24. Madeline
Madeline
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I faked a small smile.
Clark slowly ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Absolutely not,” he gently took the gun from me. “No need for you to be covered in recoil bruises just for me.”
Seriously, it works every time. “Such a gentleman.” Stepping back, watching as he shoots the targets. Silencing my phone when it started to ring, by turning it off. If anything, him realizing he had my undivided attention only helped.
Twenty minutes of ego stroking, before he was ready to step away from the field and negotiate on price. Even with his lunch offer declined, we still got above the expected asking price.
Nate owed me for this. Normally, I dealt with the supplier. It had been years since I handled a buyer. Though it was nice to know I still had it.
Opening my car door, I waited until his cars pulled away.
“I don’t need an escort back,” I looked at the security team. “Tell my uncles to call me if they have a problem with it.” Seriously, having one car was intense, but the five following me around was excessive.
One grabbed my car door, stopping me.
“Mr. Crow has requested that you turn your phone on.”
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
He looked immediately uncomfortable. “Your phone. He has requested it to be turned back on.”
Looking at the five cars. “How many of you answer to him?”
Why hadn’t I even questioned the sudden extra security team?
“Your team was replaced a few weeks ago.”
A few weeks ago. Right. “Well, I’ll rephrase it. You can tell Mr. Crow if he has a problem with it to talk to me.”
He nodded, stepping away from my car.
I closed the door and purposely locked it. Taking my heels off, I looked back in the revision mirror.
Alright, so that is five. Where are the others?
Turning out of the property. Putting my foot down quickly. One sedan pulled out from the driveway, as I drove past and then another, which just pulled up the road, indicated entering the traffic. Well, at least the cars were silver. Not as painfully obvious.
Weaving through the traffic, it wasn’t even five minutes before I had a full five car security detail following me again. Unbelievable.
Replacing my security team without even telling me. Seriously. Why wouldn’t my family mention it? Taking a deep breath. He’s just protective. I was overreacting.
It’s just a lot of change. I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
This comes with his family. The risk of ransoms is higher. Slowing my speed down and not being difficult for them to follow. Everything with their family is more intense.
The waitress hadn’t even brought my drink over before Vince walked through the doors. No surprise his henchmen reported to him where I was.
Because I sure as hell hadn’t turned my phone on.
After purposely taking the long way back, then driving aimlessly around the city, talking myself through all these changes. Now I was ready to deal with whatever his issue was.
He pulled the chair out across from me. The waitress placing my drink beside me.
“Busy day?” I asked.
“Why did you turn your phone off?”
“I was working.” Sipping my drink, “Men with real strong egos, like my full attention,” the waitress placed the food down in front of us. “I ordered for you. So, what is so important you’ve tracked me down in the middle of the day?”
“So glad you asked, my love. I got a call from my lawyer this morning.” Reaching into his jacket, he unfolded a piece of paper. “Do you want to explain this?”
I took it from him. Oh. Surely this wasn’t what had upset him. “It is an agreement I had added to our merger.”
“An agreement I signed, without knowing.”
“If that is true, you really need a new lawyer.”
“Madeline, explain this now.”
I arched my eyebrows.
“It’s an agreement for sex outside of the marriage.
” Unfolding the piece of paper, seeming as he was set on being dramatic.
“No more than five times with the same person, no criminal connections, stops unneeded retaliation and they must sign an NDA. And I added health checks, sure it won’t affect me physically but emotionally. It would break me to see you sick.”
He stared at me. Not saying a word.
After what happened with the car. I realized we needed to put something official in place.
Vince could handle not having sex for a bit, but in the end, he would go get it from somewhere. This put rules in place and gave me peace of mind.
“I know I’m not your type,” I tapped the piece of paper. So many times at the beginning, I read his actions wrong. It had taken me a long time to learn, just because he touched me, didn’t mean he wanted me.
“I don’t want to lose what we have, because we end up resenting each other.” I pushed the food away from me, folding the piece of paper. "And I want my own room, at your house.”
“You’ve always slept in my bed.”
“Yeah, but a few nights a week is different to every night for the rest of our lives. Come on, we will both need space.”
How could he not understand that living together, we would need space from each other?
Sure, he could handle sharing a bed with me a few days a week. How would he handle me when I was on my period, or when I’m in one of my moods.
“We’ll just do what we do now. But my other room is in your house instead of my parents.”
I was focused on minimizing all the ways he could end up resenting me.