Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 177690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 888(@200wpm)___ 711(@250wpm)___ 592(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 888(@200wpm)___ 711(@250wpm)___ 592(@300wpm)
“You’re getting married for business reasons?”
“People have gotten married for less.” I shrug, the entire subject making me uncomfortable.
“That’s so… cold…” she whispers and her voice sounds like she’s in mourning.
“What do you care? You said you didn’t like marriage, remember?” I remind her of the night we met.
“I don’t. Still… Whatever. Listen, I’m not signing your papers. I’ve thought about it and I can’t.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because I can’t sign my name and swear what it wants me to,” she mumbles.
“Like what?”
“Well, for one, we didn’t lie, so fraud is out.”
“Okay, then what else?”
“It mentioned force. Neither one of us can claim that,” she says logically and I try to keep from yelling at her, but it’s getting harder.
“And?”
“Incest. I think that one is out clearly. I mean you can look at us and tell that.”
“Jesus.” Her mind fucking scares me.
“And it said we qualify for an annulment if we’re previously married and didn’t get a legal divorce before. Titan, I’m not married—though I can’t say for sure if you are or not. I mean, you have a fiancée that I didn’t know about. Who’s to say you don’t go around collecting wives like other people collect stamps?”
“No one collects postage stamps anymore, Faith.”
“My Aunt Ida Sue does,” she defends.
“Your aunt is bonkers,” I say with a shrug.
“That’s not nice, Big Daddy. She likes you.”
“Yeah? I know my ass has still got the bruises from the way she kept pinching it.”
“Well, in her defense, you do have a nice ass.” Faith smiles and pulls her sunglasses off her face, holding them loosely in her hand. Even in the pale evening light and muted glow of the parking lot I can see her eyes sparkle. She’s beautiful… Damn it.
“Okay, so no on any of those reasons, but woman, you can’t deny we were both drunk off our asses and shouldn’t have made a big decision like getting married.”
“Maybe… But I can’t say I didn’t realize what we were doing.” She shrugs.
“Are you saying you wanted to get married?”
“No! Well, … I don’t think so. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she ends. And all of a sudden, I feel like I’ve been sucker punched.
“And I always thought an annulment was if you haven’t had sex, but when I read it said if we had kids, it would recognize them as being legitimate even if we get an annulment and…”
I feel like I can’t breathe.
“Are you fucking pregnant?” I bark and she jumps.
“No. I don’t think so… but I can’t be sure yet.”
“So we take you to the doctor. I don’t see how you can be pregnant. We used protection.”
“Except for that one time in the shower,” she reminds me and until that moment I hadn’t remembered the shower. At her words flashes come in my mind. Images of us standing in the shower, her back to my front. My hands full of her tits while my cock is pushing inside of her, me biting into her neck as her body pushes against me and I thrust deep…
Fuck.
“We’ll go get a test and find out.”
“I’m tired, Titan.”
“Tonight we’ll rest. We can do the test tomorrow.”
Her eyes narrow at me and I see the distrust there.
“You’re planning on staying in my room with me, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“You get those handcuffs near me, Titan, and I’m going to shove my foot so deep in your ass you will never walk right again,” she threatens.
For some reason, my lips spread into a half smile and I want to laugh.
“Point made, wife. Point made.”
twenty-one
faith
I look at a sleeping Titan and wonder for the millionth time what in the world I’m doing. I should just sign the annulment papers and move on. I don’t know why I can’t bring myself to do it. Every time I grab the pen to sign them, my sister Hope is in my head telling me what a failure I am. Charity is right there with her. Overshadowing them is the voice of my mother and the fear that I’m just like her.
The strangest thing about it is by trying not to be her—I’m becoming her.
I had my period just last week. Why would I even bring up the possibility that I could be pregnant? I’m on birth control; I’m not pregnant. Sure, it was stupid to have unprotected sex, but I got drunk in Vegas and married a stranger. I think we can agree I wasn’t smart that whole weekend, but it’s time I start at least trying to be smarter.
It’s time I put everything behind me. I left Vegas to start over and starting over means leaving Titan behind me too.
I don’t stop to consider what I’m doing. I’ve been thinking too much tonight as it is. I reach up to touch the side of Titan’s face. He really is beautiful. He’s rough around the edges, but sleek and sexy… powerful. He’s got lines on his face that deepen when he laughs or smiles and his eyes haunt me, even when he’s not near. I love the almost amber color in their brown depths. I love the way they make me feel heated, make me feel… alive.