How can she know if I’m being honest with her or not?
And maybe cash in the bank isn’t enough to win her trust.
Maybe I just made her the wrong offer.
Maybe I need to make her the right offer… whatever that is.
Something she can’t say no to.
Something she wants so badly, she’d be crazy not to say yes.