Page 129 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

I raise a brow at her. “I’m what?”

The gold flecks in her eyes sparkle as she figures out what she wants to say, and her lips twist slightly, as if she’s afraid to voice what she’s actually feeling.

“Tell me, Lyla. I always want you to be honest with me.”

She shrugs slightly. “Well, now you’re kind of turning into the brutish, demanding, wild mountain man everybody always thought you were.”

Her words give me pause, and when she doesn’t continue, I search her gaze for some indication of what she means.

I know what the people of Millsburg have believed about me since I arrived—exactly what I wanted them to. To keep them away. To prevent anyone from reaching out to me the way Lyla has. But now that it’s happened, it seems as though the way I’ve lived for so long could hurt my chances at a future with her because they’ve left me living between two worlds.

One drenched in wealth and privilege and pain.

One built on freedom and nature and all things primal.

“Is that”—I swallow thickly—“a bad thing?”

She shakes her head. “No.” A smile plays on her lips, and she tightens her thighs around me. “I kind of like this version of Silas.”

Relief floods my chest, and I grin at her. “Good, because I don’t think he’s going anywhere…as long as you don’t.”

She threads her fingers through my hair and drags me back down for another kiss. “You couldn’t get rid of me even if you wanted to. You’re stuck with me.”

“You just want that $5 million.”

Her burst of laughter makes her body shake under me. “Oh,yeah,you got me there…”

That stupid contract is what brought Lyla to me, and it will always be there, a reminder of why she came to the mountain. I joke about it now, but the reality of our situation hits me so hard I actually jerk back from her.

All the horrible feelings I had when Ronald suggested Ibuya wife return, and I stare at the woman who owns my heart completely—without a fucking contract.

“I want an annulment.”

She freezes, her humor dying as her eyes widen. “What?”

Shit.

That wasn’t the right way to say this.

“I think we should have the marriage annulled.”

Her soft brow furrows. “What? I don’t understand. I thought—”

I press my fingers over her lips to silence her. “Just listen to me. We got married for all the wrong reasons. I want this to be real. I want it to be about how I feel about you. How you make me feel—like I’m alive again. Like I’m starting over the life that was taken from me. I want this to just be about us and not about some stupid piece of paper. So, I want an annulment, and then, I want to marry you for real.”

Tears pool in her eyes as she stares up at me. “Are you serious?”

I nod.

Her bottom lip trembles. “What about the trust? It says we have to—”

“I’m not worried about the trust. Not anymore. If the board wants to remove me as CEO, they will, whether I own half the company or not. They have every right to pick the CEO they think will do best for the employees and the business. I think we all knew that was never going to be me in the long run, anyway.”

“But what about your ownership interest—”

“I don’t give a fuck about that.” It comes out a bit harsher than I intend it, and I feather my fingers over her cheek to try to temper my rough words. “I told you I never wanted my father’s money, and that’s still true. Besides, he left me more than I could ever spend in fifty billion lifetimes, completely separate from the trust.”

I never told her any of this because it never mattered before.

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