Page 43 of Forbidden Fiancé

“You’re smart. You’re going to be a lawyer. It’s good to have one of those around,” he eventually said.

I tried not to laugh. I didn’t want to think the man only wanted to marry me because I could defend him if he got into trouble. Though somehow, I thought it was.

“You know you can just get a lawyer on retainer and they’ll take care of you. You don’t have to marry one. Also, it’s really not ethical for a wife to defend her husband.”

“She can’t? Bummer,” Ethan said and leaned back in his chair. “I guess you’re hot,” he added.

“Is that another reason you wanted to marry me, because you think I’m hot, sort of?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Ethan, that isn’t a reason for marrying someone.”

“But my mom wants me to get married.”

“Again, not a good reason.”

“So, what is?” He seemed genuinely interested as if he truly thought those were all valid reasons.

“One of the big ones is that you need to love the person you’re going to marry. You don’t love me,” I said.

“I need to?” Ethan looked at me as if he had never considered that before.

“Yes, that’s part of what being in a relationship and wanting to be married to them is about. And I don’t love you. I don’t think I ever did. I think like you, I liked the idea of you, of us. But we were never going to work out.”

“We won’t?” Ethan asked.

“No. I think we were meant to be friends, or maybe nothing at all. But we aren’t meant to be together. I can’t give you what you want. I can’t be the wife you need.”

“Was that why you were fucking my father? Were you trying to get away from me?” Ethan asked.

“Ethan, your father was being honest with you when he said us getting together had nothing to do with you. It just happened. We didn’t mean for it to, but we do love and care about each other. We want to be together.”

I had hoped he was open to hearing the truth. He seemed to accept that we weren’t going to get married and the reasons. I could tell I had over stepped when his face got dark and he glared at me.

“Well, you can’t,” he said.

“Ethan. You know what you saw was consensual. It might be hard to hear, but I want to be with your father. You aren’t going to do any good by trying to ruin his reputation. Do you really want to hurt your father and the family’s company like that?” I asked.

“He doesn’t care about me. He has never cared about me. It isn’t right for him to have you if I can’t.” He crossed his arms. He looked like a child having a temper tantrum.

“I’m not a prize and it wasn’t a competition. We wouldn’t have worked out even if I had never met your father. One has nothing to do with the other.”

“It isn’t just my father who would be hurt if the video came out. It could hurt you too,” Ethan said.

“Ethan, you don’t want to hurt me anymore than you want to hurt your father. You’re upset, that’s understandable but you will get over it with time.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel, you slut.”

I leaned back as if he had slapped me. “That isn’t fair.”

“You’re about to become a fancy lawyer. Your reputation means everything in getting a job. You wouldn’t want it getting around that you slept your way around law school.”

“I didn’t.”

“Really? How do you think it would look if it got out that you slept with me and my father? How do you think that would affect your job prospects?”

The world might have gotten more progressive and understanding about people’s personal lives but only to a point. If it got out that I had slept with a father and son, it could kill my career or severely damage it.

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