Page 81 of Accidental Fiancé

“You need to talk. I don’t.” That wasn’t exactly true but it was close enough. When it came to Julian Black, every time I went with my gut, I bombed horribly. My instincts sucked around him, so I had to do the opposite of what my gut was telling me.Talking was out. Opening the door was out. As long as he stayed in the hallway, I couldn’t fuck this up.

Not exactly a long-term solution but it was all I had for now.

Metal clinked against metal, and the next thing I knew, the door opened. Julian walked in, key in hand. “I’m sorry to barge into my own room, but we have to talk.”

“No, we don’t.” I couldn’t look at him. If I looked, I’d say something stupid like telling him I loved him and we could work through this. Clearly, the universe didn’t want us to be together. Otherwise, this would be easier.

That was how love was supposed to go, right?

“Fine. You don’t have to talk. Just listen.”

I shook my head and snatched my luggage from the closet. I laid it out on the bed and got to work. “I’m not listening.”

His brow furrowed. “Then I will talk to hear myself speak.”

I shrugged. My clothes had been carefully hung in the closet or folded into drawers by the invisible staff that made things happen in this place. It would have unnerved me if it wasn’t so convenient. I gathered my things and started laying them carefully into the suitcase.

“Maggie, what are you doing?”

“I told you. I’m not talking.”

He groaned in frustration. “Fine but I don’t want you going anywhere. We need to work this out.”

“There’s nothing to work out.”

“That’s not true.”

I didn’t speak. Packing was the only way out of this conversation so I kept at it.

“You want to know why I didn’t tell you about Chloe blackmailing me?”

I glanced up at him.

“Because of this. Because I knew you would overreact. You were already worried she would rat us out, and if you knew she knew, you would have freaked.

“So, you kept it from me for my own good?”

“Yes!”

My nostrils flared, and I could not keep my thoughts inside, no matter how hard I bit my tongue. “It’s a good thing we’re not actually engaged then, Jules, because you don’t want a partner. You want another servant.”

“What?”

“Hot tip—if you ever want a woman to be a real partner to you, then you tell her when someone is blackmailing you! You do not keep it inside to protect her. You let her help you get through it and you come up with a plan together so neither of you is blindsided in front of your entire family!”

I had never seen a man shrink before. Not the way Jules did right then. He stuttered, “You?you’re right. About the blackmail thing. Not the servant thing.”

“Bullshit.” I resumed packing. “Why else have the contract written up?”

“Because…” He growled under his breath. “Because I was trying to do right by you. I explained this.”

“Treating me like another servant was doing right by me?”I have to stop engaging. Stop talking.

“I have never treated you like a servant, Maggie.”

“Paying me for my companionship sounds like a servant to me. Or is escort the right word?” I couldn’t shut up.

He pressed his palms to his temples, groaning again. “Maggitha Eileen Bryant, I swear to God?—"

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