Page 12 of Bargaining

A small smile ghosted her lips. “But you don’t mind fucking it up now?”

“You can tell me no, and it doesn’t have to be weird. I’ll never mention it again.”

Everything inside me was wound so tight. Nothing in the world mattered apart from her next words. All traces of humor vanished from her visage. Her eyes darted over my face, reading my expression. Her voice barely broke a whisper.

“It won’t fuck things up.”

Oh, thank God.My shoulders dropped with sudden relief.Is this a good idea? What if it ruins everything? But how could it when it feels like this? Fuck it.I lifted her chin, tilting her face toward me. “I hope I can live up to all those books you read.”

I covered my mouth with hers, then I was drowning in sensation. The soft press of her lips. Her tongue exploring the recesses of my mouth, insistent and probing. Her lemonade taste. Feverish warmth all over my body.Finally. Finally. I was kissing her. Charlotte was kissing me. I’d waited for this for so many years.

I pulled her tight against me and she whimpered.Closer. I wanted to get lost in her. No one knew me like this woman. She was the only person I could be myself around. It was so hard to open up to anyone, but I wanted to give her a map to all the places inside of me that I kept hidden from everyone else. With Charlotte, I was funnier, and cleverer, and ... just better than I had any right to be. I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

Her hand came to rest lightly on my neck. It sent sparks of electricity all over my body. My insides were heavy and light at the same time, like I could float away, only I wouldn’t because Charlotte Ackroyd would always tether me. I felt her smile against my lips before she broke away.

Pink tinged her cheeks. Her grin was the widest and most unguarded I’d ever seen. So beautiful. So funny and wise. So under my skin that she’d peeled it back. I traced the smooth line of her jaw with my thumb. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do that.”

Chapter 6

Cole

Present Day

Moonlight illuminated the crumbling stretch of uninspiring pebble-dash houses. I should have instructed my driver to return me to London, but Charlotte looked sadder than I’d ever seen her, and I had to fix that. The world was full of pricks who deserved whatever shit they got, but not her. Charlotte only deserved good things.

The pact rang in my head.If neither of us is married by the time we’re thirty, we marry each other.It was a silly promise made between teenagers, but I’d meant it. I’d always seen my future with Charlotte. My father had ripped me away from here. I’d never wanted to leave Ecclesdale without this woman. Maybe it wasn’t so silly. Maybe it was the answer to my prayers.

It was an audacious notion, but nothing good in business came without risk. What if I married Charlotte Ackroyd? It was an arrangement that would work for both of us. She was everything Lucas told me the shareholders wanted. Sweet. Wholesome. Authentic. Charlotte Ackroyd was toasting marshmallows around a campfire in human form.

Leadership more aligned with the brand? Charlotte looked like an angel with her guileless hazel eyes and hair the perfect shade of chestnut. I could knock these shareholders out with a wife who was the very embodiment of the fucking brand. If notorious family man Gabe Rivers saw me with my lovely, wholesome wife, then who was he to think me an arsehole? He’d been a playboy once and somehow he’d convinced everyone that now he had integrity, so why couldn’t I?

With Charlotte on my arm, everyone would think I was an outstanding human being. A man who looked past the glittering socialites and heiresses and married his down-to-earth childhood sweetheart. A man of the people. All Charlotte had to do was show her face at a few corporate events, and then she could go back to whatever she wanted to do, like an employee. A wife/employee. I’d help get her out of here and give her enough money to live a fabulous life.

One thing was certain, I couldn’t leave her alone in this village. Not with all that sorrow around her pretty eyes. She’d been the happiest person I’d ever known, and now she was so pale and fragile-looking. It wouldn’t do.

“I’m going inside. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

My driver inclined his head. “Right you are, Mr. Thorner.”

I got out of the car. Rain pelted my Armani suit as I strode up the drive to number fourteen. Moss bloomed in the window frames of the beat-up teal Mini Cooper parked outside. The car had a flat tire, and duct tape securing the windscreen. Charlotte’s car? Probably. From all accounts, Roy had been housebound for the past couple of years.

I knocked again. Seconds turned into an eternity as I waited. I’d stood in front of this door so many times as a kid. This house had seen better days. A crack marred the small window in the entryway. The flowers in pots on the step were brown and wilted.

A swell of nerves washed over me. Was this crazy? It felt crazy. Normally, there would be a plan. Meetings. Spreadsheets. Contingencies. I didn’t act on an idea until I’d figured out the next ten steps. I smoothed my tie with clammy hands. I never got clammy hands. No. This was fine. It made perfect sense. I had to make sure Charlotte could see how it made perfect sense. If she wanted to put more adventures on her Wikipedia page, I could take her out of this village and show her the world.

Finally, Charlotte swung the door open. Red rimmed her glassy eyes. She still wore the tight black shift dress she’d had on earlier, but her dark-chestnut hair was piled on her head in a messy bun. My heart hammered. I’d mixed with some of the most desirable women on the planet. Women didn’t make me nervous. But Charlotte always had.

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Cole?”

Her tongue swiped out to lick her full lips. It was a nervous habit. I’d done my best to train myself out of all those tells and unconscious tics that gave away your true feelings. I supposed Charlotte hadn’t had cause to do the same. Memories of the time I’d kissed her battered me. Not my first kiss, but a kiss that had altered my brain chemistry. I’d never had a kiss anything like it since. I’d never even fucked a woman and felt anything close to that rush in my chest. She was so beautiful.God.I’d missed her voice, her hair, her gentleness, her mouth.

She frowned and swiped at her damp cheeks. “I don’t know why you’re here, but honestly it’s not a good time.”

This is reckless. This is what reckless people do.“I know. But I have a proposal.”

She tapped her foot impatiently. “What proposal?”

Focus, Cole. Not reckless. This is business. Good business.“A literal proposal. I want you to marry me.”