Page 55 of An Inconvenient Marriage
Completely unaware of how he was affecting me, he went on, “This particular winery has been in the de la Fuente family for decades.”
“Ah, so you inherited it?”
He shook his head. “My great-great-great-abuelitohad a bit of a gambling problem and gambled it away. I happened to stumble upon it a few years ago and fixed it up.”
I scoffed. “You happened to stumble upon it? Men like you don’t just stumble upon anything.”
“Men like me?” He stopped and turned to face me. “And what kind of man am I?”
He was staring at me with that intense look in his eyes again. The one that rooted me to the spot and melted my insides.
Swallowing hard, I tried to speak, but it came out all breathy. “Calculated. Powerful. You don’t do things for the sake of doing them, it needs to be beneficial to you. Or… possibly maybe mean something.”
He was still holding my hand and used it to tug me closer. “That’s how you see me?”
I nodded because my mouth refused to form words. He was too close, my mind too scrambled.
“You’re not wrong.” The low rumble of his voice glided over my skin. “But what about you?”
“Me?”
He licked his lips. “Who are you really? I’ve read about one version of you and yet I’ve seen an entirely different one from the moment we met.”
My heart stopped dead for a few seconds before it furiously slammed against my ribs. I wanted him to know the truth, I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to tell him. Or rather, how he’d react if he knew the whole ugly truth.
He’d have every reason to be furious with me, and I didn’t want that. We’d just found this weird but peaceful space we were in. Losing it would be awful.
I was still stuck on that thought when my mind conjured up a new one. What if he was only being nice to me because he wanted me to open up so he could use that information to his advantage?
Didn’t he just admit he was a calculated man?
“Hey, what’s going on right now?” Zach let go of my hand to cradle my face between his palms.
I was so torn. I wanted to melt into his touch but at the same time I wanted to pull away and put distance between us.
I didn’t do either.
“Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”
He frowned and opened his mouth, but I cut him off.
“Not even a week ago you couldn’t stand the sight of me. And then you’re kissing me and touching me just to send me away. And now you’re here, touching me again. Why? Do you want information from me? Would you like me to give you pointers on how to get this deal with my dad to go as smooth as possible? Would you—”
His lips closed over mine, stealing the rest of my ramble from my tongue. It wasn’t a deep, passionate kiss. It was quick and far too short, but it shut me up.
“That’s why I’m here. Every minute of every day since I met you, that’s all I can think about doing. I tried. I fucking tried but I can’t stay away.” He dragged his thumb over my bottom lip. “I don’t give a shit about Trent or his business.”
My brows drew together. Wasn’t this entire marriage because of a business deal? For Zach at least. My father really didn’t care about business, he just wanted to steal from Zach.
And with that thought, my stomach twisted and churned. I had to come clean about everything. Or at least about my father and his intentions.
“I need to—”
“Senor de la Fuente!”
Some people had the worst timing. And as friendly as the old man ambling toward us appeared, I wished he would have waited a few minutes.
Zach let go of my face and took my hand again, slipping his long fingers between mine. “I’m sorry. Ernesto knew we were on the way and must have come searching for us.”
