Page 65 of Forgotten Desires

“Have you ever taken care of animals before?”

He smiles. “Nope.”

“Well, this should be a fun and enlightening weekend,” I say, leaning back.

Crew tilts my chin up so our eyes meet. “Think of it like a long weekend date. We’ll teach each other new things.”

“Aren’t you doing this whole relationship thing a bit backward?” I ask, since we’re married and all.

“I think you and I are rather unconventional no matter what. Besides, just because we’re married doesn’t mean I don’t want to date you. You know, so that after we’re divorced, I have a chance to see if you might want me back.”

I’m totally pretending that doesn’t make my heart flutter at all.

“So you want to divorce me to date me after?”

Crew smirks. “It makes sense in my head.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m glad it does somewhere because that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

He steps closer and I gasp as he pulls me against him. My head doesn’t even reach his shoulders. So damn embarrassing. “I thought about you, us...marriage, for so long and I hate that this is how it happened. If I could go back, I would’ve found you years ago, begged for your forgiveness, worked every fucking day to prove that I was worthy of you, not stolen you like this.”

“You didn’t steal me,” I say, my heart beating frantically.

“No?” he asks, pulling my left hand up between us. “I didn’t win you, Bee. I didn’t do or say all the things I should’ve. I married you so that my custody case wasn’t blown. I married you so that you’d have insurance and the means to save your father. We married for other people and while all of it makes sense, I’m having a really hard time remembering it. Because when I look at you, in this house, on that couch where we slept, all I can think about is what a fucking asshole I am to have taken something else from you. So, yeah, I stole you, and now, I plan to try to earn you.”

He kisses my lips softly, releases me, and walks away, leaving me feeling like I’ve just been kicked in the stomach.

Dear God, I’m so screwed.

* * *

I’m sitting in the conservatory, responding to some emails and potential clients when there’s a knock on the door.

Celeste is there with her warm smile. “Sorry to bother you, darling, you have a visitor.”

Who the heck could be here? “I do?”

“Well, visitor is a loose term,” Grady says as he walks into the room.

I get up, breath filling my lungs, and I could cry. I wrap my arms around my brother. “More like pain in the ass,” I joke.

He pulls back to look at me. “Just seeing if you’ve changed, now that you’re a billionaire’s wife.”

I roll my eyes. “Har, har. I’m still me.”

Grady takes a second to look around the room. “Jesus. What the hell is this room?”

“You have no idea,” I tell him with a laugh. “This, my brother, is the conservatory.” I’ll never be used to the size and opulence of this place.

He turns to Celeste. “Tell me your name isn’t Scarlett and you don’t have a rope?”

She looks puzzled and I roll my eyes.

“He’s making a reference to Clue. A bad one clearly, but we played that board game all the time as kids.”

Grady grins. “And I kicked your ass each time.”

“Yes, beating a child was so difficult,” I quip back. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until now.

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