Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
TINSLEY
Why did I drag him to my bedroom? It’s a mess with crap everywhere, but in my defense, when I clean and organize, I can never find anything. A bunch of crap is still in boxes, half of which are opened. He looks extra huge next to my bed.
"Your room is cute."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Is he mocking me?
"Nothing, just an observation." He chuckles. Now he's gone from sexy smirks to hot chuckles. How does he make laughter hot? I start to pace back and forth.
"I can't believe this is happening," I mutter and stop pacing. "Are you a lawyer? Because you can't be lying to my parents."
"But I can lie to you?"
"I didn't say that. Now, I can lie; you cannot."
"If you say so."
"Will you answer my question?" I have an eerie sense that he's not. The second those words came out of his mouth, I knew somehow that they were true.
"I never once said I was a lawyer." I press my hands to my cheeks. This is too much for me to handle. This man is testing every ounce of my patience. I want to scream at him and kiss him at the same time. The shoe is now on the other foot.
"I'm married to a man who I know nothing about." This isn’t how it was supposed to be.
"Hey." His hand wraps around my wrist, and he tugs me over to him, spreading his thighs so that I'm between them.
And we're still only at eye level. I fight the urge to not cuddle into him.
His broad chest is making it tempting. I could really snuggle right in there.
Probably even take a little nap. "My job doesn't matter. "
"Yes, it does," I huff out because I don't have another response. But I go back to that first day we met, and I did assume that he was Biff’s lawyer.
Biff's assistant told me that he met with him at that time.
"You told me you weren't friends with Biff either, so why were you there?
" I say in a rush, hyping up my "gotcha" moment.
“I popped in on him that day. It’s best to catch him off guard so he can’t think up an elaborate tale of lies.
” He must realize I don’t fully get it because he keeps going.
“Biff has been on thin ice with me, and I was going there to rip back a few investments I’ve had with him.
I hadn’t wanted to do them to begin with, but when you’re starting out, you do favors when you can so you can collect on them later. ”
"Okay." So he doesn't much care for him either. That's good to know. "Wait, why are you here then if not to get revenge on his behalf?"
"I'm here because a pink, glittery spitfire burst into my life, and I haven't been able to think of anything else since."
"Oh." I pull my shoulders back, ducking my chin; suddenly a wave of shyness fills me. I mean obviously he’s talking about me. "So you're like obsessed with me and stalked me down."
"If that's how you'd like to word it."
"It is; that's the story I will be telling people. That all it took was one glimpse of me, and you were so smitten that you had to track me down. That there was no way you could ever survive without me again.”
"If you say so." He shrugs one shoulder.
"I do say so," I snip back at him. I stand there, not sure what to do now. My head is a bit of a mess. "You're too agreeable." Which makes it hard to be snippy with him.
A low chuckle leaves him. "I pick my battles."
"Well, you don't think it will be embarrassing when everyone finds out how you stalked me and I had to flee out a window to escape you? Not very manly." His brows pull together slightly.
"If that's what people believe, I can't control that. But in my opinion, it's not manly to give a fuck or to worry about others' opinions on what and how I handle my woman."
“That 'my' is rather possessive.” I lick my lips, enjoying it far too much and the bolt of desire that shoots through my body. I still have a low humming need in the pit of my stomach, an ache for release. The last time I tried to handle it myself, it hadn't gone well.
"I am an obsessed stalker, and let's not forget, you're my wife."
"What are we going to do about that?" Pierce grips my hips, pulling me into his lap so that I'm straddling him.
"I don't plan to do anything."
"We can't stay married." I rest my hands on his shoulders.
"We can."
"We can't."
"We can, and I can do this all day." I press my lips together because I know that he could.
“Pierce.” I let out a small sigh. “You live in the city, and I live here. That is one of many problems.”
“I’m wealthy. I can live anywhere I want.”
“Well, isn’t that nice for you?”
