Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
“I know I can trust you.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s not appropriate to talk to you about this,” he says.
“Not appropriate? I think that ship has sailed with us.”
He downs the contents of his glass and refills it. I take the glass right out of his hand again. It’s mine now. “Use me, not the bottle.”
“Use you.” He laughs a bitter laugh. “You have no idea what a loaded offer that is, Bella.”
“I am many things, but naïve is not one of them.”
“You’ll just end up hating me and I really don’t want you to hate me. I’m actually surprised by just how much I don't want you to hate me, Bella.”
He’s confusing me again, sending mixed messages. “I’m not as delicate as you think.”
“I have never thought of you as delicate except when you were on my tongue, woman, and that was the right kind of delicate. You’re special, Bella. Sweet like honey and pure fire at the same time.”
I swallow hard with the surprisingly intimate and wildly erotic words he’s spoken, and there is no escaping a memory of him on his knees, licking my clit while I moaned. But I shove it aside with rough insistence, all too aware of what he’s doing. “You can’t shock me into seeing nothing but sex, Tyler. Because sex is clearly how you solve problems. But this is how easily I shock. This isn’t about how I taste on your tongue. It’s about something else. What is that something else?”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Bella
Seconds tick, his words and my words, the memory of our intimacy hanging in the air between us before he laughs one of his deep, wonderful laughs, and says, “God, woman. You’re really everything I don’t expect.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“To be decided. My mother is in Europe,” he adds, in what is a seemingly random reply.
I blink in confusion but follow the lead he’s given me. “Again?”
“Still. She ran off with a man and hasn’t been back. I don’t know if she’s coming back.”
“Is that causing a complication for Hawk Legal?”
“No. She’s completely out of the picture, per my father’s will. From what I’ve put together, by the numbers, she got half his wealth and none of his hell. Apparently, she knew a long time ago but didn’t tell me.”
“What does that mean, she’s known for some time and didn’t tell you?”
“My portion of the will wasn’t read until this week.”
“Why the delay?”
“It’s all part of a head game my father is playing.”
“As in via his will.”
“Exactly,” he confirms.
“What does that mean?”
“He placed stipulations to my inheritance that impact the stability of the company, therefore the security of the staff. If I don’t do what he demands, not only will I not inherit, but I’ll also lose my stock. That would force the firm’s leadership into limbo, and the operation into chaos.”
“Oh my God,” I breathe out. “Based on your mood, I’m afraid to ask but I have to. What are the stipulations?”
“You don’t want to know, Bella.”
My heart thunders in my chest for not a good reason, as if what he has to say is about me when that’s not even slightly possible. “Tell me.”
“Take a drink first.”
I sip long and deep, and he motions for me to hand him the glass. I don’t argue. I slide the glass his direction. He picks up the bottle and refills it, downing everything he’s poured before he says, “I have to marry within fifteen months, but first, I have to put on a show with my fiancée for at least six months. My womanizer father wants me to marry for the good of the company.”
I can barely breathe, as in literally my lungs don’t want to draw in air for a full three seconds. My heart is now beating at a rate that I’m fairly certain means I’m screaming inside. “Is there a way out of it?” I hear myself ask, but my voice sounds hollow and distant.
“No,” he says, his expression stark. “He did something dirty with one of his cases years ago. I was co-counsel and therefore attached. If I fight the will, he arranged to make that public, which would get me disbarred and every case my father or I touched would be challenged. It would ruin the company. People will lose jobs. I’m the prisoner of a dead man.”
“There has to be a way out of this.”
“Of course, I’m looking at options, but for now, I have to move forward as if this is irreparable.”
“This is insane, Tyler. I mean, what next? You interview potential fiancées?”
“My attorney wants me to send him a list of potential candidates. He’ll check them out, pick one, and we’ll create a contract. Not long after the wedding, we’ll divorce.” He lifts the bottle. “Now you see why I’m drinking.”
This isn’t what I expected him to say. He’s just accepted this. He’s doing it. “This is crazy.” My voice trembles and a wave of just as crazy emotion washes over me. Emotion that feels like pain, hurt. I feel betrayed. I feel cheated on, which is illogical. He’s my boss, not my boyfriend. Certainly not my fiancé.