Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
E lisabetta
The water is refreshing on my skin as I swim away from Liam. My heart is full and my head is overwhelmed. I feel like a mermaid as I undulate through the water. I come up for air and shake my head, watching as the droplets fly everywhere.
“You’re going to leave me hanging?” There’s a teasing note to Liam’s voice, and I turn to look at him. He’s standing there so cocky and self-confident, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that he’s not so sure of himself. He’s scared of being vulnerable. I can feel it in him. Our conversation had been so awkward, but so sweet and unexpected.
I look over at Liam, and there’s a hurt expression on his face.
I feel slightly bad and swim over to him.
“I think I’m falling for you, too,” I say quickly.
He grins at me. “Really?”
“What?” I say, splashing him again.
My heart is on fire, and I can’t believe how at peace I feel.
“Why did you swim away after I told you that I was falling in love with you?” he asks suspiciously.
“Maybe because I wanted to make you a bit nervous.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know because you kind of lied to me and…”
“Am I going to pay for that for the rest of my life?”
“Oh, so, you think we’re going to be in each other’s lives forever?”
“I would hope so,” he says, nodding.
“But yet our marriage is only for three years.”
He makes a face. “I mean, we don’t have to go through with the marriage; that might be awkward.”
“What does that mean?” My stomach drops slightly.
“I mean, if we are actually dating and getting to know each other better and have feelings, and we’re sleeping together, it might be weird to be married because in three years when we get divorced, do we still continue dating?”
I want to scream at him. I want to ask why he would even think about divorce if this was going to be a real relationship. But even I, as someone who has never been married or been in a long-term relationship before, know that men can be complicated and dense sometimes.
“I mean, it’s up to you,” I say. “If you don’t want to get married, then we don’t have to. I just don’t want my father to suffer.”
“What I worked out with your father is between me and him,” he says, clearing his throat. “And I’m still willing to give him the money.”
“But why?”
“Because he’s selling me a business.”
“This is going to be complicated, isn’t it?” I look at him.
He grabs me around the waist and pulls me to him. His skin feels hot.
“You feel cool next to me,” he says, holding me closer. “You’re cooling me down.”
“And you’re heating me up.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” He chuckles, and I just roll my eyes.
“So, you think you’re falling in love with me?” he asks, kissing the tip of my nose.
My heart races slightly. “I may be, kind of, a little bit falling in love with you. I mean, you’re kind of falling in love with me, right?”
“I kind of am,” he says, nodding. “Fuck, wait till I tell my sister and my niece.”
“You’re going to tell them?”
“I mean, I feel like you would want to meet them, right?”
I nod slowly.
“And I guess I should meet Romeo.”
“Oh, my lord,” I say. “He is going to have you for breakfast.”
“Ah, that sounds ominous.”
“I mean it in the best way. He’ll love you. And he most likely saw something like this coming because he already figured out that I was kind of falling for you and that maybe you were of falling for me, too.”
“What? He’s never even met me.”
“But he asked me why you would agree to something like this, and really, there was no good answer.” I look at him poignantly.
“Okay, it’s true. Maybe I did it because I didn’t want to think about you with another man.”
“So, we’re exclusive, then?”
“I’m not seeing anyone else,” he says, shaking his head. “But I guess if you wanted to…” He pauses.
“Oh, you’d be okay with that?” I ask lightly.
“Are you telling me you want to date other men?” He scowls.
“No, but are you telling me that you’d be okay if I did?”
“Hell, no,” he says. “You’re not going to be seeing anyone. Those pretty little lips are not going to be on anyone else. Those fingers are not going to be touching another man. You are all mine.”
“But like I said to you before, I’m no one’s possession, but I don’t want to see any other men.”
“So, what about those dates you were going to go on and those local men you wanted to date?”
“I think I’m okay right now.” I grin at him.
“You definitely are someone that will keep my hands full. Very full.” He winks. “If you know what I mean.”
“You’re so immature, Liam.”
“What? Just because I’m a billionaire, I can’t be a little bit immature?”
