Page 49 of Bound To Be Mine

“Excuse me?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me. We’ll make it three months. I’m giving you time off for good behavior.”

“Three months?”

“Yep. Agree to that and I’ll partner with Blackwell.”

Then she held her hand out for me to shake.

“You’re crazy. No decent attorney would accept a handshake deal like that. I drew up a contract with clauses that protect both of us.”

“I’m not asking Briggs the attorney to shake my hand. I’m asking Briggs the man.”

There was no winning with this woman. And that suddenly made me feel very married.

“Fine,” I said and shook her hand. “But come for me and you’ll regret it.”

I ignored the softness of her hand in mine. Ignored the little jolts of electricity sizzling through me. It was fake. She didn’t like me and I didn’t like her.

“I’ll get us a ride,” I said.

“Let’s walk.”

“We’re at different hotels.”

“Mine is first. I want to walk the Strip.”

The second battle I’m going to lose. Or third. Shit, I don’t even know at this point.

“Fine.”

“Hold on,” she said and pulled out her phone.

She stood beside me and leaned in, holding her phone in front of us. “Smile, Husband.”

16

MANDY

The walk back to my hotel had been a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Briggs had been quiet for most of it, but it was a different kind of quiet than the stiff, attorney silence I’d come to associate with him. It was the kind of quiet where he was actually listening while I told him a story about a client who wanted to have her wedding in complete darkness.

“This is me,” I said at the entrance of my hotel.

“Are you flying out tomorrow?” he asked.

“No. I was thinking maybe we could extend our stay a day or two.”

“We?”

I shrugged, suddenly feeling insecure. “I mean, we do need to sell this thing. We can say we’re on our honeymoon.”

“At different hotels.”

I laughed. “No one needs to know that.”

“I have work.”

“I’m your work,” I reminded him. “You need me to sign the growing number of contracts. So, being here is work.”