Chapter 18
18
Theo
I ’m waiting for Cat at the base of the stairs on Saturday night, nerves making me pace the marble floor, onto the rug, and back again. We have to sell this marriage tonight. Lorenzo will be there with his wife, and Cat and I need to look like we are madly in love. I can do it, but I’m not sure if she can. Especially if her awkwardness at brunch is anything to go by.
When she descends the stairs, her hair is pinned up, with just a few tendrils framing her face. She looks elegant, delicate, and lovely. Her lips are soft and glossed, and I’m transported back to the summers we spent together. I stared at her when she thought I wasn’t looking. I stared at her and I fantasized about her, just like I did last night when I was angrily turned on by the fact that I heard her in the shower. I took a cold shower next to her and ignored the heaviness in my groin.
“Theo. Hi.” She’s nervous too, and her chest is red.
“What are you wearing?” I ask, but it’s obvious what she’s wearing. That same dress she wore to our wedding. “I had dresses delivered for you. ”
“I don’t need them,” she says with a wave of her hand. “Don’t you think I’m pretty enough, sweetheart?” She gives me a sharp smile, but there are shadows in her eyes. She’s hiding things. Again.
“Take the dresses.”
“No.” She crosses her arms over her chest, which only serves to push her breasts up against the silk. Her nipples are pebbled against the material.
“Catherine.” I am not in the mood for this. We need to be focused on being the perfect couple, not arguing about her outfit. God, she’s so fucking difficult. “Don’t be an ass.” Her words from our fight.
Those chocolate eyes flash, and heat pulses through me. She’s so hot when she’s angry with me.
“I’m wearing it.”
Guess I’ll have to kill more flies with honey. I sigh and crook a finger.
“Come here, then. There’s a stain on the side.”
She looks down.
“No, you won’t be able to get it.”
She huffs and walks over until she’s just under my chin.
“Turn around.”
She turns, baring her back to me. Why are all her dresses backless? A back is just as hot as a woman’s front, sometimes hotter. There , the base of her neck where my hand could go. There , the crease of shoulder, where I could bite her and breathe in every shiver. “You have something right”—I grab the fine material of the dress, right at the tag—“here.” I rip it down the middle.
“Theo,” she screeches. She whirls, holding the garment up with her arm. “That was my favorite.”
“I’ll get you another.”
“I don’t want another. I don’t want you to tell me what to wear. Don’t you think I spent enough time being told how to dress and how to act?” She stomps up the stairs, and I blink after her, frozen in place. The bang of her bedroom door sends me into motion. I race up the stairs and smack my hands on the door.
“Cat.” I need to know what she meant. I’m desperate for it .
“I’m changing,” she shouts, but there’s no need for shouting, because I’m already skidding into her dressing area.
“Fuck.”
She turns.
I gape.
My brain fizzles. There’s no other word for it. All rational thought flees, when for the very first time in my life, I see Catherine Peterson naked.
She’s perfect. The first thought my sputtering brain makes. My cock quickly agrees.
Her breasts are perfect teardrops. The exact size to fill my palm. Maybe a little would spill over the edges. I can practically feel how crazed I would be, digging rough fingers into her flesh. Her nipples are dusky rose and probably bigger than she likes. I love them. I want to worship them.
“Done glaring?”
I drag my eyes up to her annoyed face. I swallow thickly. “That’s not glaring, princess. That’s ogling.” I try for cocky and smart, but my voice sounds strangled and wanting.
She huffs and presses an arm to her breasts.
“Since you’re so obsessed with fashion, you pick a dress.” She gestures to the closet. “I’ll just stand here like a doll.”
My lips twitch, and I roll them between my teeth to keep from laughing. She’s so deliciously annoyed with me.
“If this is what happens, I’m going to start ripping more of your dresses,” I say.
“Don’t you dare. I only have what’s here.”
A quarter of a closet. The five dresses she picked. Some jeans and sweatshirts. Three pairs of shoes. A coat. I rub at the ache building behind my ribs. I must have strained myself this morning while working out. I make a mental note to put some muscle cream on it later.
I think about her words. “You’re not a doll, Cat. What would you choose?”
She slips a black dress off the hanger. “This. It has a cape. And it looks great with these bracelets that remind me of Wonder Woman gauntlets.” She sounds wistful as she speaks. She likes the fashion. She just hates the way I pushed her into it.
“I’ll need your help getting it on.” She bites her lip awkwardly.
“Now you’re uncertain? You’re baring it all right now.”
