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"You have to move in with me sometime. Why not now?" I throw out casually.
"Hold on." She throws up her hand. "I don’t recall agreeing to marry you."
"But you want to.” I infuse authority into my voice. “You're stopping yourself from following your instinct, so let me tell you again that you don't have a choice.”
Her pupils dilate. Her cheeks flush. Then she shakes her head, walks to the window and stares out. "It’s not fair that you can back me into a corner like this. It’s not fair that you have the money and?—"
"—and you need money, while I need a wife to ensure I get my inheritance from my father. We can help each other, Raven."
She turns to face me. "It… it’s not right."
"It’s everything that is right. The chemistry between us confirms to my family that our relationship is not a farce."
"But it is," she spits out.
"No one seeing us together will ever doubt that there’s a connection between us; not even Felix." At once, her features pale. Fuck, I shouldn’t have mentioned my son’s name. I move toward her, but she stiffens. I slow to a stop.
"Move in with me. Give us a chance to get to know each other, while we work out the details of the wedding."
"How can I, knowing it’s going to hurt Felix?"
"I’ll… talk to him. I’ll ensure he gives us his blessings."
"You’d do that?" She frowns.
"I’ll call him tomorrow.” The idea makes my stomach drop, but that’s okay. I am a man, and more than that, I am his father. I owe him this. "I want him to come to our wedding. I want to make sure I make peace with my son. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last few years, it’s that life is short. And I intend to make up for my past misdeeds with my son."
"Are you sure he’ll listen to you?"
That twisting sensation in my stomach intensifies. “I’m not sure, but I have to try.”
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Her brow furrows. "I saw how he looked at you. How the two of you spoke to each other. He doesn’t like you."
"He hates me"—I raise a shoulder—"but that’s a start."
"What do you mean?"
"If he were indifferent toward me, I’d worry. The fact that he’s not, shows he harbors some feelings for me. So, maybe they’re negative. It gives me something to build on. It’s better than having nothing to go on."
"Are you always this confident?" She half smiles.
"The only thing I’m confident of is that our marriage?—"
"Fake marriage."
"—will be beneficial for both of us. And it won’t be fake once we consummate it."
Blotches of color flare on her cheeks. "Do you have to bring everything back to sex?"
"When its such a strong link between us? Yes. I want you and you want me. It gives us a good base to build on."
"There it is. That arrogant, dominant, overbearing, highly inflated ego of yours, which is never far from making its presence known."
I shrug. "I don’t hide what I am."
"Some of us haven’t had that privilege. Some of us have had to fight our natural instincts so we can do what is right."
"There is a thin line between right and wrong; no one knows it better than me. I?—"