“I guess.
“So, you own this island?”
“I do.” He nods.
“And while I love it, the primary reason I purchased it was to be part of my hotel empire, which I’d like you to help me figure out.”
“So, that was real,” I say, relaxing slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I wasn’t sure if, like, part of this was some sort of long con to get into my panties.”
“No, darling, it wasn’t.”
“So, you do want my help in figuring out branding and the name and all that good stuff?”
“Yep, I do. If you’re interested, of course.”
“So, we’re not going to pretend that I’m your assistant or anything?”
“Well, if you want to take some classes to get better at typing…”
“No, thank you,” I say, laughing. I splash him. “We should go back to the sand so we can dry off. I want to see the hotel you have already.”
“Oh, there is no hotel that’s built yet, but I can show you the spot where I think I’m going to put it.”
“So, then, where are we staying?” I look at him suspiciously. “We’re not camping on the beach or anything, are we?”
“What? You don’t think that it would be romantic to sleep on the sand and look up at the stars?”
“In theory, it sounds very, very sweet, but in reality, no, thank you, that does not sound comfortable. I’m not a princess, but I like to be pampered.”
“Oh, is that your way of telling me you want a massage?”
“No, it’s not,” I say as we make our way to the beach. “I mean, I would love a massage as long as that’s not your way of trying to say you’re going to rub my back for five seconds and then try and slip it in.”
He grins. “I don’t think I’m slipping anything in.” He winks. “I think I gotta,” he growls into my ear, “thrust, don’t you?”
I swallow hard as I stare at him.
“Uh, I don’t know about that, but we’re talking about business right now.”
“We can’t talk about business and pleasure?”
“I think we should have some boundaries so we don’t complicate matters. When we’re talking about business, we should be professional. No sex in the office or anything like that.”
“What? That’s the best thing about dating someone I’m working with.”
“Why? Have you done that often?” I say, a little jealousy coursing through me.
“Never,” he says, shaking his head. “I know you might not believe me, but I don’t date that often.”
“Okay, yeah, I don’t really believe you. You have moves that I have never seen before, and I’m thinking there’s no way you came up with them by yourself, not having practiced with anyone, ever before, in your life.”
“I didn’t say I was a monk, Elisabetta. I said that I don’t date that often. Obviously, I’ve had sex.”
“Obviously,” I say, rolling my eyes. “So, what? You just hook up with a different woman every week?”
“I know you may think I’m a male whore…”
“No, I would say ho .”
It’s his turn to shake his head and laugh. “Okay, whore, ho, whatever. But I don’t get around that much. I’m not going to lie. When I was in my early twenties, I liked to play the field. I did happen to have fun with a lot of different women, but I’ve evolved, and I’m more mature, and for me, being with a woman requires a little more than just fucking, if you know what I mean.”
“Umm…so what? You’ve had feelings for all the women you’ve been with recently?”
“If you’re asking me if I’ve been in love with other women, not in a long time. What about you?”
“It’s been a while for me, as well. I mean, with men, not women.”
“I get it,” he says. “So, do you think that you and I can see where this is going and be cool with everything else?”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘everything else.’”
“I mean, you know, us. Navigating, me doing business with your father, and you know…”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know what your father’s going to say if we don’t get married, and well, I could sign a contract and honor the deal that…”
“What are you saying? You still want to marry me?”
“Would you have an issue with that?”
“I have an idea,” I say to him. “Why don’t we pretend that your deal with my dad doesn’t exist? Why don’t we just live our lives and do what we have to do? And whatever you do with my dad is between the two of you. I mean, I’m not going to say that I’m not upset because I’ve been really upset, and I don’t like everything I’ve been finding out, but I also want to say that I do understand that you came into this not knowing me. And, I mean, I know everything has been going really quickly and that we think that…”
I pause. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, I just want you to get to know me and enjoy time with me without thinking about my dad and whatever business deal you have going on with him. I don’t want that to affect our time together and wherever this may or may not go or how much fun we have.”
