Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“Lenox,” Zax growls urgently, clearly not liking the fact that I just called Georgia my wife. Judging by her expression, she doesn’t either. It was meant to drive home a point, not stake a claim. This is what they wanted me to do. All three of them. So here we are.
I look at him and then Grey. “Give me a different way.”
Grey’s mouth twists, and he turns to Zax, whose displeasure is all over his face. It doesn’t matter, though. He can’t, and he knows it.
I drag a fuming Georgia through the suite and shove her into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind us. “Oh, really?” she glares, folding her arms defiantly and leaning against the sink. “This is going to be a door-locking situation?”
“Depends on how reasonable you are,” I retort. “We’re going to move you into my house in Maine.”
“What?!” she shrieks, her hands flying about. “You’re on their side with this? Come on, Lenox. No. We can’t live together, and you freaking know it.” She pokes the center of my chest.
“Keep your voice down. We don’t need everyone to hear us fight. Your ex and his father plan to contest the marriage. That much is clear. They’re going to say all sorts of things, like how you’re not mentally stable after your father’s loss and that I’m taking advantage of you.”
Her eyes narrow.
“You’ll be safe there,” I continue in a low voice. “No one can touch you, not even the press—at least at my house—and it’ll give me time to figure everything else out.”
“I can’t work in Maine,” she grits out between clenched teeth.
“You can get your license in Maine, Georgia. That’s a bullshit excuse, and you know it.”
“Zax and Grey don’t think I need to live with you.”
I give her an unamused look.
Her hands hit the top of her head. “Lenox, I don’t want to live with you!”
I chuckle, but there is no humor in it. I press her back into the sink, my hands going on either side of her body, caging her in as my anger builds. “You think I want that? You think bringing you into my house is a good time for me?”
She shakes her head, aggravation crawling through her features. She shoves me back, but I don’t go far. I don’t want outside ears to hear us. “Then why be so adamant about it?”
“I fucking married you, Georgia. Our agreement is for a year. That means for the next year, you’re mine to take care of whether I like it or not.”
“You can’t want that.”
“I just told you I don’t.”
“Then why are you doing this?” Her voice climbs, and I give her a warning look. Only Zax and Grey know how things are between us, and I’d like to keep it that way. She tempers herself. “Beyond saying I’m your responsibility because you fake married me, because that’s not adding up all the way.”
“Except it does. You’re my wife. That’s how this goes.
” I hold up my left hand, showing her my band, getting right up in her face.
“It’s like Callan said. Why bother marrying me if you’re just going to give them an in to disprove it?
You told me yourself that the appearance of this being real is paramount.
It was one of your goddamn rules for us.
Fight me all you want, but your ass is coming home with me to Maine tomorrow. ”
She grips my shirt, giving me a rough yank until we’re practically nose-to-nose. “Fuck you, Lenox. Husband or not, you don’t get to tell me where I’m going or what I’m doing. In fact, I’d never let my real husband get away with that shit.”
“Good for you and your imaginary real husband. If you wanted that, you should have married Ezra. But here, now, this is it. Stop being a stubborn pain in the ass and get over it.”
Panting rushes of air cleave from both of us, mixing in the minuscule space between us. She wants to fight this, and I get it because it’s a bad situation in the making, but what other choice do we genuinely have?
The problem is, we can’t seem to get our bearings with each other. We’re boiling hot and ice cold and occasionally flirt between both lines. And with that, I don’t know how to navigate her, and I think it’s the same for her with me.
We’re scarred love and bleeding hatred with a sutured-up form of gratitude and guilt connecting both sides.
I want her. I’m crazed with want for her.
Moving in with me will only make that worse and harder to fight, but the more I think about it, the more I want it. Fuck how irresistibly dangerous it is.
I’ve had this time with her, and I don’t want it to end. I don’t want it to be over. Even if she’s just there. Except when she sees my house... Fuck. That could be?—
“I can’t move in with you,” she reiterates, cutting off my thoughts.
I growl a frustrated breath. “For fuck’s sake. Why not?”
“Because of this,” she snaps and then grabs my shirt in two fists and slams my lips to hers before shoving me back just as fast. “That’s why.”
