Page 95 of Earned Husband

The fact of the matter was that this marriage was incredibly unfair to her. She didn’t deserve to be thrust into a family that, frankly, wasn’t good enough for her.

I had everything to gain from our union, but she had everything to lose. Her reputation could be tarnished beyond repair by my last name. It was a grating, sucking feeling I’d had all along, but it’d never been closer to the surface than it was right now.

I didn’t say any of that out loud, though. While I wanted to, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Probably because I was afraid that if I did, she’d realize I was right and change her mind about being with me.

Fuck, that’s really selfish. Maybe I should just?—

“What do you need?” she asked, interrupting my thoughts with a gentle squeeze of my hand. “What can I do, Colin?”

“I honestly don’t know.” I let out a quiet groan and shook my head before I let it drop. “I wish I did, but I just don’t.”

I’d built my entire career around certainty and problem solving. Numbers didn’t lie, steal, or cheat. They either added up or they didn’t, and when they didn’t, there was a mistake somewhere to find. That was my arena. It was where I thrived.

This, being torn between wanting to be with her and my familial obligations, was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Part of me wanted to get on the first plane to Chicago, lock myself in a conference room with Jane and our attorneys, and not come out until Mallory fucking Foundry had nowhere left to hide, but the other part was desperate to stay right here.

“Colin,” she whispered, scooting closer and lifting her hands to take my face in a gentle grip. “I’m here for you, okay?”

You shouldn’t be.“Thank you.”

“No.” Her eyes widened with exasperation, a stubborn gleam in those golden orbs as she slid even closer. “Notthank you, orokay, or whatever other thing you were just going to say. I mean it. I’m here for you and I’m not going anywhere. You’ve spent months telling me that and now it’s my turn. I’m here, Colin.”

As if to prove her point, she climbed all the way into my lap, straddling my hips, and she slid her fingers into my hair and kissed me. My thoughts had been sprinting in at least six different directions for the last hour, but suddenly, they stopped.

I kissed her back without even trying to resist, sliding my arms around her and just letting myself forget about everything outside of this room for a minute. Relaxing into her, I tightened my grip on her hips and stroked my tongue into her mouth, moaning at the familiar, tantalizing taste of her that held so many memories already.

For a little while, she just kept kissing me, but when she finally pulled away, she was smiling. “Welcome back. I feel like I lost you for a minute there.”

“I think I lost myself,” I said, letting out a quiet chuckle. “I still have to go back, though.”

“I know.” She smoothed the front of my shirt before climbing off my lap. “I’m going to tell everyone you’re resting today, then we’re going to order room service, you’re going to eat, and everything will be fine.”

All I could do was nod and watch her leave the suite, knowing that as much as I wanted to believe her, everything would only be fine if I made it so. That was the thought that spurred me back into action, so I got up, ignoring the tent in my pants as I strode back to my laptop and sat down.

I would be able to do more once I got back to Chicago, but as long as I had my computer, I wasn’t completely useless to my family, so I got stuck back in, barely noticing time pass as I re-read the spate of emails that had come in a little while ago.

My door opened again a full hour later. I blinked at the clock on my screen, unable to believe it’d been that long. Deja walked in and a uniformed server pushed an entire cart overflowing with food into the suite behind her.

She’d changed into a yellow sundress with bright blue flowers on it, the colors making her tanned skin glow with an almost golden shimmer. I smiled as I looked at her, but even as I raked my gaze across her from head to toe and back again, I was hit with a healthy dose of guilt.

The server disappeared after parking the cart in the middle of the room.

“You should be at the pool with your family,” I said. “It’s a gorgeous day out there. You don’t have to waste it inside, with me.”

“Oh, but I do. Nanna will never forgive me if I don’t remind you to eat.” She walked right up behind my chair, reached over, and closed the laptop in one decisive motion. “Come on, Mr. Thayer. Lunch is served.”

“I was reading something.”

“It will still be there later.” She rested both hands on my shoulders and brought her head down to mine, pressing her lips close to my ear. “Good boys eat their food and then, if they take a break and listen to their fiancées, they might just get rewarded for it.”

I laughed, but it morphed into a groan when she trailed the tip of her tongue around my ear before nipping it. “Yeah. Okay. You win. Just a quick break. Then I have to get back to it.”

“Good boy,” she teased, taking a step back so I could get up.

As I went to grab a quick shower, she laid out the monstrous spread she’d ordered on the little table on my balcony, and we ate together in the mid-afternoon sunshine. I hadn’t forgotten any of what was waiting for me back home, but when she took me inside and led me to bed before kissing me again, I decided it could wait until tomorrow.

Deja and I had one more night together. Then we would go back to being separated by an entire ocean, and this time, I had no idea how long it would be until I saw her again. The only thing I knew for sure was that no matter what, I intended to fight my way back to her.

CHAPTER 40