Chapter 15 - Clem #2
I hurried further inside without thinking, like I’d just discovered Narnia was real. My fingers brushed a shelf. First editions. Classics. Rare volumes I’d only ever seen in photos online.
I turned to him, eyes wide. “You weren’t joking around when you said you had a library.”
“I wasn’t. I rarely joke about things that are important to me.” He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “We can spend many happy hours here, Clem, since we both like reading.”
Understatement of the century. Here I thought he was just making small talk when he brought up books.
My throat tightened. “This is… incredible.”
“Stay as long as you want,” he said quietly. “Read anything. Everything.”
I nodded, too overwhelmed to speak.
We left the library after I solemnly inspected every aisle and shelf.
He showed me the kitchen—marble counters, professional-grade appliances, a breakfast nook with a view of a stunning pool that could have rivaled any exotic resort.
The living room, with its sunken seating, massive sectional, and art, I was certain didn’t come from a craft supply store.
The home theater with an old-fashioned popcorn machine.
The gym. The indoor pool, as if the outdoor one wasn’t enough.
It was too much. All of it. How was I going to pull off pretending I belonged here? I was still trying to process everything when he stopped in the hallway outside the master suite.
“Dinner tonight,” he said, casual as anything. “With my family.”
My brain rolled over, as dead as my car. “Your family?”
He nodded. “It’s time you met some of the cousins. They want to meet you.”
Meet me. The new wife. The one he’d married in secret. The one who hadn’t known she was married until today.
My mouth went dry. “Rurik, this doesn’t seem like a good idea. What will we tell them?”
“They know about the marriage,” he said, reading the panic in my face. “Not the circumstances. Just that it happened. Quickly. Quietly.”
I stared at him. “And they’re okay with that?”
A small, wry smile curved his lips. “They’re Fokins. This isn’t out of the ordinary. We tend to do things our own way.”
I barked a short, hysterical laugh as I tried to catch the breath that seemed to keep getting knocked out of me. “Right. Of course. Sure.”
He stepped closer. Not crowding, but close enough that I could feel the warmth coming off him. He was so big, so powerful. The kind of man who could… arrange a secret marriage and convince his entire family it was perfectly fine.
“Clem.” His voice dropped. “You don’t have to do anything tonight except be yourself. They’ll love you.”
Myself. Whoever that was right then. I looked up at him, studying his face when I heard something change in his voice. There was something in his eyes I hadn’t seen before in the office. Vulnerability, maybe. Or hope.
My heart fluttered again. “Okay,” I whispered.
He exhaled, almost in relief. “Good.” And just like that, he was back to being completely in charge. The boss.
He left me in the blue suite, nothing to unpack since we’d come straight from the office.
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall.
Time was ticking by, with only a few hours until I had to be ready to meet the family, but I was still too stunned to think about what I would wear, how I’d get my things from the hotel.
It might have been ten minutes or an hour before there was a tap at the door.
I choked out an answer, sounding like a cross between a ghost and a mouse.
The door swung inward, and the clothes I recognized as being the ones from my shopping spree came through on a rolling rack.
I had taken them to the hotel with me, not trusting them to storage, and expecting to have to return them soon enough.
“I had someone retrieve these for you,” Rurik said, pushing the rack through.
Someone? Did he have another, secret assistant I didn’t know about? And how did that person get into my hotel room? It was just one more thing I didn’t have the mental space to think about at the moment. I stood up automatically, helping roll the rack toward the huge, walk-in closet.
He caught my glance as it flashed over all the beautiful, expensive clothes, fitting into the mansion a lot better than I did.
“What should I wear tonight?” I asked.
“Whatever you like,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “You’ve never gone wrong yet, and you look gorgeous in anything.”
The compliment braced me, and I nodded as he reached for my hand to tug me around to his side of the rack. “There’s something else,” he said, not letting go, his palm warm as he encased my fingers. “Something important.”
He reached into his pocket and held out the rings I’d tossed back at him what seemed like a lifetime ago. “We need to get these back where they belong.”
I looked down at my bare left hand, still held in his. It felt naked. Wrong, even after only wearing them for such a short time. Just like he said, they belonged there.
Oh God. I didn’t want to get out of this marriage.
Not because of the Koboyashis. Not because of the millions. Not because it would have been inconvenient.
Because when he’d said “our house,” back when I was freaking out, something inside me had clicked into place. Because when he showed me the library, I felt like I found something I didn’t know was lost.
Because the thought of sharing a room with him, really sharing, not just pretending, had made my skin heat up and my pulse race in ways it had no business doing.
I was terrified. Exhilarated. I was married to Rurik Fokin.
He slid the rings back on, raised my hand to his lips, and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles. “Better,” he said, then gave me a grin. “You’re going to be great tonight.”
Right. That was why the rings were back on. Tonight I’d be meeting the in-laws.
He left me with the rack of clothes and a freshly spinning head. Fine. This was fine. I had a job to do, and I’d do it.
The chandelier light in the closet that was bigger than my last apartment flashed on the rolling rack as I worked to put the clothes away. This was home.
For now.
Maybe longer. Damn it, was that a wish? I had learned long ago that wishes were futile, despite my love of ancient fairy tales. But what could it hurt to try to have a little hope? Something I forgot existed.
Yes, maybe longer. I let the thought settle, as fragile and bright as the crystals hanging over my head, and set about choosing the outfit that would wow my new family.