Page 73 of The Arrangement

Finally, he walked around the sofa and took my outstretched hand. Then I led him to the bed, where I pulled back the covers. I waited for him to get comfortable, then curled against him. I couldn’t imagine a better feeling in the world than when he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer.

Chapter 36

James

Making love to Marc was more than I ever could have imagined. And that’s exactly what we’d done—made love. Not fuck, not get off, not even just two consenting adults having sex. We’d made love, and we’d done so more than once. I’d known since the beginning that Marc would inevitably break my heart, but as I lay there watching his sweet face, I dared to believe he wouldn’t.

He was kind and sweet and funny. Ridiculous in all the best ways. I loved how passionate he was about flowers and the shop. Loved how he did all these small things that to anyone else would probably seem trivial, but they meant the world to me. I felt seen and appreciated as a person, not as a pawn to be moved across a board. Then there was the way he looked at me. Like he was seeing through to the heart of what made who I was, and he actually liked what he saw. Sometimes there was even the sparkle of curiosity in his beautiful hazel eyes with their greenring around the pupil. Kind of like how he was looking at me now.

“Tell me about your sister,” he said as he repositioned the pillow beneath his head, sheets draped over his waist. “Savannah, right?”

I pulled in a big breath. “Yeah. Sav is… intense.”

He snorted and gave me a look. “Like you and your brother aren’t. Come on, tell mewhoshe is. I’m curious. You have to listen to me go on and on about Alex. Tell me aboutyoursister.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” I trailed my fingers over his ribs, letting his warmth ground me. “The thing is, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Start by telling me what she does for a living. I know Andy works for a newspaper and is building a career as a murder mystery author. You obviously joined the Army and became a badass, sexy sergeant,” he added with a cheeky grin that made my chest fill with warmth. “What path did she take?”

“I told you before that she took after our dad. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a carbon copy of our mom, but then, so are Andy and I.”

The smile in his eyes as he slid his fingers through my hair then along my cheek made my heart flip. “Your mom must be where you get the freckles and red hair.”

“That she is. My dad… I wouldn’t say he’s a hard man so much as a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to get it.” I could tell what Marc was going to say before he even opened his mouth, so I responded to it first. “Often at the expense of everything and everyone else.”

“Oh,” Marc replied, as understanding shone in his eyes. “I get that.”

“We were never all that close when I was younger, and as I got older, we only grew further apart. When I was fifteen, he tried toget me to take more of an interest in the family business, but I never wanted to be part of the financial world.”

He made a face, scrunching his nose. “I can’t even imagine you in such a stuffy environment every day. Though I bet you clean up real nice in a suit.”

I chuckled and leaned closer to taste his lips. “Damn right I do.”

“I take it Savannah had more of a knack and the disposition for it?” he asked once I settled back.

A laugh burst out of me. “God yes, but in her own words, ‘it wasn’t cutthroat enough and too damn boring.’ She still stays up to date on everything with the firm, and I’m positive she’ll have a role when my father eventually is ready to step down. Until then, she’s off forging her own path.”

Marc’s eyebrows shot up. “Damn, she does sound intense. What’s she doing now?”

“She runs a mergers and acquisitions business. She literally buys up struggling companies and sells them off piece by piece. Occasionally she helps resuscitate a flailing business, but she lives to take down corporations.”

“Hold up, when you say she runs the company…”

“I mean, she got herself hired at one of the most prestigious investment firms, and when she decided they weren’t aggressive enough—I believe the word she used was ‘cowards’—she started her own. Since then, she’s bought and dismantled that original firm.” I shook my head at how incredibly fierce she’d become.

He let out a low whistle. “So your family isn’t just fancy, y’all are like…” He made an expression that I assumed translated to ridiculously wealthy, and I barked out a laugh.

“You could say that. The problem is all of that wealth, the connections, the prestige—it comes with a lot of expectations and more baggage than you might think. She fought hard to get where she is, to earn the respect of people ‌twice her age, and I’munbelievably proud of her. I just hope that someday she realizes there’s more to life than getting ahead.”

“Have you told her that?”

I frowned. “Told her what?”

He scooted close enough to lay his hand on my chest. “That you’re proud of her. Andy too, for that matter. I imagine it would mean a lot to both of them.”

I scoffed. “They don’t need or want my approval. Though I did tell Andy I was proud of the role he played in holding the bastards at Ulwich accountable.”

“Permission to say something potentially upsetting?”