26. Capri
C apri~
I could finally admit that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with Ares Cormac.
While I’d been resigned to finding him knocking on the cabin door, I’d also been a bit surprised.
I’d known that he was going to be mad, but I never imagined that he’d be mad enough to hunt me down, making the drive up here in this weather.
Honestly, after unpacking, throwing on some comfy clothing, then eating a pre-packaged chicken salad for dinner, I had turned on the television as I’d dropped my tired body on the couch, thinking that I was safe for a couple of days.
In fact, I’d been prepared to crash on the couch until Ares’ knock on the front door had damn near rattled the entire cabin.
I also had no clue how this was going to play out.
While my pride was insistent on doing the right thing here, I couldn’t deny that it was hard to stick to my convictions when Ares was acting as if I was the most important thing in his life.
His golden-colored eyes were like a hypnotic spell that complicated things so much, his dimple also not helping the situation.
Nor his tattoos.
“Look, I’ll be the first to admit that this is the one area of my life that I might not know what I’m doing,” Ares said, and I was pretty sure that this was the first time in his life that he’d ever confessed to a weakness.
“With TCC having always been the priority, I’ve never had a girlfriend past my college years. ”
While I wanted him to suffer for upending my life, I couldn’t lie and say that I didn’t understand.
I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d had a serious relationship past college myself.
Oh, like most healthy adults, I’d had my fair share of dates, and I’d even seen a few men for long periods of time, but with Martha Holdings having always been the goal, I’d never been emotionally invested enough to take things any further than a casual arrangement.
“Okay, I get that,” I conceded reasonably. “I’ve never dated seriously myself.”
Those amber-colored eyes of his shot me a look that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. “Yeah, we’ll talk about Matt Gable later.”
My brows shot upward. “Why is Matt an issue?”
“Because I’ve only recently learned that you two used to date,” he answered, making no damn sense at all.
“So...what?” I choked out unbelievingly. “All my ex-boyfriends are suddenly an issue now?”
“Yes,” he answered easily, making my eyes widen. “Until you finally say those three little words to me, every man in your life is going to be a problem for me.”
Now, there were moments in your life when your next move would determine the final picture of your future, and this was one of those moments. Never would I have ever imagined that Ares Cormac would want to factor love into our marriage, yet here we were.
Jesus Christ.
“I’m sorry, what?” I finally asked, needing absolute clarification on this one.
His face softened, and I’d be willing to bet a million dollars that no one had ever met this Ares Cormac. “When I first heard about the situation that your father had found himself in, all I’d wanted was to get my hands on Martha Holdings.”
“Why?”
“Because I have an unhealthy competitive streak when it comes to Kingston Industries, and I’d heard that they might be interested in procuring the company,” he admitted candidly. “I wasn’t going to let them have it if I could help it.”
I scowled a bit. “You should probably seek professional help for that.”
Ares grinned, his dimple popping out and reminding me that I was a woman. “Probably,” he chuckled softly.
“Okay, back to whatever you were trying to explain,” I said, saving that issue for another day.
Ares shot me a look, but instead of giving into his natural dominance, he said, “Originally, I wanted Martha Holdings just to keep it out of Kingston’s hands; that’s the absolute truth.
” Those eyes of his softened again, and Ares Cormac really was a god among mortals.
“But then a raving lunatic stormed into my office, accusing me of all kinds of wrongdoings, calling me out in a way that no one had ever had the balls to do before. I’d never seen a fire like that before, and I couldn’t help but be impressed by her stunning beauty and strong character. ”
“Did you really just call me a raving lunatic?”
“I just call them like I see them,” he smirked.
I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop the grin that graced my lips. “You’re lucky there’s a snowstorm coming.”
Instead of bantering back, Ares reached down, grabbed my legs, then lifted them to place them over his lap, and the move was so domestic that it made my heart skip a beat.
We weren’t having sex, so the small affectionate gesture felt rather significant, especially when it was coming from someone with Ares’ reputation.
“As I was saying, you stormed into my office, and I couldn’t stop thinking of you after that,” he confessed. “It was shortly after that when I started to form the idea of a compromise of sorts.”
My brows jumped again. “Compromise?”
“I wanted you, and you wanted Martha Holdings,” he pointed out rather bluntly. “Marrying each other gave us both what we wanted.”
“I only wanted Martha Holdings because I’d been under the impression that you’d taken it unethically,” I reminded him. “Now that I know the truth, I can’t continue to work there. Not in good conscience, at least.”
“Baby-”
“No, Ares,” I said, interrupting him. “No matter how you try to spin it, your reasons for marrying me don’t matter. Like you said, I didn’t marry you for love.”
“Capri, you and I both know that you’re not a gold-digger,” he said, trying to make me see things differently and failing. “You married me to save your company, and that level of selflessness is the exact opposite of a gold-digger.”
“While I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Martha Holdings no longer feels like it belongs to me, Ares,” I told him honestly. “Now that I know the truth, it’s no longer mine.”
“Baby, I don’t want or need it,” he replied just as honestly. “Yeah, I wanted it at first, but now...from the second that you stormed into my office, I’ve wanted you more.”
“Love at first sight doesn’t exist, Ares,” I pointed out. “That’s...that’s just lust disguised as something more.”
“I agree,” he stated firmly. “However, I only agree because I’ve seen you before, Capri.
I’ve seen you at charity events, finance conventions, and random places over the years, and while my opinion of you has always been one that you’re very beautiful, I hadn’t fallen at your feet with hearts in my eyes. ”
“Thanks,” I deadpanned.
Ares laughed. “Well, it’s true. Plus, I’d rather you label me an asshole than a liar.”
“You were trying to make a point,” I prodded.
His smile really was disarming, but I still did my best to listen to his words. “Yes, it’s only been a couple of weeks since you yelled at me in my office, but you know what?”
“What?”
“I knew that I’d fallen in love with you when I went to Chicago,” he continued, and it felt like all the air had gotten sucked out of the room.
Love?
“What...what are you talking about?”
“The entire time that I was in Chicago, I felt like I wanted to rip the skin from my bones, that’s how much I missed you,” he confessed, and if I hadn’t already been sitting down, my knees would have buckled.
“Even with us fighting, I still couldn’t stand to be away from you.
Every-fucking-thing annoyed the hell out of me, and traveling had never bothered me before.
” Ares slipped his hand underneath my sweats, then began running his fingers back and forth across my left shin.
“At first, I blamed it on the fight. I told myself that I was just irritated that we’d left things on bad terms, but that reasoning had faded rather quickly.
When I realized that I wanted to get back to you to make things right, I also realized that I’d want to get back to you even if we’d been on good terms because I simply don’t want to be away from you. ”
“Ares...” I mouthed, my words literally stolen with his confession.
“Now, I’m not saying all this to guilt the words out of you or anything like that,” he went on. “I’m just telling you what I feel for you while also explaining why you drive me fucking crazy.”
“You’re...you’re saying that you’re in love with me?” I stammered. “After...after only...only two weeks of knowing each other.”
“Wild, huh?” he smirked.
It was insane; that’s what it was.