Page 12 of Broken

I feel hot. My pulse races. I want to get out of this room.

“Melanie.” His tone is authoritative and commanding.

“I just want some peace, Nathan. I want to go to work and do the job that I love, then come home and not have to worry about my little sister’s college tuition or whether my mother is going to lose our family home because my brother is an idiot.” The words pour out of me, and my cheeks heat with shame at my outburst. I probably screwed everything up. I press my palm against myflushed face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… My brother is a very good businessman.”

“Do you think I’d enter into this arrangement without doing my homework on your brother? I’m well aware he’s a weekend in Vegas away from losing what little is left of your family fortune.” He drums his fingers on the table. “And I appreciate your honesty.”

I blink at him. He knows we have barely any money left, but he’s still considering marrying me? Why?

“Is that enough for you to do this? Sign the rest of your life—or at the very least the next ten to twenty years of it—away just to keep your family happy?”

“I’ve spent the last seventeen years trying to keep my family happy, Mr. James, it’s what I do.”

He tilts his head, his eyes softening as they rake over my body. Then he sits forward again. “I need you to know that you still have a choice, Melanie. While I don’t care about marrying for love, we will be sharing a life together. It would be much more tolerable if we could at least be friendly. If you resent me for this, we’re both going to be pretty miserable, and I don’t want my children growing up in a toxic household with parents who can barely stand the sight of each other.”

Relief washes over me in a comforting wave. The fact that he’s thought things through to that extent certainly makes me feel a whole lot better about this bizarre situation. “I don’t want that either.”

He nods like he approves. “Well, this is your opportunity to back out. If you don’t want this, tell me now. You can walk out of here and never have to see me again. I’ll tell Bryce that it was my decision.”

I scoff. “He won’t believe you.”

He arches one eyebrow. “I can beverypersuasive, Miss Edison.”

I’m sure I see the corner of his mouth curling into the faintest hint of a grin, and I bite my lip to stop myself from grinning back. Whatever the rumors say about him, and despite what my brother says about the kind of man he is, Nathan James is a decent man in all the ways that count. And that’s a whole lot better than I could have hoped for. “I want to do this.”

He gives me another curt nod, the softness in his features already disappearing to be replaced by his effortlessly cool facade. “Good.”

“But…” I wince when he frowns. “I won’t give up my job. Even when we have kids, I’d like to work part-time when they’re old enough. I figure you might want some trophy wife who spends her days doing nothing but look good for you, but I love my job. I think I’d go insane without it.”

“You work as a veterinary nurse, right?”

“Yeah.” I look down, avoiding his gaze. It’s probably not the sort of job a successful billionaire wants his wife to have. At least that’s what my mother would have me believe.

“I don’t want a trophy wife, Melanie.”

He doesn’t?My heart skips a beat, and I look up at him, meeting his intense gaze once more.

“Just someone who’s honest with me and will be a good mother to my children. Can you do that?”

“Yes.” The answer falls easily from my lips. “Although I’d prefer we wait a while to start trying for a baby. Not a long time, but maybe six months? I assume we’ll have to live together, and this is all moving so quickly already. I’d like to get to know you a little better before we…” My cheeks burn at the thought of having sex with this demigod. “Add a kid into the mix.”

He sucks on his top lip like he’s mulling it over. “I suppose a waiting period would also stop any potential rumors about us marrying so quickly because you’re pregnant. So you can have your six months, and of course you can keep your job.”

I nod my appreciation.

“Then it’s agreed. We’ll work out the finer details of the contract over dinner this evening.”

My brow creases in a frown. “Dinner?”

He rolls his eyes. “Dinner. That meal people eat in the evenings.”

“Can’t we just do it here?”

He stands and fastens his suit jacket. “We could, but I’d rather not. And we need to have a handful of public appearances before we announce our engagement. I’ll ensure there are photographers waiting outside the restaurant to capture ourdate.”

I swallow the knot of anxiety that instantly balls in my throat. “Oh. I didn’t… I don’t want this to be some kind of media circus, Nathan.”

He licks his bottom lip. “Neither do I. But people will speculate about our engagement, and for appearance’s sake, this needs to look like a real relationship. A few public dates are all that should be necessary. Then we can marry in private and announce our wedded bliss after the event.”

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