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But she also clearly didn’t know the asshole was recording her, and I do feel bad about that.
In a lot of ways, Sloane has had an easy life, but in a lot of the most basic ways, she doesn’t have what people without her family and all her material wealth have in plentiful supply.
I’m not sure there’s any love in her life.
I don’t know if a guy who moves the way Aiden does is going to change that.
But I wouldn’t have changed that, either.
If I hadn’t met Brynn, things would have gone differently, of course. I would have happily married Sloane because I wasn’t looking for love, and I would have been good to her because I would have appreciated what she brought to my life, but the more I’ve gotten to know her and noticed our glaring incompatibilities, at best I think our relationship would have always been shallow and superficial. A friendship more than anything romantic, and not even a close one.
Hex is right; Sloane’s a hell of a catch.
For someone else.
I don’t want an ice princess, and I’m not interested enough in her to thaw her out.
I want the woman whose heart blazes and bleeds like a fucking inferno, who loves so much the sight of an unloved dog makes her teary-eyed.
I don’t want a cold, pretty diamond hidden away in a display case that I can’t even touch. I want a fucking hearth of a human being, and there’s nothing warm about Sloane Whitley.
Well, that I’ve seen, anyway. Aiden seems to have gotten her pretty hot.
Good for him, I guess.
I know he thinks he’s getting the deal of a lifetime, and I thought that once, too.
But the truth is, I don’t care if Sloane comes with unimaginable wealth anymore. I want what money can’t buy. I can create the wealth myself and give it to Brynn. That’s what I want, and finally, because of Aiden’s ruthlessness, I see a way to get it.
Never thought the fucker would win me over, but I guess Hex was right about that, too—he is dedicated.
But Sloane isn’t sure how I feel, and reasonably—since we’re supposed to be getting married—she assumes I’m bringing up her hooking up with another guy because it pisses me off.
“I’m sorry,” she says carefully, watching my reaction. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to know.” She looks down at her lap. “It was just a… a last fling. It was impulsive. It didn’t mean anything. I won’t continue it, but you were with Brynn, and—”
“I know.” I shake my head. “I’m not mad. You had every right to do whatever you wanted with whoever you wanted. I certainly was. I’m not bringing it up to rub it in your face.”
“Then why are you?”
“Because I want out of this engagement, Sloane. I’m sure it’s no surprise.”
“No,” she says tightly. “But you know it’s impossible. Daddy—”
“That’s why we’re here. I already told him, man to man, that I had feelings for someone else, and he informed me that wasn’t a reason to break our contract.”
She brushes invisible lint off her skirt. “Of course he did.”
Technically, he told me to fuck Brynn on the side and just be careful and discreet about it, but I don’t tell her that. It would only serve to hurt her feelings even more.
“Men have urges. I understand.”
Perhaps the grossest fucking sentence I’ve ever heard.
“So I need you to talk to him,” I tell her. “I know he’s not the world’s most loving father, but surely it will mean more coming from you than me. If he knows we both want out of it…”
“He won’t care,” she says. “This isn’t just a marriage, it’s a merger, like you said. He didn’t just make this agreement to find me a husband, he did it to find me a specific husband—a Blue Blood he trusted to train, to take over for him and pass the crown to.”
“I know. And… since you like Aiden—”
