Chapter 14 - Rurik
Secretly marrying Clem took a lot of finesse and work on my part, some money changing hands, and a bit of luck, but the marriage was legal and official.
She was my wife, though the rings that should have been on her fingers were still in my pocket, waiting for the right time to give them back to her.
It took longer than I expected for the damn notice to cross her desk.
I smiled down at the certificate she had dropped before she took off, then scowled toward the door, finally going after her.
She was upset and shouldn’t have been driving or running around.
The timing wasn’t ideal, and she was going through a lot to have this sprung on her, and worry made me pick up my step.
I didn’t like pulling the new apartment out from under her, not when I pulled so many strings to get her into it in the first place.
But it seemed unfair to make her go through all the work of unpacking and settling in when she’d be moving in with me, and my guard made sure she was safe as she scrambled to get into that unsavory hotel after she found out she had nowhere else to go.
It would have been preferable if she had called me, or even let me know what was going on, so I could offer to help instead of her having to ask, but I admired her determination to be self-sufficient. That was just one of the many reasons I admired her, but I was just as determined.
I found her sitting in her car in the parking lot next door, looking out at the wall in front of her as if she’d completely given up, dazed and broken. Swearing under my breath, I hurried forward and tapped on the passenger window, then slid in beside her before she could lock herself in.
“Car won’t start?” I asked.
A tremulous smile broke free before she squashed it at my obvious question. “It’s a miracle it got brought back from the dead for this long.”
“You can’t quit,” I told her.
Now she looked at me, her eyes hollow. “I know. I’ll be homeless in less than a month if I do.” Her gaze returned to staring out the windshield, and I forced myself not to reach out and turn her face back to me.
“Wrong reason,” I said, full boss voice activated.
She shrugged listlessly. “I need you, Clem.” That was the complete truth, but she wasn’t ready to know the full extent of how much I needed her in my life.
“The Koboyashis will be back in two weeks. The deal’s still not final until that contract is secured in writing.
I’ve invited them to stay at my place.” This was also true, but unrelated. My wife was coming home with me anyway.
Her head jerked to face me again, eyes wide. “What? Why would you do that?”
“Because my place is amazing.”
It was meant to make her smile again, but as her face grew red, her eyes narrowed, and her lips set in a hard line. She was the epitome of a volcano in human form, about to erupt.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s better than the Four Seasons, but I’m talking about a different contract. The one you tricked me into signing. You did all this for a business deal?”
Her hands gripped the steering wheel as if she didn’t hold onto it; she might be placing them around my throat. Her knuckles were white as she shook her head at my audacity. “I get it’s a lot of money, but a secret marriage? And why? Why? I was doing perfectly fine, faking it.”
As much as I loved this fire I didn’t know she possessed, I hated how angry she was at me. Hated that she would never believe it was for more than a deal, no matter how much money that deal was worth. Not in her enraged state.
“Well, now you don’t have to fake it anymore,” I said. “And how did I trick you when I ordered you to carefully read those documents before signing them?” And then made sure she had no time to do that, burying her under every task I could come up with and slapping a time limit on all of them.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, clearly counting to ten in her mind. It was cute.
“So now I need to be at your house while the Koboyashis are there,” she said after a long sigh.
“Our house,” I corrected.
She finally smiled, but it was an exasperated one. Hell, I’d take it. “Do you really think they’d check our marriage records? They’re not that old-fashioned.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “But they’d have caught us in a lie, and that would be the end of all those millions.”
“I love my job,” she said, her shoulders rounding, betraying the exhaustion she must have been feeling after the last few days of living out of a hotel.
It was a far cry from hearing that she loved me. “And no one else could replace you. Listen, Clem, we wouldn’t even know about this game system if it weren’t for you.”
“I’m going to need a raise,” she said.
“That’s my girl, shrewd as ever. How about free room and board for now, and we’ll discuss salary when the contract has been signed.”
“You want me to move in with you right now? Before the Koboyashis are in town again?”
Of course I did. Every moment away from her dragged endlessly. Nothing could distract me, not my favorite books, not the fights with my family’s latest problem, not even the prospect of adding all those new zeros to my bank account. Everything came back to Clem.
“You’ll need to know the place like it’s your own,” I said reasonably. “How will it look if you walk into the library thinking it’s the dining room?”
“You have a library?” she asked, actually licking her lips.
“Wait until you see it,” I said. “In fact, why not grab your things and get settled in right now. The company will take care of your rent while you’re with me.”
Making a sour face, she finally spilled everything I already knew about the mix-up with her apartment and where she’d been staying.
“Clem, you should have said something. I need you on top of your game, not stressed out and living in a hotel. You’re definitely not spending another night there.”
Her relief was palpable, but her agreement was still begrudging.
She was only going along with everything I so carefully planned because she believed it was solely to secure the Koboyashi Corp.
It would have been so much sweeter if she had said she loved me instead of her job, if she had been in my arms, letting me kiss her senseless, both of us excited about our future together.
And not just for the next few weeks.
But she was mine now, and that was all that mattered. “Better clear my schedule for this afternoon,” I told her, finally getting out of her old car and guiding her to my own. “I’m taking you home.”