-Christian- I watch his face light up as I pin the boutonnière to the lapel of his fitted little tux. “You got me one too!” he exclaims when he sees that we’ll be wearing matching sets. “Of course; we’re two of the most important men in Mommy’s life. We need to match, don’t you think?” I say, before placing my hands on his shoulders. “Now, remember what I said?” He nods sternly and a serious look crosses his tiny face. “Even if I drop your rings, it’s not a bad thing because accidents happen.” I reach up to tousle his hair and shoot him a grin. “Good boy, Mason. Why don’t you go show Mommy and Aunty Del your boutonnière?” He giggles and wraps his arms around my neck before sprinting out of the bedroom. The smile doesn’t leave my face as I’m looking at myself in the mirror. The few grays and smile lines grow by the day and it doesn’t bother me because I want to look my thirty-three years. It’s been five years since Leia agreed to marry me, and we’ve decided that now would be the
-Leia-Six years at this company, and I’ve never once raised my voice to my boss, but right now I can’t believe what he’s just asked of me.“Excuse me?!” my voice comes out like a strangled chihuahua and I damn near drop my coffee. He looks at me as if I’ve asked the dumbest question ever, then he sighs. “You heard me, Miss Prescott,” he says, leaning back in his leather office chair that costs more than my annual salary. “Marry my son for ten million and straighten him out.”Yeah, he definitely DID ask me that, I didn’t hear wrong at all. Alexander Moore might be the most gorgeous 55-year-old man and certified Daddy material, with his big blue eyes and obviously ripped body, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just accept what he’s offering. “So, you want me to marry your son? Have you met Christian? He’s a nightmare!” I exclaim, to which he chuckles. Besides, who still does arrange marriages nowadays? What is this, the 1800s?“Why do you think I came to you before going to one of those dar
-Leia-My boss is thrilled to hear my answer, of course. He will pay the ten million to me quarterly, with the first payment after I sign the papers. I doubt I’ll even need any more after the first payment, but if I’m going to be married to that ass, then I think I deserve it.“Thank you for this, Leia. I’m sure Christian will come around under your care,” he says with a soft smile.Oh, shoot. I forgot about that little part of the agreement; I have to literally tame his unruly son! Crap, how am I going to do that? I don’t know the first thing about getting an arrogant jerk to heel.What the hell have you let yourself in for, Leia!“I’m sure he will,” I say with a withering smile and immediately regret saying yes to this. I don’t like Christian one bit and he doesn’t exactly have a soft spot for me since I literally threw scalding water on his crotch. Maybe Delilah will have some tips for me.“Oh, I forgot to mention. Join us for dinner tonight at the estate so we can go over the agr
-Christian-Ten million to sort me out as if I’m the goddamn problem; what the hell is wrong with my father? Why does he think marrying me off would change me? That’s the last damn thing I want and to THAT woman?!Leia Prescott has always hated me, I know this. She thinks she’s better than everyone else, with her multiple college degrees, smug smile, and clipped tones when she speaks to me. Her minor accident of scalding my dick clean off with coffee wasn’t an accident, not with the slight smirk she tried to hide after I screamed. I tolerated her before that, but now I can’t stand the woman.Her attitude reminds me of someone else, and even if I might have had respect for her before, now I see her as nothing but a woman whoring herself out for money. How do I manage to end up with the gold diggers?Out of everyone he could have chosen, it had to be his PA. His fucking PA.I growl under my breath and walk out to my Rolls-Royce Phantom, where my driver is waiting. This evening was a fuc
-Leia-It’s been a month since I had that argument with Christian and in a few hours, I’ll be his wife. His gold-digging wife with zero respect for herself.When I told my mother what was happening and that it would help with her treatment, she wouldn’t talk to me for a week. Not because she felt disappointed in me, but because she blamed herself for it. She thinks her cancer pushed me to do this, truth be told I am doing this for her but I would do it again and again if it would help.I’m paying for her first round of treatments and my debt in full tonight. There’s an upside to my wedding day!Currently getting preened and pampered in my wedding suite, I allow myself to be transformed into a woman I do not recognize. This is who the Moores need, this is what I’m being paid to be so I can’t complain.After I’m done being dolled up and the dress slipped on, I take a look at myself in the mirror and groan. I’ve always dreamt of having a huge wedding one day, now I’m getting it just with
-Leia-I never would have thought I’d be miserable on my wedding day and yet here I am, miserable as heck. Everything was perfect; the church, the reception, the cake, even the dress. The only thing not perfect was the groom. I know I have no right to be pissed off about it especially since I chose this, but damn, could Christian at least pretend to like me in front of others? It feels like I’m playing a one-sided game here.Thank God the mess is over at eleven pm; I’m just about ready to strangle someone.The drive to Christian’s penthouse is spent in an awkward silence when I realize that we haven’t really spoken about anything regarding this arrangement. Like at all. Damn it, I didn’t want to be the first one to break the silence, but here goes.“Uhm, Christian,” he visibly stiffens at the mention of his name and turns his head to face me with a questioning raise of his eyebrow. “Yes, Red?” ugh, that nickname.Swallowing my pride, I take a deep breath and try not to let his ridic
-Leia-“There she is! Mrs. Christian Moore!” Lucas exclaims when he sees me walking into the restaurant for brunch and I nearly hurled. He wraps his arms around me in a warm embrace and does a little squeal of excitement. “Please, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I said yes to this dumpster fire,” I say while kissing his cheek and plopping down opposite him then immediately ordering a glass of wine.Lucas whistles when the server walks away. “Not even a Mrs for 24 hours and you’re knocking back the brunch wine. Tell me everything,” he says, leaning forward for some hot gossip when there’s none.Lucas McBride is nearly six feet tall and looks like a surfer; green eyes, sandy blonde hair, and ripped to perfection. He’s just your typical gorgeous guy who loves fashion, gossip, brunch time mimosas, and looking at eye candy, not of the opposite sex. Yep, you guessed it - besides, every woman deserves a colorful bestie, yes?“You’re salivating,” I comment with a scoff
-Christian-“Check your emails, mate, you might just see somethin’ interesting.” Jasper had said just before the shit hit the fan. I had been having a good morning up until then, a productive morning with CEOs from three major companies inviting me to a luncheon this weekend to discuss an important merger.Since then, it has wrapped me in nothing but a veil of anger the entire day. From the minute Jasper sent me that article, to the moment Leia arrived back at the penthouse as if nothing happened. Yeah, I get that I have a reputation for being a bit of a man whore, but I promised to push it aside when I married Leia. Not because I felt something for her, but because I know how sacred those vows are, even if they were fake. I wasn’t about to sleep around when I promised not to, but that went out the window when I realized Leia wouldn’t do the same. Was I foolish to think she’d think this is sacred, too? Of course, I fucking was.Once upon a time, I would have given everything to a wo