He stares at me silently, moving his arms in circles as he attempts to dry off. “You’re really mature. You know that?”
“What? You thought I was immature?”
“I mean, I wouldn’t say that, but I like what you’re saying, and if you’re okay with that, I’m definitely okay with that. I would love to see how this progresses and not have it complicated by the situation with your father. There’s just one question I have for you.”
“And that is?”
“Do you want us to get married?”
“What?” I stare at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, if everything is just to continue smoothly without your dad being upset or involved or anything else, I think we just go ahead with it as we were going to before you found out that I was going to be your husband.”
“So, wait. You want us to get married but pretend that we’re not actually dating?”
“I mean, no. I want us to tell people, but your father… let’s just say I don’t know about him. I don’t know how much I can trust him, and maybe he feels like he can’t trust me, but I don’t want to complicate the situation any further or do anything that may cause him to react poorly.”
“Okay, you’re confusing me. But…”
“But what?”
“Nothing. I mean, sure, we can get married and continue to sleep together and date, and I guess if things get complicated, we deal with it then.”
“I just don’t want your father to…sorry, it’s just a weird situation,” he says. “I never intended to fall for you, and I never intended for you to fall for me, and while I’m so excited about the possibility of where this could go, I want to be honest here. I have no expectations, and I hope you don’t either.”
“What would my expectations be? I mean, we’re already not getting married. I mean, we are getting married, but not for real. I know you don’t want to get married in real life. Ugh! I’m confusing myself!” I say, laughing.
“I mean, we’re both confused here because, on the one hand, we’re attracted to each other, we’re young, we’re having fun, and the sex is great, but we’ve only just met, and we’re only getting to know each other. I honestly have not been in a relationship in a long time. I haven’t really been looking for it. My business life does come first right now, along with my sister and my niece, but obviously, I’ll need time for you. I just don’t want to go into this with you thinking it will be traditional dating, if that makes sense.”
“You’re basically saying to me you want to date, but I shouldn’t get my hopes up that we’re going to get married and have kids and all that good stuff.”
“Exactly. That’s exactly what I’m saying, but obviously, we are getting married, but because of this business deal, I don’t want things to be confused in your head or my head…”
“It’s okay, Liam. I get it. Even though we will technically be married, we’ll pretend we’re not. We’re only getting married for my dad and whatever business deals you have going on with him.”
“Good. I mean, not good. That sounds kind of creepy. Crappy. And I…”
“It’s okay. I’m not crazy. We just met. I don’t expect a man who is technically my boss to fall in love with me, propose to me, and want to have kids with me within a matter of a month.”
He laughs. “I wish it had been a month.”
“Who knows? Maybe after a month, you’ll want to get out of it.”
“I doubt it, plus we’re committed for three years.”
“I know, but I do want to say something, just in case you’re nervous.”
“What?”
“If before the three are up, you want to move on from the actual relationship we’re having, or you no longer feel like you’re falling for me, or you’ve fallen out of whatever, we don’t have to keep up what we’re doing on the side. We can just be.I’m not going to take it personally, like if you need to break up with me just because we’re technically married.”
“Oh, my gosh. This is a hot mess, isn’t it?” he says, shaking his head.
“I mean, a little bit, but I just want us both to be on the same page. We’re getting married for my dad, but for us, we’re just dating.”
“Yeah,” he says. “But I still want you to meet my sister and my niece, and I want you to tell your friends and Romeo, as long as Romeo can keep it a secret from your dad because I just don’t know about your dad. Sorry to say that.”
“It’s okay,” I say, shrugging. “To be quite honest, I don’t really even know my dad either. For all I know, he’s not really my dad.”
“Wouldn’t that be something?”His voice is light, yet there’s a shadowy look in his eyes that makes my heart race. I wonder if this is something that has crossed his mind, as well.
I stare at him for a couple of seconds, and he looks away. I laugh nervously as the thought worms deeper into my brain. Is my dad really my dad? Is that why he never really wanted to spend time with me? Is that why he doesn’t care about marrying me off to some stranger?