7. Ares
A res~
I could see it in her eyes that she was going to say yes, and I hadn’t realized until now that I’d been practically holding my breath, waiting for her answer.
While getting married hadn’t ever been a goal of mine, after I’d gotten it in my head to propose to Capri Cohen, I hadn’t been able to think about anything else.
Peter had rushed the deal with Drummond, but that hadn’t been enough for me.
Now I wanted his daughter, too.
“We’ll get married Saturday morning, softening the blow of the announcement on Monday,” I told her, pushing her while I had her up against the ropes.
Capri immediately began shaking her head. “No...no, no, no. How...can you even do that?”
My brows furrowed. “Do what?”
“It’s Friday, Ares,” she said, and the sound of my name on her lips did something to me that hadn’t ever happened before. “What about a marriage license and-”
“Baby, you act like money doesn’t buy the privileged any favors that they want,” I retorted. “I can have a marriage license by the end of the day and any holy man of your choosing at my office tomorrow morning.”
I watched her take a deep breath, and it was probably from calling her baby, but she might as well get used to it now. “I need to speak with my father and-”
“Then speak with him,” I said, interrupting her again. “That has nothing to do with being able to get this done tomorrow morning.”
“You can’t...you can’t just come here, propose to me, then make arrangements without giving me any time to think about it,” she argued. “That’s...that’s crazy, Ares.”
There it was again; her use of my first name.
“How about this? I’ll get the certificate, make the arrangements, and if your answer is yes, then you can meet me in my office tomorrow morning around nine,” I suggested. “That will give you time to speak with your father and to think things through.”
Now that her anger had shifted to confusion, Capri leaned back against her desk, and what I wouldn’t give to spread her legs right now, then show her all the reasons why she should marry me.
She might despise me and purposely forget my birthday, but I’d still break my back to make sure that she didn’t have any complaints in the bedroom.
“Oh, a whole afternoon,” she drawled out. “How magnanimous of you.”
“I could give you no time at all if you want to split hairs,” I pointed out.
She shot me a look before shaking her head again. “This is insane, Ares. I mean...seriously? Why on earth would you want to marry me? Besides wanting to save money on aspirin, that is.”
I almost laughed.
She really did have a mouth on her.
“I have my reasons,” I answered cryptically. “All that you need to know is that the marriage will be real, Capri.”
The woman pursed her lips in thought. “How real?”
Arching a brow, I shot her a look of my own. “Wedding rings, living together, changing your last name, the whole kit and kaboodle.”
Her brows shot upward. “Changing my last name? Are you crazy? I’m not changing my last name for a sham marriage.”
“And what will make it a sham marriage?” I challenged. “The legal documentation will validate it as being very fucking real.”
“The fact that we don’t love each other makes it a sham marriage,” she shot back.
“The state and courts don’t care about love, Capri,” I pointed out. “They only care about the validity of our signatures, which will make our marriage as real as all the others on file.”
She bristled a bit before asking, “And what about our vows?”
“What about them?” I asked. “We might not be getting married in a church, but they’ll still be traditional.”
“Whose tradition?” she asked, reminding me that her last name was Cohen.
“Mine,” I answered, not caring that I might be gambling with her answer right now.
“That’s very presumptuous,” she replied evenly, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was testing me simply because she seemed the combative type. “What happened to any holy man of my choosing?”
“I was being facetious trying to prove a point,” I told her truthfully.
The woman started shaking her head again. “I need time to think.”
“And you’ve got it,” I reminded her.
Eyeing me, she asked, “Why in your office? If you’re determined to do this your way, why not a church?”
“Because if someone sees us entering a church together, we might not be able to keep the news of our marriage under wraps until Monday,” I answered. “But if you want to know the truth, I’d prefer a Catholic church to my office.”
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but when she finally spoke, she said, “I need to speak with my father first.”
“That’s fine,” I told her. “Just remember, if you don’t show up at my office or the church tomorrow morning, then I’m firing everyone by the end of the month.”
Her blue eyes widened, and it was probably a bad move to remind her of what a bastard I really was, but I needed the leverage.
I had no idea what Drummond Cohen was going to advise her to do, so I needed all the help that I could get.
I also had no idea if Yoseph was going to get involved, and he was a lot tougher than his son.
“That’s extortion,” she bit out, and there was just something about an angry woman that was sexy as hell. “Is that what you want the foundation of your marriage to be based on?”
“I don’t care what the foundation of our marriage is based on as long as you marry me,” I fired back, being as completely honest as I could and still keep her.
She bristled again, but she didn’t back down. “What happens after the wedding?”
“What do you mean?” I asked evenly, my instincts telling me to tread carefully right now.
“Do you move in with me? Do I move in with you? Do we live separately?” she asked. “Is our marriage in name only for the sake of business? I need to know what all you expect from this marriage.”
I stepped to her, and even though I didn’t have the right to just yet, I still put my hands on her.
I cradled her neck with my left hand as my right hand found its place on her left hip, and when she didn’t immediately begin pushing me away, I took that as a win.
Besides, I’d meant what I’d said. Our marriage was going to be as real as any other, regardless of whether love was in the equation or not.
“I don’t care where we live,” I told her truthfully. “Your place or mine, I really don’t care. However, we will live together, Capri. As for expectations, I expect you to behave as my wife, and I will behave as your husband. It’s really not that complicated.”
The woman licked her lips, and I could feel shit in my pants getting inappropriate really quickly.
Not for nothing, even without love in the picture, I was attracted to Capri, and I had every intention of honoring my vows, which would make her the only woman in my life.
Whoever warmed my bed before now no longer mattered, and she better feel the same fucking way when it came to the men in her past. While I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a jealous man, like hell would I share my wife.
“So...so you expect...” I watched her take in a deep breath. “So, you’ll expect me to share your bed?”
“Every fucking night,” I replied, my fingers digging into her hip a little more forcefully than she probably appreciated. “Unless one of us is traveling for work, I expect you to be lying next to me every night, Capri. That’s non-negotiable.”
She swallowed nervously, and it took everything that I had in me not to place her on her desk, then fuck the holy hell out of her.
The more and more that marriage to her swam around in my brain, the more that I wanted for it to happen.
I had no idea what it was about Capri Cohen, but I couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman like I wanted her, and this was about more than just business.
“I...I have to think about it,” she whispered. “I...I have to...to talk to my dad.”
“You do that,” I said. “Just remember, I don’t bluff, baby. You either be at my office in the morning, or else I’ll let everyone go by Friday.”
Fire danced in those blue eyes of hers, and I loved how she didn’t back down, even when all the cards were stacked against her. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten.”
Even if she did show up, I knew that I was going to be in the fight of my life, so I said, “I’ve changed my mind about the office. Meet me at Saint Peter’s Church in the morning.”
Her brows immediately furrowed. “What? Why?”
“Because marriage in a Catholic church makes divorce just a little bit more complicated,” I told her honestly before letting her go, then walking out of her office without another word.