She didn’t. I’d had people do it for her. I just hadn’t told her that.
“Well, I need to get back to work and now we’re married and I’m done with the file. I’ll be ready for the board meeting in a month. So…” She shrugged her shoulders in her baggy, worn shirt. It was way too big for her, fit her like a dress, and had Jimi Hendrix on the front.
Probably an old boyfriend’s top. Instantly, I wanted to tell her to take it off.
After the good couple of weeks we’d had, I knew I couldn’t.
“I don’t think the food truck is a good idea.” This was going to be enough to push our day into negative territory anyway.
Immediately, the energy shifted in the room and on her face.
The fact I was even thinking about energies was a problem.
“I have to work, Bastian.”
I straightened my newspaper and turned the page. “You really don’t. You’re about to be a multimillionaire based on those shares alone. You could also sell your grandmother’s house.”
Considering she hadn’t moved on it yet.
“Oh, that’s smart.” Her tone was sarcastic. “Where will I live after all this ends then?”
“Here, of course.” Was she dense? I wasn’t going to be living here.
“This is your place. I wouldn’t continue to stay here.”
“This is our place, ragazza.”
“For now.” She plugged in a little ball that spurted her essential oils into the air or something. When the mist puffed from it, she squealed. “Perfect. It smells like lavender. We’re going to be so relaxed.”
I took a deep breath, hoping the air was wafting my way to calm me down right now. “If it’s just mine for now, how do you expect me to get the scents out of here when you leave?”
“I don’t know. You could sage the place or something. I didn’t even do that when I moved in. I probably should have, considering you’ve probably slept with women and brought bad—”
“I didn’t live here before.” I slammed the paper down.
“What?” Her eyes bugged out and she froze by the island counter that she’d practically morphed into a wellness station.
I sighed at my omission. “I bought the place for us.”
“No. I came here and you walked me through it…” She shook her head.
“I’d just purchased it. I figured it was close and you like tiles that look like the ocean.” I sounded idiotic, like I’d been pussy whipped from the beginning.
“The bathroom tiles?” Her jaw dropped. “Bastian, I can’t pay you back for that.”
“I don’t want you to.” I rubbed my eyes. “It’s just… I’m saying it’s here if you need it once we’re divorced. That’s all.”
She walked over to me as I lifted the newspaper back up and put her hand on it so we could stare at one another. “I don’t expect you to keep this place for me but thank you for buying it in the first place.”
Something was happening between us even if we were on good terms. I was falling down a damn slope into wanting Morina as more than just my arranged marriage partner. I didn’t know how to stop the descent. I didn’t know if I could.
She took a breath and clapped her hands, stepping away from me. “Anyway, I’ll be back from the food truck this evening and–”
“My driver will take you to the food truck and back.” I looked back down at my newspaper. “He can also be in the food truck with you for security purposes.”
“You want someone in the food truck with me?” she asked like it was ridiculous. “No.”
I stared at my hand holding the newspaper and the ring now on it. She’d listened to the story of my parents and hadn’t shrunk back in disgust when I told her I’d ordered my father to be killed. She’d accepted a part of me that sometimes even I couldn’t accept.
For that alone, I’d protect her even if she didn’t want it. “Yes, Morina. Don’t argue with me for no good reason, please. What does it hurt you to have a person with you?”
“Well, for one, it’s small quarters in the food truck and, also, is he going to help me make shakes?”
“If you want him to, I’m sure he will.”
She threw up her hands, then went and placed them on the salt lamp. She closed her eyes and stood there for a few seconds before opening them and staring at me. Those midnight blues were soft and appeasing. “Only because I’ve started to like you will I agree to this.”
I smiled, but she only rolled her eyes and skipped down the hall.
I watched her ass the whole way in hopes that t-shirt would ride up a little further. “Wear shorts to work, Morina.” It was for my own sanity but found another reason quickly. “There will probably be paparazzi.”
When I looked up to see her flying out the door in a black bikini and board shorts a few minutes later, I was proud I didn’t scream at her to go change.
I sat there a whole hour without calling her, and I even made myself coffee before I went and got my board shorts on.
The woman should have worn a shirt. She meant to drive me insane by not, I don’t care what anyone else said.
I took the Rolls Royce there faster than I should have and when I walked up to the food truck, I had to actually wait in a damn line because her just being there with the sign down caused a stir.
Some of them were paps. They had cameras around their necks, but a lot of them were locals telling Morina they’d missed her.
She was a mercurial loner by nature. I didn’t think I’d ever heard her on the phone with Linny, but they all seemed to accept that about her.
I let the crowd die down before I came up to the window. The smell that hit my nostrils was rich and aromatic. “Are you selling coffee today?”
“Yes.” She narrowed her eyes at me like I shouldn’t argue. Normally I wouldn’t have. I was in the area to make alliances. It worked best. I’d done better than my father in that arena time and time again.
“What happened to the shakes?”
“Technically, it’s winter, so this is a good idea, but that’s really not the point. The point is I’m making coffee because…” She spun around and waved her arm behind her. “I have a whole coffee appliance area, Bastian!”
The smile across her face was as brilliant as the sun on the water, bright, bold, and blinding. I didn’t see the roadblocks ahead of us or the obstacles when she looked at me like that. I only saw Morina Bailey, free and beautiful and full of life.
She leaned out the window and grabbed my shirt and pulled me close. “You did this and so I’m doing this now.” She covered my lips with hers and kissed me without reservation. Nothing held her back as the salty breeze blew over us. She made out with me over a food truck window, and then she shoved me back and squealed.
“I’m fucking in love with it all, Bastian. There’s a blender too! State of the art. And someone stocked essential oils up here with a freaking shelf. Did you tell them to do that?”
“I told them to make it functional, bellissima.” I wasn’t admitting to it. I watched as she showed me every single new thing she was excited about.