Chapter 16

Elijah stuffs his hands into the pockets of his dress pants and stares at the painting on my office wall. “We had some incredible summers at that beach, didn’t we?” He releases a wistful sigh.

I step up beside him. “We sure did.”

He tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes, like he’s scrutinizing each beautiful brush stroke. “I wanted to take Amber there this summer. Show her where Mom was born, you know?”

“So why don’t you?”

His tongue darts out, moistening his bottom lip, and he moves to sit in one of the leather chairs near the window. He blows out a breath. “She doesn’t want to go. Said she couldn’t be away from her friends that long.”

I press my lips together and tip my face up to the ceiling, suppressing the words that want to roll off my tongue. I don’t give advice. Wise men don’t need it, and stupid men don’t take it.

“I know what you’re thinking, Nathan,” he grumbles.

“You do, huh?”

He stares out the window. “I’m not going to divorce her.”

“Why, Elijah? Neither of you are happy. And you’re both young enough to find someone else.”

His jaw tightens. “I don’t want someone else. If I did, I wouldn’t be this fucking miserable, would I?”

I shake my head and sit across from him. “Point taken.”

Seemingly appeased by my response, he changes the subject. “Anyway, what’s the news on your upcoming nuptials?”

“I was thinking the third of next month. That gives us a little over two weeks.”

Elijah frowns. “I’ll be out of town on the third.”

“Shit. Can you get out of it?”

He shakes his head. “I’m the keynote speaker at some tech convention. Can you do a different date?”

I frown. “It’s the only day that works with my schedule for the next two months, and I want to get this part over with. It sucks you won’t be there, but it’s not like this is a real wedding. I doubt Maddox will be there either.”

“But who’s going to be your best man?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not having a best man. This isn’t a real wedding.”

He shakes his head. “You still need a best man.”

“I’ll ask Drake or Mase. Not like you would’ve been my first choice, anyway.” I wink at him.

“You piece of shit.” But he smirks at my blatant lie.

“Seriously, Elijah. This isn’t a big deal to me. If it meant anything, of course I’d change the date and have you there, but it’s a piece of fucking paper.”

“You say that now, Nathan, but marriage means something whether you want it to or not. This is going to change your life. Melanie’s too.”

I suppress a sigh. Not that you’d ever know it by looking at the grumpy bastard, but he’s a hopeless romantic, and in that regard, we are nothing alike. “We’re both aware this is life-changing, Elijah, but the wedding itself is merely a formality.” Our conversation is interrupted by a knock at the door. “That will be my fiancée now.”

I tell her to come in, and Elijah stands, ready to greet his soon-to-be sister-in-law. When she walks into the room a second later, the beaming smile on her face almost takes my breath away. I’ve seen her smile before, but this one makes her beautiful face iridescent.

Jesus. What the fuck is wrong with me?

She laughs and jerks her thumb toward the open doorway. “I just saw the cutest dog in the elevator,” she says, by way of explanation. “He was wearing a tie. Like an actual necktie.”

Elijah side-eyes me, then crosses the room and introduces himself. Still smiling, she shakes his hand and asks him if he likes dogs.

“Of course I do.” He shoots me a bemused look and shakes his head. I can only shrug in response.

“You want coffee?” I ask her.

She slips off her jacket and nods. “Yes, please. And do you have anything to eat? I’m starving. Work was stupid busy today, so I didn’t get a chance to have lunch.”

“I can have someone go get you something. Or there are bound to be some jelly donuts hanging around somewhere. We had a board meeting earlier.”

Her eyes go wide, and she licks her lips. “Jelly donuts would be perfect.”

While I’m asking my secretary to take care of the coffee and donuts, Mel has an animated conversation with Elijah about the tie-wearing dog, and by the time I rejoin them, my older brother is staring at her with an expression of wonderment on his face.

Dammit, he likes her. All my brothers are going to like her, and my father will adore her. And while I should be thrilled with the knowledge that she’ll be a hit with my family, it only reminds me of how much she’s going to encroach on my life, and a part of me already resents her for that. And yeah, I’m aware how much of a giant fucking asshole that makes me.

Annoyed with my brother—and even more annoyed at myself—I snap, “Didn’t you have someplace you needed to be?”

