Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30316 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30316 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
“The negotiations don’t have to be over, Keaton.” The way he said my name caused a tingling in very private places. “There are always amendments that can be made as long as everyone agrees to them.”
“What happens if both parties break a clause of the contract? Together? But without putting anything in writing about it first?” I asked cautiously. Like the one that said our marriage was in name only? Because with the way his thumb was brushing across my knuckles and how he was crowding me on the more-than-ample backseat of the car, I had the impression I wasn’t the only one considering sex. If he wanted to renegotiate that portion of our deal, I was more than willing to do so. Immediately. While naked.
Naked negotiation.
It had a certain ring to it. His gaze zeroed in on my face, and it seemed as though he’d just read my mind and knew all the dirty thoughts I had floating around inside it. Judging by the wicked glint in his hazel eyes, he was willing to give them all a try, and I was pretty sure he’d add some of his own ideas to the list.
“Well”—his raspy voice sent shivers down my spine as he flipped my hand over to run his thumb across my palm—“it doesn’t count as breach of contract when there’s mutual consent by both parties.”
“Oh really?” My heart sped up, causing my voice to shift higher in pitch. I wanted to crawl into a hole as my cheeks burned.
He smirked and brushed a finger over my heated skin before he bent his head low and breathed his next words into my ear. “Do you think we can come to an agreement about abandoning the ‘in name only’ part of our contract?”
“Maybe we should discuss exactly what something like that would entail?” I sounded as uncertain as I felt. Even though my hormones had decided this was the perfect moment to go haywire, he was still a stranger. A hot-as-sin one who happened to be my husband, but a stranger nonetheless. And I wasn’t the kind of girl to jump into bed with a guy she didn’t know. More specifically…I’d never jumped into bed with any guy at all.
“I’m amenable to that.” He lifted our hands and pressed a gentle kiss against my knuckles.
“But shouldn’t we know at least a little bit about each other before we reach that stage in the negotiations?”
“I already know an awful lot about you.” His eyes blazed as they raked over my body. “But not everything.”
“You do?” I squeaked.
“It comes with the territory, beautiful.”
I loved how those hazel eyes of his twinkled with humor, so much that it took a moment for his words to register. “Oh, right. Julia said something about you owning a security business of some kind?”
“Yes, we offer private security services for our clients.”
His response sounded practiced. Like it could have been the tagline for his website or something. “What kind of clients?”
“All sorts.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn’t, I narrowed my eyes at him. “Okay, Mr. Mysterious. When I told Julia that I needed a husband who guards his privacy, I meant from the public. Not from me.”
His gaze shifted over my shoulder, out the passenger-side window. “When we get inside, I’ll answer anything you want to ask me.”
“Inside where?” I jerked my head around, and my mouth gaped open when I caught sight of the five-story townhouse we’d just pulled in front of. “Is that a garage?” My head swiveled from side to side while I took in the street we were on: East 61st. “Are we in Lenox Hill?”
“It is, and we are.”
“Holy crap,” I breathed out. A house like this had to cost at least twenty or thirty million dollars. “Who do you provide security for, royalty?”
“Sometimes,” he chuckled.
I gasped as the garage door rose and the car pulled inside. As soon as it was parked, Garret murmured something to the driver before helping me out of the car. The man in the front seat exited the vehicle as well, and Garret waved a hand toward him. “Keaton, that’s Jack. If I’m not available, he’ll take you anywhere you want to go. I don’t want you to go out without either myself or Jack.”
Jack smiled and gave me a small nod. “Nice to meet you, Keaton. As Garret said, I’ll be his substitute any time. For anything you need”—he smiled mischievously, obviously screwing with Garret—“I’m at your service.”
I laughed as he approached me with his hand out for a shake, but when Garret growled and pulled me tighter into his side, Jack held up his hands in a surrender pose, his lips closed tight to suppress his smile, but his shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.
Garret didn’t let go of my hand when he paused at an electronic control panel next to the door and pressed his thumb against it. Then he swept me off my feet—making me gasp in surprise and clutch at his shoulders—and carried me through the entryway into a foyer with a ceiling that went all the way to the top of the building.