Page 54 of The Marriage Deal
"I knew you weren't seeing Levi. I knew you were loyal to Wyatt, but I let myself believe the lie because it was comfortable. It absolved me of what I did."
"Are you done?"
Billie blinked at me.
"Anything else?"
She sighed again. "No. But… Men like Wyatt. And Levi. Rich guys. They don't care about anyone else but themselves."
I scoffed. "Are you trying to say Levi is just like Wyatt?"
"You don't have to lie to me. I know he married you so he could gain his inheritance. Wyatt told me about the clause. They're family friends, remember?"
Yeah, they went to the same school together and were friends. Of course, Wyatt knew. I felt a wave of embarrassment washing over me. I glanced away from Billie, unable to look at her.
"So? What's your point?" I said.
"He's using you? Just as Wyatt used me."
"You might think that since you fooled me, broke my trust and lied to me, that I am some stupid little girl, but I know what I got into. Newsflash. I'm the one who asked him to marry me. I knew about the deal and made him an offer. Money in exchange for a wife. But since he could not resist this," I pointed at myself, "We decided to make our marriage that much less fake. The amazing sex is just a side dish, really."
Billie blinked like a deer in the headlights. "Oh."
"Yes."
Billie sighed. "If you know what you're doing, then I am sorry for ever thinking differently."
She turned and left. But what she said was still on my mind long after she was gone, longer after I was back at my desk.He's only using you. Fuck. Thanks for ruining my day, Billie.
24
Elvira
HE'S ONLY USING YOU. Fuck. Why did I let her get to my head? Of course, he was using me. We were using each other. And it was a perfectly fine arrangement. I have never had this many orgasms without even needing to concentrate. Levi knew my body better than anyone and knew how to turn me on without doing much. And living with him was turning out to be a fairly good decision. He was clean and reserved the clutter for his office. For a rich boy, he knew how to pick up after himself and clean the place whenever possible, even though he had a maid who came in every day.
He was really into movies now. By showing himPride and Prejudice, it seemed I had created a monster. Insisting we watch all Jane Austen adaptations every night. I wasn't complaining. I loved them, but I fear he is no longer the no-TV guy. Just yesterday, I caught him looking up TVs on his laptop.
As for work, he was still irritable, but after I told him how harsh he could be and how demanding he was, he had tempered his mood, to my surprise. Working with him was easy. He rarely brought up our relationship. At work, we were colleagues. But at home, he was something else. A lover and, dare I say, a friend.
As for the Johnson letters, the work was going on well. After we failed to decode them, we instead chose to concentrate on the uncoded ones. Levi had found little in terms of his mystery,but there was an invaluable amount of knowledge about Richard III's court. Some of which wasn't public knowledge.
"It's good," I said to him one night after he sent me a paper he wanted reviewed. It was about the daily life of regular peasants during the Wars of the Roses. Something we had uncovered in our research. "You didn't need to put my name as second though. I hardly did anything."
"If it weren't for you, we would not have found the monk's writings. Your name is going onto the paper."
"Thanks, but I still think—"
"Elle, I am not doing this because you are blowing my back out every night. I am putting you on because you're the best researcher I've worked with."
That was an even better compliment than knowing that I was pleasing him in bed. That other confession made me feel like a sex goddess. The one about work though made me feel like I actually was a valuable member of his team. His other colleagues were helping him with this as well. We had garnered at least five members on our team who were researching the Scott-Elliot collection. And they were all renowned academics.
"Thanks," I said.
"That's more like it. By the way," he said, his gaze on his laptop. "My family wants to meet you."
"Your family?" Every time he spoke of his six siblings, he spoke in warm tones that only made me think he had a better relationship with them than with his mother. He seemed fond of them all, his four youngest especially.
"They, uh, learned about us getting married and want you to be there at our next meetup. My siblings have an annual brunch thing they throw. My father used to host it, and since he died, it's been my brother keeping the tradition alive."