“What?” Elijah blinks at me before realization that I want him to leave dawns on his face. “Oh, yeah.” He turns toward Melanie.

“It was lovely to meet you, Elijah,” she says, flashing him another one of her killer smiles.

“You too, Mel. I look forward to seeing you again soon.”

What the fuck? He’s already calling her Mel?

He says goodbye to us both and walks out of my office, but not before he gives me a thumbs-up behind her back. I roll my eyes. My older brother’s approval means that my fate is sealed. There aren’t many people who can win him over in a matter of minutes, but then I guess there is something truly remarkable about Melanie Edison, although I can’t quite figure out what that is. Nor do I want to admit that fact to anyone, myself included.

After Helen brings us coffee and a selection of donuts, Mel sits back in one of the comfortable leather chairs, chewing on her jelly donut and staring at my mother’s painting while I grab the prenup contract for her to look over.

When I sit down, I bite back a grin at the blob of jelly stuck to her bottom lip. “You have …” Instinctively, I lean forward and swipe it off her lip with the pad of my thumb and immediately regret it. Her pupils blow wide at my touch, and now I have jelly on my hand and no idea what to do with it other than push my thumb into her sweet mouth and have her suck it off.

I shake my head, trying to dislodge the image, but my cock is already jerking to attention at the mere thought of her tongue swiping over my skin. Instead I suck the jelly off my own thumb, and that doesn’t make things any less awkward.

She bites down on her bottom lip, staring at me with those piercing green eyes, and now all I can think about is bending her over my desk and fucking her. What in the actual fuck is wrong with me?

I rock my head back and forth on my shoulders and blow out a breath. “You like the painting?” I ask, desperate to alleviate the mounting tension.

Her eyes crinkle at the corners when she smiles. “Yes, it’s stunning. Did your mom paint it?”

“How’d you know?”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s signed Verona James. Right there in the corner.”

“People don’t usually notice.”

She shrugs. “Well, I have an eye for detail.”

“Then maybe we should go over the details of this prenup,” I suggest, sliding a copy across the table. “A copy has been sent to your lawyer too. And to Bryce.”

I don’t miss the subtle shift in her demeanor at the mention of her brother’s name. “I don’t need to see it. I don’t really understand the legal jargon, and I trust our family’s lawyer to look it over and let me know if I should sign.”

I frown at her. “But this is your life, Mel, you should know what you’re agreeing to.”

“I do know. I’m marrying you. We’re going to have two kids, or we’re going to try to, anyway. That’s the only part I’m concerned about.”

I run my tongue over my teeth. “This is for your protection as well as mine.”

“What do I need protecting from?” She snorts a laugh. “I have nothing to offer other than what’s sitting right in front of you.”

And that is all I fucking want.

“So I have nothing to lose,” she adds.

“This details how the custody arrangement would look if we divorce after we have children. How you and our children would be provided for.”

She sits up straight. “But why would we get divorced? If this is a business arrangement like you say it is, why would that change?”

Is she really this naive? “Nobody knows what the future holds. I doubt many people go into marriage planning for a divorce, but we don’t know how this thing is going to turn out. This is just like an insurance policy.”

She licks her lips, her eyes darting between the papers and my face. “I want this to work out, Nathan.”

“So do I, Mel. Let me talk you through the papers, then we can go get some dinner.”

She looks down at her navy scrubs. “I’m not really dressed for one of your fancy restaurants.”

She looks effortlessly stunning in anything she wears, and I would take her anywhere she wanted right now, but I don’t say that. “Then we’ll go somewhere unfancy then.”

Her smile reappears, and whatever worries that were triggered by the prenup seem to have been appeased for now. We go through the document together. She’ll get alimony if we separate, but it’s not generous by any stretch. She doesn’t get a claim to my penthouse, my business, or anything else, no matter how many kids we have or how long we’re together, and she doesn’t question any of it. I read through the morality clause that was added by her lawyer one more time—if she cheats, she doesn’t get alimony, and if I cheat, I’ll owe her fifty million dollars. Satisfied with the verbiage and the knowledge that I’m no cheat—never had to be and never will—I sign next to my name and watch as she does the same.