She thrusts the dress into my hand and turns. I try desperately not to stare at her ass.
“Just help me,” she grits out.
So it’s the asking for assistance she hates.
“Tell me why you didn’t want the clothes.” I help her step into the dress. My face is so close to her skin. I could run a finger up her spine. I could taste her. She’d be sweet and forbidden. I’m halfway to licking her before I freeze. What the fuck am I doing? This is Cat. I’ve been down this road before, and it ended in misery. There’s a very good reason this needs to be fake. She’s a headstrong, spoiled princess.
“Because I spent years living under someone else’s thumb.” Soft words so at odds with my own angry thoughts. She swallows under my hand as I zip her up. “And besides. This will all go away. Our marriage is temporary. I don’t want to get too used to it.”
I smooth the cape over her shoulders. My chest still aches as I turn her.
Her eyes are pleading. “No more gifts, Theo. Okay?”
“Don’t you get money with the inheritance? I don’t understand. Are you trying to prove something to yourself? It’s fine if you are.” My hands squeeze her shoulders. “I think it’s admirable, really. Giving up everything.”
Her mouth parts. She stares at me. “No,” she chokes. She turns to the dresser and scoops up a pair of gold cuffs out of a box. They look like bracers from an intricate set of armor. “I’m not finding myself. This isn’t Eat Pray Love . There’s no money with the inheritance. My father spent it all.” She fumbles the cuffs on, batting at my hands as I try to help. “Let’s go.” She turns and swirls out of the room, cape swinging behind her.
I follow, my own confused thoughts trailing behind me. Have I misjudged her? Is Cat the person I knew or someone different? And when did she change? Or, worse, was she never who I thought she was, and I was too blind to see the truth?
When we’re finally on the way to the venue, I watch Cat carefully. She’s staring out the window like she’s never seen New York City before, and for all I know, maybe she hasn’t seen much.
“What happened to the money?” I finally ask. I’ve avoided asking about her family because I despise them with every fiber of my being, but none of the facts add up. “How did he spend it?”
She glances over at me, a bemused look on her face. “The usual ways, I suppose. He’s a spendthrift. He married my mom for her money. He wanted the company. It’s a cash cow. You’ve seen the news. He has a high salary compared to other CEOs.”
I nod. I have seen them. I’ve analyzed every inch of Peterson International for cracks in its armor. I might have given up trading stocks like a frenzied day trader, but I’ve been waiting a long time for revenge against Gregory Peterson. The company isn’t public. The stock is closely held by a group of twenty or so investors, but most of the voting power sits with Cat’s family. And soon, Cat herself.
“So he’s poor now?” Wouldn’t that be good?
“No.” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Actually, I’m not sure. He tried to marry me off to his business partner’s son. At first, I thought it was just to control me, but now I’m not so sure. There were a lot of tense conversations in the weeks before I left. He might have spent everything he got from my mother. Most of the family wealth is in the shares, you know.”
I should care about Gregory Peterson’s downfall, but all I can think is mine. Cat was almost married to another man. “Who is the son?” My voice comes out harsher than I intended, and Cat’s eyes slice to mine.
“Arnold Worth the Fourth. A pompous name, right? It’s a family name. He’s a prick. Takes after his father. I publicly refused him. He’s the one who gave quotes to the paper about us.”
The tightness in my chest eases somewhat at Cat’s obvious distaste. “So you never…?”
“What?” She makes a choked noise between a laugh and a snort. “ Liked him? Kissed him? Got within even a hundred feet of an altar? Hell no.” She presses her head back to the seat, smiling faintly. Her delicate throat is bared, and that smile makes her look like a siren. “You know I don’t want to be married, right?” She’s still smiling when she looks at me. “I would have enlisted in the army before marrying Arnold Worth, but marriage has never been my goal.”
“Why?”
“I don’t need anyone telling me what to do. Marriage is just another way to control you, especially if you’re a woman, and especially if you come from my world. Sit there, look pretty, host events, wear the dresses and the ring, look the other way when he takes a mistress.” Her face shutters. “No thanks.” She’s fingering the ring like it’s a weight she can’t forget.
“We can get you something different,” I say abruptly.
“What?”
I gesture toward her hand. “I thought we should go with the largest because it’s the thing to do, but if you want something different, we can swap it. Some women don’t even wear them. You don’t have to. After tonight. We can make something up.”
She scans my face, smiling faintly. “That’s okay, Theo. Let’s sell this. It’s not permanent, after all.”
“Right,” I say. “Let’s sell this.”