Page 20 of Damaged Beast
She crosses one leg over her knees. “Please, we might as well start out the right way.”
“You seem…” He trails off, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m trying to figure out why you’re here.”
“Aside from the one good night we spent together?” She laughs and the sound puts the whole room at ease. “Which you clearly don’t remember.”
“Ah, well, I mean?—“
“It’s okay, don’t pretend like sex with me changed your life or something. No, honestly, I’m here for practical reasons. I’m almost forty, but I want a partner and children. I want asuccessful man worth building a life with. We don’t have to be in love, or even like each other all that much, so long as we can get along enough to be friendly. But that’s my one hard line: I want two children. If that changes things for you, I completely understand. I’ll enter this relationship with my own job, my own money, my own life, and we’ll go from there.”
I could scream.She’s perfect. The kids part is complicated, but my god, of the three women Valentina is by far the most realistic and serious choice. Prime can obviously see it, but he shows no more interest in her than he did the other two. He rattles off a series of pointless questions, which Valentina gamely answers, though she becomes increasingly confused right up to the point where Prime rudely dismisses her.
“We’re done?” She stands, hands clasped together in front of her. “I feel like you just spent twenty minutes blowing me off.”
Prime writes something on the clipboard. “I can’t imagine why.”
“It’s the kids, isn’t it? You won’t have to be involved if you don’t want to be. I wouldn’t hold it against you in the slightest.”
“It isn’t the kids.” He glances up. “That’ll be all, Ms. Serafini.”
Valentina looks frustrated. She starts to turn, but stops. “I’m no bullshit, Prime. I know what this is and I can handle it. You need a serious woman in your life, and I know for a fact those other two girls were pretty but empty. I’m by far your best choice. If you decide you can see it too, give me a call.”
She walks out. I move to guide her to the elevators, but she only waves me off. I sigh and turn into the office, impressed that she chose to leave on her terms.
Prime’s scribbling idly in the margins of the papers I meticulously created for him. The anger begins to bleed into my brain again.
“What the hell was that?”
He doesn’t look up. “Doing my due diligence.”
“Are you crazy? You didn’t ask a single worthwhile question. I’d know because I gave you a freaking list of them on the second page.” I sit heavily on the chair in front of him, arms crossed over my chest. “What the hell was that, Prime?”
He places the clipboard down. Each movement is slow and deliberate. His fingers intertwine as he leans forward, gaze sharpening on my lips, and I swear that hunger comes back again. “They weren’t—“ he starts to say, but stops himself.
“Weren’t,what? Perfect? Valentina damn near is. Yeah, the kids is complicated, but they’ve all got baggage.”
“They do,” he murmurs in agreement, and I’m not even sure he’s listening anymore.
“Valentina’s the best of them. You have to see that. And just to be clear, there are no other options.” Jealousy screams in my belly, warring with rage. God, why am I doing this to myself? Why do I even care what Prime does? He’s a shitty boss, selfish, overbearing, and sure, he pays well and takes care of me, he’s understanding when my dad’s having a bad day and I need time off, but to hell with all that.
“Deanna—“
I snap. I’ve been holding back, but I can’t do it anymore. “I worked myassoff for this, Prime. I embarrassed myself calling up random women and asking them if they want to marry youfor money, and only those three showed even the slightest hint of actually doing it. I’m starting to think this was yet another classic bullshit task from Prime, half-assing everything, not taking any of it seriously, jerking me around, treating me like this?—“
“Deanna.”
I clench my jaw shut to keep the rest of my speech locked in my throat. I have a few more insults to hurl in his face, but I swallow them back down instead.
Prime pushes back from his desk.
“Tell Valentina I’ll marry her.”
For a second, I’m too stunned to reply. All the rage drains away, leaving only the scummy, algal bloom of green jealousy behind. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Tell her we’ll discuss the children arrangement. Tell her to be ready in two weeks.”
“Uh, right, okay. That’s… great.”
He comes around his desk and pauses beside me. His hand twitches close to my face, but he doesn’t touch. “Is it?” he asks quietly, but doesn’t wait for an answer. He strides off, leaving me alone.