“We’re married, so isn’t that nice for you as well?”
“Are you really suggesting that your money is also mine?”
“If we’re married.”
“Well, give me some of it,” I challenge.
“Right now?”
“No time like the present.” If he wants to be married, so be it. I hold my hand out and wait. He fights a smile, slightly shaking his head. “That’s what—” I cut off when his arm wraps around me and he partly stands, keeping a hold on me, and then sits back down, me still straddling him.
“Which card would you like?” he asks, holding his wallet in his hand.
“The black one.” He opens it and pulls out a black card.
“Oh my God, they’re real?” I snatch it from his hand. I said black because I've heard of them. I’ve never seen one out in the wild. I weigh it in my hand. "The thing is freaking heavy, made out of some kind of metal. Oh, shit, are black cards made of black gold? Wait, is there black gold?"
"They're real, and yes, there is black gold, but it's not natural.”
"Like white chocolate."
"I suppose so." Ha ha, Katherine, suck it. She swears it's real because she sees it with her eyes, but that's not how that works, but she says her eyes say otherwise. "I'll get one in your name, but you can use this in the meantime."
"Oh no, you don't. I use this sucker, and the next thing I know, you're hitting me with wire fraud charges." Is their plan to take me down? He says he’s not here because of Biff, but what do I really know?
"Why would I want my wife arrested?"
"I don't know why you want a wife at all!" I try to wiggle off his lap, my chest growing tight, a ball of emotion trying to force its way out. This isn’t how things were supposed to happen. It’s not a part of the plan. How I pictured things, my future.
“If I didn’t want you, why would I be here?” he counters, but I don’t know. There has to be a reason. I just don’t know it yet. “For a town that’s always talking about romantic magic, you are rather skeptical.” That gives me pause.
“You think that?” I cock my head, eyeing him. “You cannot make those kinds of accusations. We don’t joke about that.”
“Accusations?” His hands start to run up and down my back, stroking me.
I have to fight not to purr and wrap myself fully around him.
I think I could get my legs around him. Cling to him like a koala bear.
"Why can't you give this a try?" He leans in, brushing his mouth against the column of my neck.
"I could give you what you want." I trail my fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair.
Every time I’m around this man, I lose all sense. There’s this pull to him that I can’t explain. And it’s not just because he’s the hottest man I’ve ever laid eyes on either.
"What do you think I want?" I don’t only ask the question because I’m curious to know his answer but because my mind is pretty much blank at the moment. He has that effect on me. Not only that, the ache between my thighs is the only thing I can concentrate on at the moment.
"An orgasm." My stomach tightens. "Keeping a ski resort out of this town." I swallow, and Pierce leans back to see my face.
"I might kind of want both." Is that selfish? It's hard not to want an orgasm when he’s so openly suggesting it and I'm all up in his lap and he smells yummy and I'm wondering if he really tastes like Starbursts all the time.
"Never said you had to pick."
"Can you buy land on this thing?" I hold up the card I forgot was in my other hand. It might not be best if I hold on to it. I'm the kind of girl that when I lose my credit card, I don't report it missing. I know it's around here and will show up at some point.
“Land is a bit more complicated than that, but I’m going to figure it out.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I’ve made you at a loss for words?” he teases.
“You really want to try this?”
“If you want that land to get into the right hands, you have to stay married to me.”
“Or what?” He only shrugs. “Are you blackmailing me?”
“You can call it whatever you like.” I think it over.
It might not be the worst to stay married to him.
I just can't have sex with him. If I break that seal, then we can’t get an annulment.
I could also make him regret wanting to stay married to me.
I have a few options here. Not sure which I shall do.
"Fine, you got yourself a deal." I glare at him while I say it, but he's unfazed. "What are you waiting for?" I ask him. "My orgasm."
Pierce throws back his head and laughs. It's deep, rich, and sexy as hell. His normal MO. Not sure what's so funny, but I do find myself smiling.