Page 15 of Contractually Wed

With each step, Jia felt like a rabbit braving the lion’s den. Worse, a foolish, horny rabbit who was ready to beg the lion to consume her whole. Because, damn...living with the man while not claiming wifely rights was like being shown an array of specialty doughnuts but forbidden from tasting.

In the first week, she’d seen it as a reprieve from him, from their arrangement, from her own roller-coaster wants and emotions. Even as an opportunity to prove her worth to him, because that’s what this deal was about. Her work was the only reason she was Mrs. Apollo Galanis. His secrecy, while it had surprised her, had also been another reprieve, from his family, the media and the world.

In a way, he’d given her a gift she hadn’t wanted or known that she needed.

His Grumpy Assness would no doubt take it away if he knew how much she enjoyed the carefree anonymity of being completely herself.Of being only Jia, with a chance to prove her mettle, to find a place among her coworkers by her own merit, to be free of patterns and needs that had been cemented over a lifetime. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t her father’s unwanted daughter, or a resentful brother’s sister, or even a protective one, and didn’t have to pussyfoot at work or home.

It was only now, away from home and New York, that Jia understood how much her family took up space in her head and her heart. And it was a harsh reminder that Apollo was no different from any of them, except that he was up-front about her value to him.

She’d have even counted the last three weeks as some of the best of her life, if not for the tense evenings and rife mornings with Apollo. Seeing him walk into the kitchen at the crack of dawn, his hair disheveled from sleep, his muscled chest naked, his pajamas hanging low on his hips, made him even more appealing. As if she needed the reminder that the man was sexy in every dimension. If it was power that rolled off him in Armani suits, it was an earthy, easy masculinity that dripped from him in casual clothes.

But she’d found a way to use those awkward, charged encounters to her benefit too. Especially once the thought snuck into her mind that he was hiding her from the world because he was ashamed of her. It wasn’t quite a jump since he said he’d made a mistake in choosing her, straight to her face.

Their awareness of each other was bigger than either of them. So she flaunted herself in his oversize dress shirts—even after he’d bought her clothes—took over every inch of his precious penthouse and generally made herself impossible to ignore when he came home.

But she had no idea if any of her ploys to get under his skin had worked.

“Lock the door behind you,” he said now as she entered his office, his back to her.

It sounded ominous enough that Jia did so with a mounting heartbeat. But no, he wasn’t allowed to see how easy she was for him. Never again. She took a deep breath, and donned her armor before turning around. “Did I pass the test?”

He was leaning against the large mahogany desk, his long legs thrown out in front of him. His office was vast with two different sitting areas, and yet it was dwarfed by him. Tie and jacket gone, his unbuttoned shirt gave her a glimpse of a chest covered in whorls of hair. His hair looked like someone had run their fingers through it, messing it up. He looked like he could belong in a boardroom or a photoshoot, that easy grace radiating off him.

Any hope that he’d reached the end of his tether died when she met his crystalline gray eyes. He looked as inscrutable and unshaken as ever.

“What test?” he said in a voice that rumbled down her spine. It was the first time in three weeks that they were alone together, addressing each other, making eye contact. All the reassurances Jia had tried to tell herself that he wasn’t all that irresistible melted away.

“These three weeks at work...you wanted to make sure I wasn’t lying.”

“I simply wanted to see how you work with a team.”

“And?” she said, eager for praise.

“You let everyone’s opinions into your head. A little more discernment and a little less people-pleasing would work better for your individual—”

“It’s called being a team player,” she cut in, ire dancing on her skin.

“Doesn’t mean you let all these narrow-minded people dilute your vision. You’re brilliant, Jia, and sometimes, you have to be ruthless to give it rein, to meet your full potential.”

Whatever protest she’d been about to offer on principle died on her lips. Warmth and a dizzy kind of joy fizzed through her. “That’s high praise from the enemy,” she said, when she felt his gaze move over her mouth with an intensity that scorched.

“Is that how you still see us?” he asked, straightening.

“Enemies who’ve made a deal, yes,” she said, pressing her palm to her belly, as if she could stop the flutters there. “Believe me, it’s better that way.”

“You’re still angry with me, then?”

What the hell did the man want from her? Why did he care if she was? He’d made it clear that she or her finer feelings didn’t matter to him in the big scheme of things.

He simply wanted the truth, Jia, whispered the soft, vulnerable underbelly she always tried to protect.

“Of course not.” When he raised a brow, she gave him the truth. At least a part of it. “Let’s say I’m not blinded by my attraction to you anymore.”

“Because I used it against you?”

“Why ask me when you know all the answers?”

He rubbed a long finger over his thick brow, sudden tension emanating from his broad frame. “I ask because I don’t have all the answers. And I don’t like not knowing.”

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