Page 30 of Dearly Unbeloved
“You don’t want to sleep with anyone else and, honestly, this whole fake marriage thing is taking up most of the energy I reserve for meeting new people, so why don’t we just kill two birds with one stone?”
She just about manages to close her mouth before dissolving into a fit of gasping laughter. “Oh my god. Are you serious? We hate each other, Rose. What makes you think either of us would enjoy sleeping together?”
I shrug, my eyes snagging on the crumpled leather pants. “Personality-wise, I don’t like you. Physically… I do. And apparently you think I’m hot, too, according to my sister.”
“I mean, duh. I have eyes. But a lot could go wrong here.”
“Like what?”
“What if you fall in love with me?”
I snort. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“What ifIfall in love with you?”
“Even less likely. I’m pretty mean.”
“True.” Sierra looks like she’s racking her brain, searching for reasons this is a bad idea. “I bet we wouldn’t even be compatible sexually.”
“What are you into?”
Sierra’s cheeks turn pink, and she clears her throat before answering. “I’m pretty submissive. In bed,” she adds, as if I don’t live with her and know all about hownotsubmissive she is the rest of the time.
Of course she’s submissive in bed. Why wouldn’t the universe make the one person I don’t want to want exactly my type?
“Well, I’m not submissive. Like, at all,” I say, trying not to sound pissed off about it.
“Oh.” With one word, her entire demeanor changes. Sierra’s uncertainty morphs into intrigue, and it tells me a lot about her. “How dominant are we talking?”
“Not like ‘collar you and make you crawl for me’levels, but I’m pretty dominant. I mean, if that’s what you’re into, I could…” I trail off because I can picture it clearly. And I like it. A lot.
“I could be into that,” Sierra says, so quietly it’s practically a whisper. “We would have to have rules, though. Boundaries, you know.”
“Obviously. Like not falling in love with each other.”
“Exactly. And it would just be as long as we’re married. As soon as we sign the divorce papers, we go our separate ways, as planned.”
“Agreed. Any other rules?”
Sierra draws her lip between her teeth, chewing the skin. “Is kissing okay? Or is it too intimate?”
All of this is too intimate. But it was my idea. “I like kissing. But we should keep it to a minimum. Only during sex or when we’re in public around other people.”
Sierra nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. Also, I’m not really into people being mean to me during sex, so maybe we could keep fighting to a minimum when we’re, you know.”
“I’m not into that, either. No fighting during sex. I make no promises for the rest of the time, though.”
“I’d expect nothing less. Okay, so, we’re doing this?”
“I’m in if you are.”
Sierra considers me for a moment, her dark eyes searching my face. Whatever she sees seems to reassure her, because she nods. “I’m in.”
I clap my hands together, internally cringing at how awkward I am. “Great. We should probably talk everything over and make sure we’re fully on the same page about what we’re okay with and what we’re not. Do you have a safe word?”
Sierra’s cheeks turn scarlet. “I do. But I’m going to pick a new one.”
“Why? What do you usually use?”
