Page 50 of Bound to Him
He shrugged, licking his bottom lip. It was hard not to watch the way his pink tongue darted out, swiping across his mouth. “People love those stories and they’ll eat it up like it’s one of those romance movies. It’s not far from the truth, either.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned, my hold on my fork tightening.
“Do you remember that party your father had to open the new building downtown? In October?” He went so far as to lick his fingers, as though making a show of it. I hated how much my dick reacted to the sight of him sucking his digits into his mouth. “I saw you there and thought you were the most edible person I’d ever seen. That’s where I came up with my plan to take what belonged to me, and it just so happened to work out that I got to spend six months with you as well, fuckin’ your perfect body.”
I winced. Another reminder I was nothing more than a chess piece for him to move. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“I was.”
“Why don’t we just tell them the truth, then? Or partial truth? That we met at that party and fell in love?”
“It wouldn’t work. Too many eyes on us that day. That news anchor was there, the blonde. She would’ve noticed us talking and probably splashed it around.” He laid down his fork and settled back against his chair. His freckles were more vibrant against his face tonight and I wanted to count every single one across his entire body. “We’ll stick with the college story. I saw you and went to talk to you. We started dating and fell in love.”
“Where did we go on our first date?” I hit out at him.
“An art gallery.” He grinned wickedly. “If you’re going to lie, little mouse, stick to the truth.”
“And your proposal?” I snapped. The warmth that spread across my skin had me shifting uncomfortably. The one thing I couldn’t ignore about Alton was the way he watched me like I was a meal he wanted to devour, and it was a stare he never seemed to stop using. I wasn’t used to anyone looking at me like that.
“At your parents’ house. I went to them to ask for their permission, and they agreed. Then, when you came into the house, I proposed to you in front of them.”
I snorted. He was right—it wasn’t far from the truth, except there was no sweet and romantic proposal. There were orders. I was to marry this billionaire for my family’s reputation. Except, Alton wasn’t as bad as I’d thought he would be. It’d only been a week, but I didn’t... hate it. The only thing I disliked was not going back to school.
“Why did we get married so quickly?” I asked, then couldn’t stop myself from grumbling, “It’s not as if you can knock me up. There was no real reason to rush.”
“Because we couldn’t imagine living one more day as anything but husbands.” He’d said it so whimsicallyIalmost believed him. He sure knew how to win over a crowd, but I supposed that was why he succeeded in business, too. Any wealthy businessman had to be charming and charismatic—but also ruthless. Alton Bouchard was the perfect specimen.
“How romantic,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “The girls will positively swoon. Maybe someone will write our love story into a romance novel turned chick flick. I can imagine it now—gay romance written by Ki Brightly and M.D. Gregory.”
“And they are?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
I shrugged with a laugh. “Just some romance authors. Athena loves their books. She says they write all kinds of gay romance.”
“Never heard of them.” He grunted. “Must not be that great.”
I didn’t argue with him because I didn’t see him as the type to read anything but Nick Hornby, or maybe business books by people like Howard Shultz that Dad had always hopefully slipped in among my Christmas presents each year. Hiding a laugh behind my mouth at the image, I dipped my head forward so he wouldn’t see me.
“Is that all we need to do?” I asked, finally settling myself down enough that I could look at him again.
He’d finished off the last of his dinner and set the utensils on the plate. A few seconds later a woman I’d never seen before came in through the doorway to collect the empty dinnerware. A few more servants joined her, taking away the food until the table was clear and sparkling clean with a new white cloth that gleamed under the lights. We had servants at home, too, but not the workforce Alton had. Betty and Mila were as far as we went when it came to a cook and a maid, but it seemed like Alton had at least one cook—Tucker—and more than five servants who worked the kitchen. That was extreme for one man. I supposed there were two men living here now, if I was included.
“We haven’t even begun to touch the subject,” he drawled, his Texan accent dropping out with his words. I swore the bastard was trying to antagonize me, and I suspected he wanted another reason to give me a punishment. That wasn’t to say I couldn’t imagine myself enjoying that kind of play. It was... interesting to think about, even if I hadn’t liked the ruined orgasm. There were other punishments he might use on me, right? “We’ll be here for a few hours, at least. Get settled in, little mouse. We’re going to discuss every detail, and then I’ll quiz you about it.”
I groaned.
He wasn’t lying. It took us four hours, well into nighttime, to discuss everything from what happened on our first date to how I’d said yes to his proposal. By the time the quiz was up, he joined me for a shower, and then we went to bed. He didn’t even have time to appreciate my ass in that lacy underwear he’d chosen for me, not that I cared. By the time we were done, my brain was fried and I needed sleep.
The next morning I woke up to a note on the bed.
Dearest Husband.
I rolled my eyes. Seriously, he was milking this and making it seem like a Hallmark movie. I supposed it was getting closer to Christmas. I chuckled to myself as I continued to read.
I have gone to work at our office today and will be doing so all this week. A few unexpected issues came up. I won’t let the board brush this under the rug. Feel free to explore the house and spend time on your artwork. If you have any questions, either ask Tucker or Alice.
I had no idea who Alice was, so that was problematic.
Antoine comes to work with me. He will be unavailable during the day. I’ve added my number into your phone, so if there’s an emergency, call me immediately and I will come running.
