Page 87 of The Arrangement
“Does it not feel good on your body?”
“That’s not the point.”
I smile at her fledgling objections. “Then what is the point?”
“Maybe that’s not a lot of money to you, but it’s a lot of money to me. Likea lot. And I’m not comfortable spending that much cash on clothes.”
“Good thing it’s not your cash then.”It’s ours.
I swipe my glass off the counter and refill it.
It’s a good thing I haven’t mentioned that what’s mine is hers because I know exactly what her objections to that would be.
“Jason …”
I keep my back to her. “I work very hard, Chloe. I spend little time doing anything other than work. And I find one thing that gives me joy, and you want to steal that from me.”
Her silence lets me know I’m on the right track.
“I was just in a meeting with attorneys over a threat against my family. My father has decided to point the finger at Gannon and me—something Gannon doesn’t know yet. While the action in question was absolutely done at his request, it’s a little murky and will, at the very least, cost us an exorbitant amount of time and even more stress.”
I turn to her. She’s standing like a vixen in the middle of the kitchen, watching me warily.
She’s so damn beautiful that it takes my breath away. It’s not even her traditional beauty, although it’s that, too. It’s her sincerity. Her openness and honesty. The way her heart shines as brightly as her eyes.
I’m falling in love with her and falling fast and hard. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Do you know what got me through the morning?” I ask before taking another drink. “You. I imagined you shopping and having lunch inside the store. I knew they’d fawn over you and care for you.” I drink again, holding her hesitant gaze. “I don’t give a fuck about money, Chloe. I have it. A lot of it. I’ve worked for some of it, and some I had given to me. But I watched myfather and my mother, to some degree, waste their lives in a quest to have more of it. And I can’t help but think that if they’d spent some of that energy and money on each other, things would’ve worked out differently.”
She narrows her eyes, as if she’s mulling that over.
“I told you I was going to spoil you and treat you like I think you should be treated,” I remind her. “If you don’t like this, say the word, and I’ll stop. But don’t say you don’t like it because you think you’re taking too much. Because coming in here tonight and seeing you like this—confident and sexy—it’s worth every fucking penny to me.”
She lifts her chin as a slow smile draws across her lips. She takes my hand and pulls me through the penthouse and, naturally, my attention is glued to her ass as she pulls me behind her.
I have no idea where we’re going or if she’s still pissy. But her ring is on her finger, her hand’s in mine, and we’re entering the bedroom. All good signs.
The closet door is open, and bags line a bedroom wall.
She leads me to the foot of the bed and then stops. I lift a brow. She grins.
“I’m sorry,” she says, reaching for my tie. “This is just taking me a little bit to get used to, and I’m afraid to get too used to it.”
“Why?”
Her gaze flips to mine briefly before it drops back to my neck. “Because this isn’t my actual life. It’s my temporary one.”
Only if you want it to be.But I don’t say that. It feels like pressing my luck.
“I should say thank you,” she says, pulling my tie off and tossing it on the bed. Then she goes to work on my shirt buttons. “You’ve done so much for me and my grandmother. I can’t begin to understand where you find the time to pull all of this off—my ring, the gifts, Mimi’s bed. It never ends with you.”
I grin. “Do you know one thing that’s bothered me all day?”
“What’s that?”
“I forgot your coffee this morning.”
She laughs, pushing my shirt over my shoulders. “Totally ruined my day.”
