Page 31 of Dirty Damage

He doesn’t even blink. Like my refusal is just a minor speed bump on the road to getting exactly what he wants.

“You haven’t even read it yet.”

“I don’t need to.” I lift my chin, channeling every ounce of steel I can muster. “If the bottom line is that I’m expected to marry you and have your baby, then thanks but no thanks.”

He takes another sip of whiskey, maintaining scalding eye contact. “You strike me as a smart woman, Sutton. A deeply inappropriate woman, but a smart one all the same.”

I have half a mind to fling his whiskey at him. I imagine the expensive liquor dripping down his sharp jawline, soaking into his shirt until the material clings to his skin?—

A shiver zips down my spine, and I clear my throat to try to clear my head.

“Are you saying I’m stupid if I don’t accept your contract?”

He sets down his glass with precision. “Only if you turn it down without reading it first.Thatwould make you stupid.”

“I don’t want to marry you,” I snap. “Or have your baby. Nothing in there will change that!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

I huff in frustration. “You’re so sure I’ll marry you, but why do you want to marry me?”

“If it helps, my interest in you isn’t at all romantic.” His lip curls like the word tastes bitter. “I don’t want a traditional marriage. What I’m proposing is a simple business arrangement.”

Every little girl’s dream—an arranged marriage.

Given my family’s long line of failures, I’ve never given much thought to the whole happily-ever-after of it all.

I mean, do I love the kids at the daycare center? Yes.

Would it be nice to have someone around to investigate the spooky noises in the dark? Sure would. I’m an independent woman; not a robot.

Would I like to fall asleep next to a big, chiseled body that is just the right amount of hairy and smells like?—

I breathe through my mouth to keep his woodsy scent from jumbling whatever good sense I have left.

“Business arrangements don’t include sex.”

“Once you’re pregnant with my child, you can decide to end the physical part of the contract if you wish.” He can’t seem to stop himself from smirking. “But I doubt you will.”

Of course. He’s seen me half-naked on more than one occasion. He probably thinks I’m just like the women plastered all over these walls: willing and available for him whenever he’d like.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

I hate how breathless I sound.

“Even if that was true, I don’t need to. I know me—that’s enough.”

Against my better judgment, my eyes flick down below his belt. Something tells me he is way more than “enough.”

Heat floods my face. My body betrays me, responding to the dark promise in his voice.

I’ve kept myself in lockdown since Drew, but I’m learning now that all it takes is one arrogant billionaire with bedroom eyes to coax my nether regions out of their self-inflicted hibernation.

“Why do you even want a baby?” I ask, trying to redirect. “You don’t really seem like the paternal type.”

But even as I say it, I remember him with Chloe. How his massive hands had been so gentle holding her tiny ones.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of freedom.” Something flickers behind his eyes. “Tradition and obligation demand that I take a wife and produce an heir. Which is where you come in.”

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