Page 3 of The Marriage Bid
“I assume he wants money.”
“I mean, why you?”
He shook his head. “Either you’re too dumb to be aware of what your father did, or you want me to believe you had no idea that he was going to do this. I’m sorry, the first is too stupid to contemplate, and I don’t buy the second.”
“Tyler. I am serious. I had no idea he asked you to—”
“Asked.” His harsh laughter startled me. “My god, you’re delusional. Fine.” A dark cloud hung over him. “I might as well get what I paid for.” He removed his jacket and threw it over his coat. His cufflinks were next. They clattered onto a side table next to him before he untied his bowtie.
“Uh, Tyler…”
He paused just as he was unbuttoning his shirt.
“Any problems? I’ve just paid an eye-watering sum to shackle myself to a spoiled little princess for the privilege. I should get something out of it, don’t you think?”
“Y—you mean…” I cleared my throat, losing my voice. “You want to have sex with me?”
“Isn’t that what husbands and wives do?” He continued unbuttoning his shirt casually. My breath hitched in my throat. I could not tear my gaze away from his body, try as I might. The air in the room tightened. “What are you doing?”
He paused. “If you don’t want to have sex with me, say the word, and I will drive you back to your place.”
The word no should have been on the tip of my tongue. But learning that Tyler wanted me drove the shameless part of me to discover how much and how long he had desired me. “Is that all you want?”
His piercing glare undressed me, desire evident in his eyes. A smarter person would have fled, but I never considered myself smart. I run towards danger, not away from it.
“Pretty much,” he said.
“Is that why you bought me?”
“You’re cute, darling, but you’re not worth fifty million dollars.”
“And yet,” I threw back.
He scoffed. “You make your father force me into buying you at some sordid auction and then loop around to claim I did it because I want you?”
Make my father? I’ve never been able to convince my father of anything, let alone… “What did my father say to you?”
“I have better things to do than talk about that crusty old man. If you don’t want to fuck, then let’s call it a night.”
Tyler re-buttoned his shirt, his beautiful chest slowly disappearing.
“Wait.” I closed the small distance between us. My hand grazed the gap exposed by the white fabric. He was warm and almost hairless. Just as I imagined him all those years ago when I was a teenager. Just as I imagined, even as I got older.
My fingers slid down to the next button. I undid it. My body moved of its own accord. Nothing else but desire long suppressed was in command.
He growled when I undid the next button and the next and then ripped his shirt off. My hands slid down his chest. He was like a bronze god—his body designed to entice mere mortals like me.
Tyler was looking down at me through hooded eyes framed by thick eyelashes.
“You’re so beautiful,” I said before kissing his left pec.
He clasped my hands in his, pausing my caress. “Is that a yes?”
I nodded. A low rumble reverberated from deep in his chest before he bent and kissed my neck, licking, biting, likely leaving a mark. His hands went to my dress, running over my body, gripping and caressing. Or I thought he was caressing until he grumbled and then ripped it off me. “Where the fuck is the zipper?” he said and tore the dress to shreds.
I gasped as the flimsy material floated down in several pieces around me.
“I never want to see you in that thing again.”
