Page 14 of Dangerous Refuge

I continue on toward the liquor cabinet but I sense Allie hovering near the door. When I glance over my shoulder she is glued to the floor just inside the den. She looks like a deer caught in headlights, eyes wide, chest heaving. Certainly she didn’t think she would be getting her own room when she came here to be my wife.

“Come in,” I order, and she looks at the floor near the door, then sets her bag down. As she creeps closer I pour a glass of whiskey for each of us, then hand it to her when she finally meets me in the center of the large room beneath the chandelier.

“You have a butler?” she asks, taking the glass.

“And a maid.” I sip my whiskey and move to one of the leather couches, sitting down. Allie follows timidly, clutching the glass of whiskey.

“Are they like slaves?” Her voice quavers as she speaks.

I chuckle. “Do you think I’m a monster or something? I pay my staff well. They are free to find a new job any time they want. They enjoy working for me because the job comes with benefits.” I eye her over the rim of my glass as I take another sip.

She nods and squirms, looking a little more relaxed. This game of cat and mouse is interesting. If anyone is uncomfortable here, it isn’t my staff. Allie’s regrets shine through the feigned calm she exudes like sunlight through a sheer curtain. She takes tiny sips of her whiskey, her eyes absorbing every detail of the room, from the Persian rug on the floor to the textured ceiling overhead.

“You act like you’ve never seen the home of a wealthy person.” My glass is empty, so I stand and retrieve the bottle, bringing it back to top off my glass and hers. She tries to resist, but I have my reasons for pouring her another round.

“I, uh… I honestly haven’t. My parents were quite poor, barely made ends meet. Paul, well he had more money, but he put it all up his nose or drank it away.” Allie looks down into her drink. “Being a single mom is rough.” Her shoulders droop.

“Well, you’ll never have to worry about money again. I have plenty of it to go around. I don’t want you working that job anymore either. It’s too dangerous for you to be out and about. Once your ex—”

“Quit my job?” She looks upset with me, shifting away from me on the couch. “I don’t think so.”

“What do you need a job for when I will provide everything you could ever need?”

She clears her throat and downs the entire drink aggressively. When she sets the glass on the glass top table a little harder than I’d like, I can tell she’s not pleased with my desires. “First of all, I’m independent, and I’d like to continue being that way. Also, I prefer to keep my job so I can have contact with the outside world, you know—make friends.”

She crosses her arms over her chest in a cute protest that doesn’t move me at all, except to make me want to bend her over the couch and fuck the daylights out of her. I’ve always loved to play hard to get and this one might just be my match.

“We’ll discuss it later I suppose. For now, you can just adjust to having a few days off and think about how you’d like to respond to your future husband from now on.” I keep my eyes trained on her as she scoffs, eyebrows high, and sucks in a breath to say something. She doesn’t say a word, though, her shoulders dropping in defeat again.

“You know I don’t know if I even like you as a person. The only reason I agreed to this scheme is because I need your protection to keep Paul away from Rico. That scared the shit out of me.” She rubs her arms, hugging herself. She doesn’t have to tell me how she feels because I can read her like a book, but I appreciate her honesty. It puts us on the same page so I know what I’m working with.

I lean forward, elbows on knees, and clasp my glass in both hands. “Arranged marriages happen all the time, and they turn out really great for some people. You’ll see that this whole thing is fate playing in your favor.”

Allie sighs and her eyes flick toward the door where Gerard has already come and gone silently. Her bag is probably in my room now, waiting for her to unpack her things. Her inability to relax in my presence amuses me. In time she’ll learn she has nothing to fear from me at all and that she can trust my decisions for her. Until then we’ll have this awkward tension, mostly because she reacts awkwardly to me.

“May I go to my room now? I would like to lie down. The whiskey made me a bit tired. And where is it? Can you show me? Maybe I can say goodnight to Rico before I lay down.” She stands uncomfortably, arms still hugging her middle.

“Well as a future husband to you I expect some sort of reciprocity. It’s only natural that certain behaviors that happen between partners would happen in this relationship too.” My eyes stay trained on her over the rim of my glass as I finish the drink, then set it on the table next to hers. Her eyes narrow and her brow furrows.

“Behaviors? Reciprocity?”

“Yes, Allie. I’m going to be your husband. Certain conjugal duties that a wife has for her husband should be in effect. Don’t you think?”

“Ugh…” she scoffs, backing away a step. “You want sex?”

I stand and slip out of my jacket, draping it over the back of the couch before rolling up my sleeves. “It’s only fair. You’re being provided with a place to stay, round the clock protection, and let’s not forget how I saved Rico tonight. He could be halfway to Maine in the back of his father’s car.”

Her face falls. She looks pale, glancing at the door again. Then she turns back to me biting her lip.

“You didn’t like the sex last week?” I advance on her, loosening my belt as I walk. She doesn’t back away.

“No, I did,” she says, protesting still. “I just…”

“You just thought you’d get a free ride? No obligation on your end? What does ‘marry me’ mean to you?” I pull my belt free of the belt buckles and fold it in half, gripping both ends in one hand. She blinks several times, looking down at the belt then back up at my face.

“I just thought… We hardly know each other and I…” She licks her lips.

“So you like the sex, you want my protection, you’re not sure if you like me, but you’ll marry me. You just don’t want to have sex with me? Not even if I make your toes curl in a pantie dropping way?”

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