My hands dive into her hair, and I grab her head, bringing her back to me and kissing her urgently. “You’re afraid you won’t be able to keep your pretty manicured hands to yourself? ”
“Stop kissing me,” she hisses against my mouth, biting my lip. “I fucking hate you.”
Only her hands are in my hair and she’s holding me close, tilting her head, and kissing me back. Taking her by the hips, I lift her up and then drop her down onto the edge of the sink so I can step between her spread thighs.
“And yet I bet if I reached into your jeans, I’d find you soaked for me.”
She shoves angrily against me, breaking the kiss, but no fucking way am I letting her go anywhere without proving my point.
I yank her back down off the counter and flip her around so I can undo the button and fly on her jeans.
I’m fully aware we’re in a suite bathroom with our friends, her fucking cousins, who don’t want me touching her, just outside.
I should stop. But first…
I slide my hand down the front of her jeans, straight into her thong. She sucks in a rush of air, but instead of ripping my hands from her jeans, she puts hers on the counter, palms flat, fingers splayed.
I smirk, sucking on her earlobe as I find her bare pussy just as wet as I knew it would be.
“Still want me to stop?” I start to play with her clit, watching as her flushed face and hazy eyes grow hungrier in the reflection of the mirror.
She gasps, and I cover her mouth with my other hand.
“Hush. This is between us, and I don’t want them to hear,” I murmur in her ear, licking, nipping, biting, tasting.
“We have something. There is no denying that.” I continue to play with her clit for another minute, watching her fucking stunning face in the mirror as I do before I slide lower and slip two fingers straight inside of her.
She moans against my hand, and I rub my hard cock against her ass.
“But you asked me to marry you for a reason. And with that reason, comes certain things we’re just going to have to live with. ”
Her head falls back against my chest even as she can’t stop watching the motion of my hand as it moves in her jeans.
I’d give anything to yank down her pants and slam inside her, but all that will do is pit her against me further.
But making my girl come? That I can do and still get her to move in with me.
I shift my wrist and dive deeper into her, hitting her spot while giving my thumb access to her clit.
I want to watch her fly because her face when she comes for me is like nothing else.
I’d slay any dragon she has just for that chance.
I press my hand tighter against her mouth, and a rush of wet heat coats my fingers.
She likes this. Me stifling her moans. Us risking getting caught.
I should feel bad about this, and I know I will, but that time will come later.
“Georgia, you’re moving in with me.” I continue to fuck her with my fingers, picking up speed because we’re on borrowed time. “Tomorrow, you’re coming with me to Maine. And I’m fucking done arguing with you about it.”
She shakes her head against me.
“Yes,” I tell her. “Now come for me. I want to watch my beautiful wife come all over my fingers. I want your scent on them all night. I want to be able to lick them and taste you. And after that, I’ll stop. I won’t fuck you, and this will be it. But there is no way this isn’t happening.”
“Fuck,” she mumbles into my hand, grinding against me, seeking more, unable to stop.
“After this, it’s over,” I promise, wondering if it’s a promise I’ll actually be able to keep this time.
Her reflected gaze slinks up to mine, and then she’s coming all over my fingers, watching me watch her, knowing she’s just given in and yet also knowing she will always hold the upper hand with me.
There will never be a time when I’m not hers.
Whether she can see it in my eyes or feel it in my touch, I don’t know.
I’m risking my everything, and I need to get a grip before it all slips away from me.
The moment she comes down from her high, I slip my fingers out and lick them clean. “They’ll still smell like you. And I’ll keep them buried under my nose later as I jerk myself to the image of your face in that mirror.”
I pull away from her and go for the door, leaving her here to figure out the rest of her mind. Only the moment I open the door, I’m greeted by Aurelia. I quickly slam the door shut behind me, blocking it with my body.
“Relax.” She laughs lightly. “Lucky for you, I don’t have to pee, though I told them I did.” I scan to my left, but the suite is empty. “I sent everyone else downstairs, telling them I’d stay up here and wait for you to finish fighting.”
I squint at her, and she laughs harder.
“The game ended five minutes ago. Asher scored the winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak up the middle.”
“I…” I don’t know what to say.
“Do you know why I said her name that night at poker when everyone was teasing about setting you up?”
I don’t answer.