13. BEN
13
BEN
Come to my suite for lunch .
I sent the text to Sofia and drummed my fingers on the desk while I waited for a response.
Excuse me???
Her reply was quick and about as emotional as I’d expected.
I don’t want to have this discussion in public.
I was pretty sure this was going to become an argument.
Oh, so now your image means something.
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, so she was pissed at me. And she had every right to be. But couldn’t she just let it go?
Clearly, she couldn’t.
Just humor me.
Her fingers had to be quick as fuck because her replies were almost instant.
I think we’re way past that point. I’ll be there.
Well, that was something, I guess.
She knocked on my door a half hour later and when I opened, she looked as glorious as always—dark hair cascading over her shoulders, those mercury eyes almost the color of slate, and her delicate features pinched with anger.
How was it possible for someone to be so beautiful when she was so angry?
“Come on in,” I said. “I ordered room service.”
“Nice of you.”
I wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not.
“Can we talk about this?” I asked.
Sofia glared at me. “Sure. Why not? Let’s talk about it. Communication is one of the cornerstones of marriage, isn’t it?”
Oh, boy. She was pissed. Beautiful, but pissed.
She had every reason to be angry with me.
“Sit down, please,” I suggested.
Sofia hesitated before she walked to the couch and sat down. I sat close to her, but not too close. In nature, the most beautiful things were usually the most dangerous.
When she sat down, she looked at me, her eyes a little lighter than a moment ago. The storm in them had calmed a little and I couldn’t help but think how much they looked like a stormy ocean. The kind Richard had described.
“Look,” I started. “I’m sorry.”
She blinked at me. She hadn’t expected an apology, and not a lot of people got that from me. But I’d put my foot in it by saying on a whim that we were married.
“I fucked up.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, her temper fading as I apologized, laying it all out instead of giving her more excuses.
“Yeah, you did,” she said tightly after hesitating a beat.
“I just kept thinking that he was going to turn it down because I didn’t have what he wanted, and I can’t crawl back home with my tail between my legs.”
“Too proud?” she sneered.
“Yeah.”
She blinked, surprised. “Oh.”
“I’m the black sheep of the family. Maybe it’s self-proclaimed but the others are always getting so much done, doing so much for the company and me… I just sell fucking planes.”
Sofia didn’t say anything.
“You were both talking about family and legacies and everything and it just made sense to tell him that.”
She pursed her lips together.
“We can make this work. We just need to spend some time as a couple with Richard, and then I think it will seal the deal. I meant it when I said after this, you won’t ever have to see me again.”
“How are we supposed to act like we’re married?” Sofia asked.
“It would help if we knew a bit about each other.”
A knock on the door suggested room service was here, and they delivered a trolley with gourmet sandwiches.
When the server was gone, and I’d given him a generous tip, Sofia glanced at the food.
“Feel free to help yourself,” I said.
She reached for one and bit into it. She groaned again.
God, she was attractive when she lost herself in the goodness of something. She never hid how much she loved it when she ate something great.
It made me want to make sure that everything she ate would be top shelf, that she wouldn’t ever have to make do with cheap food that didn’t taste the way it should.
“Fine,” she said after she’d eaten a bit. I’d taken a sandwich and dug in, too. “Let’s get to know each other, then. I know you have three brothers and a dad since they’re all in the business. Mom?”
“My parents are happily married and super invested in our family.” I sighed. “It would have gone down a lot better if they’d come here instead of me. Richard would have thrown all his money at them by now just because they’re so on top of shit when it comes to family life.”
Sofia nodded.
“What about you? Siblings?”
“An older brother. He lives in Oregon. We see him for my parents’ birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The rest of the time he has his life over there, far away from us. It’s easier. My parents are divorced, so there’s two of everything and it’s not always very peaceful.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. I knew I was lucky as hell to have been adopted into a family that wasn’t only rich with a large business empire but with people who really cared about each other and what it meant to be a family.
It was a pity I was such an outsider. Alex was already following in my parents’ footsteps and it was just a matter of time before Chris and Dan followed.