Mel takes a huge bite from her first slice of pepperoni pizza and licks the grease from her chin before flashing me a wicked grin that travels straight to my dick. Fuck me. It’s been a while since I’ve gone so long without sex, and that must be the reason I’m constantly horny. But I swear this woman could make getting an enema look sexy. Now that I think about it …

“I guess this isn’t the type of place you usually eat?” she says, interrupting my thoughts about her ass.

I glance around the pizza place. “Actually my brother loves coming here so I’ve been a few times before.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “Really? Which brother? Not Elijah?”

I shake my head. “No. He’s more a steak and fine wine kind of guy. Mason.”

“Oh. You have four brothers, right? I’m looking forward to meeting them. Are they all as nice as Elijah?”

I wipe my chin with a napkin, unable to suppress my smirk.

“What?” she asks.

“Nice isn’t usually the first word people use to describe him, that’s all. He’s not usually so …” I search for the right word. “Pleasant.”

The spot between her brows pinches in a cute-as-fuck frown. “He was lovely.”

“Yeah, you seem to have made quite the impression on him.”

She leans forward, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. “I guess I’m just wildly charismatic.” She licks her lips again, and I have a vision of that tongue licking something else. “Some might say irresistible?”

Yes, you fucking are. “Don’t push it, Spitfire,” I say instead, and she rewards me with a sweet laugh that’s like a punch to my gut. Why the hell do I have this much fun just sitting here talking to her?

“You mentioned you had some thoughts on the wedding.” She expertly changes the subject before helping herself to another slice of pizza.

“Yeah, I’m thinking Saturday, the third, at my family home. No press in attendance, but my father will put out a full press release the next day.”

She frowns again. “The third of next month?”

“Yeah. That gives you two weeks to move your things. I have a company that can take care of that discreetly if you want to get a jump on it beforehand.”

“That would be great. It’s just …” She bites her bottom lip. “My mom and Bryce will be there, no matter the date. But there are only two people I really care about being there, and that’s my sister and my cousin. It’s just that Tyler’s traveling for work, and I don’t think his schedule will allow him to get back here.”

I don’t dare unpack what the hell that means about her relationship with her mom and brother. Not when we’re having such a pleasant evening. “I just figured the sooner we do this, the better. I’m happy to give you your six months.” I almost choke on those words because the idea of waiting another six months to fuck her is unthinkable right now. But six months to start trying for a baby doesn’t have to mean six months to have sex. At least I hope it doesn’t. “But I want this part done as soon as possible.”

“I do too. But Tyler has been there for every important moment of my life.”

“And he still will be. This is just the signing of another contract, Mel. It’s not that big of a deal. Elijah won’t even be there. Nor will my youngest brother, Maddox. The wedding is merely a formality.”

I hate the look of hurt that flashes over her face. Fuck, I really could have worded that better. But it’s the cold hard truth. This is a business arrangement. And like Elijah said, the fact that we get along and seem to find each other attractive is a major bonus. Our sex life should be decent at least, and that’s a big part of the reason I agreed to the morality clause. I also believe that if a spouse cheats, the injured party should be compensated in some way.

But our mutual attraction and friendly conversations don’t make this anything more than what it is. I don’t do love and romance. Never have, never will.

Still, I find myself reaching for her hand and gently squeezing it. “Hey. I want to do this with you, Mel. But the wedding is only the starting point. What matters is what happens after, right?”

“Ty always says the bigger and fancier the wedding, the more miserable the marriage.” She lets out a nervous laugh.

I think back to the over-the-top, grand affair that was Elijah and Amber’s wedding, compared to my parents getting married in a tiny church in Valencia with six guests, and I couldn’t agree more. “Seems like this Tyler is a smart guy.”

Her eyes light up. “He is. He’s my favorite person in the world. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

I grunt a response, irrationally pissed that some other guy is her favorite person in the world. I guess she can read me better than I thought because she laughs again, louder this time. “You do understand he’s my cousin and he’s gay?”

“I didn’t say anything,” I insist.

Her eyes spark with defiance, and Jesus fuck, I want to put her over my knee right here at this table and spank her ass. “Course you didn’t, Ice.”

I roll my eyes. “Eat your pizza, Spitfire.”