Page 172 of Toxic Kiss

“Cy, it’s okay.”

“No, it fucking isn’t. Now apologize,” I snarl at Declan.

His eyes dart to Haven.

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Releasing his jacket, I take a single step back. My body is still vibrating from the intense and visceral reaction. I grab Haven’s hand, and she looks up, seeming genuinely confused as I link our fingers together.

“As far as the world is concerned, Haven is my wife. We’ll go with it.”

Haven tries to tug her hand away, but I don’t let her.

“Cyrus, don’t be ridiculous, we can’t go around pretending to be married.”

“Why not?”

Her mouth opens and then closes.

“Because it’s not true,” she finally spits out.

“And? It’s not hurting anyone, and your father wanted us to play up the fake dating. This is just the next level. And if you feel that strongly about it, we can go to the courthouse and make it official,” I say, teasingly.

“This is ludicrous.”

“Do you not want to marry me?”

One indignant finger that I want to bite points at me.

“Don’t do that. Don’t turn this around. You know that⁠—”

She stops, and I cock my eyebrow as she nibbles her lip. I want to grab her and shake her. I just fucked her in a police station. Does she really think there is another option?

“Go ahead, finish what you were going to say.”

She sighs, swearing a blue streak that would make a trucker proud.

“Okay. Fine. I’m going to regret this. I can feel it. We’ll pretend for public appearances,” Haven says, and I snort.

“Fuck that. You’re my wife all the time.”

Her eyes narrow. “Fake wife.”

“Semantics.”

Haven rolls her eyes at me, and my heart beats harder. She looks at Declan, who has wisely decided to let us argue it out and not interfere.

“We’ll pretend to be married,” she says to him.

“Great…now I just have to come up with a plausible backstory. Fucking joy,” Declan grumbles, opening the limo door and climbing inside. He sticks his head back out. “And in case you’re wondering, we got the girl from the club to drop all charges. You’re welcome,” Declan says and then disappears into the dark car.

Before I can get in, she tugs me to a halt.

“How long are we doing this for?”

“As long as it takes.”

“Takes for what exactly?”