But me?
I wasn’t the type to get married. I would be the great disappointment of the Blackwood family.
“Did you have any pets growing up?” Sofia asked.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m trying to find out about your past.”
I shook my head. “Trust me, my past isn’t going to come up in conversation.”
“What if it does?”
“It won’t,” I said firmly, clenching my jaw. I glared at Sofia. I was getting upset with her for pushing a topic that had nothing to do with her.
“You can’t be like this,” she snapped. “You can’t tell me we have to get to know each other but you’re not willing to share anything.”
“He’s not going to want to know stuff like how we grew up and what our pets’ names were,” I countered. “He’s going to want to know how we met, how I proposed, shit like that.”
“So, we’re just going to keep playing pretend and lie about everything?”
“There isn’t much truth we can tell him if we’re not really married,” I pointed out. “So we can work on our stories, make sure they line up, and then we’ll be good to go.”
Sofia shook her head. “You’re not willing to get to know me at all, are you?”
I hesitated. I wanted to get to know her. I wanted to know everything about her.
“I just don’t think it’s necessary to waste our time on that,” I said.
Sofia gasped. “You think it’s a waste of time to get to know each other when we’re supposed to be close to each other?”
“That’s not how I meant it,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. God, I kept putting my foot in my mouth and nothing came out right.
I wasn’t usually like this, but around Sofia, I was getting flustered and my words didn’t come out right. Especially when she was like this—angry and magnificent. She was like a force of nature, and I couldn’t help but stare at her beauty, the pure essence of who she was shining through.
A part of me admired it, and a part of me was so fucking envious of it.
She was completely and unapologetically herself, hiding nothing of what she thought and felt.
And I was made of stone, with nothing to give but emotions and expressions that were curated for the boardroom.
Might as well call it a bored room.
“This isn’t going to work,” Sofia said and stood.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to my room. This is bullshit.”
She started walking away from me. I didn’t want her to go. I touched my hand to her arm.
“Please,” I said, but I wasn’t only asking her to stay. I didn’t know what else I was asking for, but I felt so empty sometimes when she walked away from me.
She glared at me. “I can’t give everything when you’re giving nothing.” Her voice was hard.
“I know. I’m trying.”
She snorted. “You’re not trying anything. You’re just getting everyone else to do the heavy lifting for you so that you don’t have to do the work, but when we go home, your name will be all over the project and I’ll just be the little ol’ employee who happened to have come along.”
I was suddenly furious.
“That’s not how it will be.”
“No? You’re not going to put on any report that we’re equals and that we figured this out together. It will be the success of Ben Blackwood, one of the brothers who opened another factory. My name won’t even be mentioned.”
I shook my head, but she was right.
“Well, why would I mention your name if you’re not willing to work with me?” I countered.
I knew it was a dumb argument, but fuck, she had me cornered and I had to say something. She was about to leave, and I didn’t want her to go.
“Sofia, I need you.”
The words were out before I could stop myself.
She turned to me, frowning slightly. Her face was a mixture of anger and confusion, brows knitted together, and those perfect lips parted slightly.
I looked into her eyes, the color of pure mercury, and I said the words again.
“I need you.”
The atmosphere shifted and something passed between us. Something I couldn’t put my finger on but it wasn’t the anger that she’d spewed a moment earlier.
“You’re a Blackwood,” she said, but the fight had left her voice. “You don’t need anyone .”
I shook my head. “That’s just not true.”
She paused for a beat, and it looked like she was going to give in and we could talk. Or something.
But she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ben. This is just too much.”
Shit, she was going to tell me no. This wasn’t going to work. Without her, I couldn’t get the project, and then I’d look like a failure.
“Sofia, please.”
“I’m not going to—”
Before she could say anything else, I grabbed her and kissed her and everything fell away. The reason I was doing this. The deal I didn’t want to lose. I was wrapped up in Sofia, lost in her, and I couldn’t help but feel like this… was right .
Sofia pulled back, her eyes stormy again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.