Page 60 of The Grump I Married
“I suppose that’s understandable.”
I nodded. “Now I can look back and understand their concerns. But at the time I was so frustrated. After the accident, they went overboard babying me, and in a lot of ways it made me feelhelpless. I didn’t want to be sheltered away from the world; I just wanted to be a normal teenager.”
He hummed.
“And to top it all off, my boyfriend, Derek…” He’d actually been the one driving. “The accident…I guess it was a lot for a pair of teenagers to handle. He showed up at my house one day shortly after I’d been discharged and told me he didn’t think dating me was a good idea. Actually, I think his words were ‘I can’t handle this anymore’.”
I blinked back a sudden wave of emotion. I hadn’t thought of the accident in this much detail in a long time, and reliving it all hurt as much as it did back then. “I still remember the bandages his little sister had put on his hands. Pink polka dots. I realized what was happening and stared at them while he said his piece.” I shook my head. “Silly thing to remember.”
“It’s not silly. You went through something traumatic.” Weston’s grip tightened over my hip. “And instead of rallying around you, like he should have been doing, he dumped you? What kind of asshole leaves his girlfriend while she’s in recovery?”
“The kind that’s still a kid.”
“That’s not an excuse.” His jaw grew tense. I swore I could hear his teeth grinding. “I truly hope Derek, or whatever his name is, is as alone and as miserable as he deserves to be.”
I laughed, the sound hollow, filled with old pain. “He’s happily married with kids, actually.” I tilted my head, staring at the ceiling. “Though he’s stuck working a crappy low-level job from what I hear. Guess we don’t always geteverythingwe want out of life.”
“Oh, yes you do,” Weston insisted, pressing his nose to the side of my face, stroking my cheek until he’d worked a real smile from me. “Because here you are, married to a billionaire. So you can have anything you damn well please.”
A knot twinged in my chest. How I wished that were true. I blinked hard, fighting off another wave of emotion, stuffing all those feelings back into the box I’d packed them away in. “Guess I definitely one-upped him there,” I said, deadpan. Me and my fake marriage.
“Exactly,” Weston said, hugging me close and rubbing his hand up and down my arm. “You’re on track to having the job of your dreamsandI’m going to make sure you come at least twice more tonight.” He rolled, pulling me on top of him. “So clearly you won the breakup.”
“Clearly,” I said. I couldn’t help grinning as I stared down at him, my hair falling against his chest. I could feel his cock hardening where it rested between my legs, and desire coiled in my belly. I wanted to be touched by him. I wanted the comfort I knew I would find. I wanted to bask in Weston’s hands on my body.
“I think I’m going to need to stock up on condoms,” he noted. “I only packed that one box.”
“Well, I’m certainly not screwing youwithouta condom,” I teased. “I’ve heard all the rumors about your exotic jungle STI.”
He groaned, and I giggled at the look on his face. “God, Narissa really is the gift that keeps on giving. What the hell was I ever thinking, getting involved with her in the first place?”
I leaned against his chest, my lips close enough to press a kiss to his chin. “You matched on paper. I think people have been married for less.” I gestured between us to make my point.
“We, in fact, were married for far more important things than how we matched on paper,” Weston said.
I knew he was talking about Lochbrae, which definitely meant more to him than his relationship with Narissa ever had, but that didn’t change the fact that choosingmeas his wife had been a whim. Just a case of convenience, choosing the option that had been staring him in the face at the right time.
“I don’t think you realize how grateful I am to you,” he continued.
“Well,” I said, my voice a little rough. “Love can make you do crazy things.”
He blinked at me.
“I’ve seen how you love thisplace,” I clarified. “The people and the land. The memories. How much passion you have for them. Maybe proposing the way you did was crazy,” I paused. “Scratch that. It was definitely crazy, but I suppose I would have fought hard for all of this too, if the roles were reversed.” I watched his expression shift from concerned to thoughtful. “What are you thinking?”
“Just that you’re right about how much this place means. And yes, I acted out of desperation when I learned about the will. I knew Icouldn’tlet this place fall into anyone else’s hands. I guess I was just surprised to hear you call it love. I think I’ve spent my whole life trying toavoidthat kind of love.”
“Why?”
“Because, as far as I’ve seen, loving something that deeply always ends in destruction.”
I laughed. “Destruction, really? Don’t you think that’s a little melodramatic?”
But Weston wasn’t laughing. “Look at Alistair,” he pointed out. “Wouldn’t you say his life has been destroyed?”
Well. He might actually have a point there. “But it wasn’t thefact of loveitself that was at fault,” I argued. “Wasn’t the real issue that he trusted the wrong person?”
“Heabsolutelytrusted the wrong person—but the reason she was able to get away with everything she did was because he loved her so much that he ignored the warning signs,” Weston shot back. “And you don’t have to be a liar and a thief to tear someone apart. My parents were horrible to each other for as far back as I can remember. But everyone who knew them back when they first got together would always say how wild for each other they were back then.”
