“No, Mr. Slater. I don’t really want you to come. I would much rather you’d stayed away altogether. But you didn’t. So now I have to deal with the fallout from that.”
He was still relaxed back in his seat, a bland expression on his handsome face. “And afterward you’ll talk about this in a rational manner?”
She gritted her teeth some more. “I am always rational.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
Oh yes, because he knew her so well after spending a whole ten minutes in her company. Plus the wedding, of course, where, if she remembered rightly, apart from her vows she had said a total of two tongue-tied words to him the whole time: hello and good-bye. But he had been a little outside her comfort zone.
Be honest, Lexi. He still is.
Though she’d work hard to keep that fact from him. He was just so big and stern and…he wanted an annulment. Well, somehow she had to persuade him out of that idea.
He gave a quick nod. “I’ll pick you up.”
“You’ll need my address,” she said.
“I have your address.”
He did? Where from? Though for that matter he’d obviously gotten her office address from somewhere. Had he had her investigated? “Well, be there at seven-thirty. And do not be late. My grandmother dislikes unpunctuality.”
He cocked his head. “Are you scared of her?”
Stupid question. “Of course I’m scared of her. She’s terrifying.”
“Okay, and afterward we’ll discuss the annulment.”
“Yes.” Ha, no way.
A deal was a deal, and he was going to stick by it or…actually, she wasn’t sure what. But an annulment? No way. She could imagine her family getting hold of that information. Would it negate the release of the trust? She didn’t know, and perhaps she needed to find out. She made a mental note to talk to her lawyer; she’d get Sadie to set up a call after her meeting.
The day had started out so well, and now she was teetering on the edge of a precipice. But no way was she going to allow this guy to push her over. She glared at him, and his lips twitched.
“Seven-thirty sharp. And wear a suit.” Her brows drew together. “Do you have a suit?”
“I’ll find something.”
“Good.”
And then she was out of there.
…
She was cute when she was angry. Hell, she was cute period. But cute had never been his thing. And what was with the four-inch heels? They seemed totally out of character and had the effect of making her ass sway as she strutted away.
She had a great ass—curvy, shown off perfectly by the faded jeans—and a narrow waist. Her curls hung in a wild tangle to half-way down her back—had she even brushed her hair today? He shook his head. That had nothing to do with him. He was here to get away from her, not get turned on every time she got near him.
The door swung shut behind her, and he sat back in his seat and picked up his scotch. He never drank in the middle of the day. Didn’t drink much at all, actually—his mother had been too bad an example for him to want to go down that route. But now, as he brought the glass to his lips, he breathed in the warm smell and took a sip. The taste reminded him of that night on the lifeboat after the cruise ship had sunk, when he’d drunk scotch with Logan and Vito—the two guys who had very likely saved his life—and they had all made a vow. They would go back and change one thing about their lives. “Things to do before you die,” they’d called it. And Josh had known straight away what he was going to do.
He was going to get laid.
Nice, simple, no strings sex. Because he hadn’t had sex in…way too long.
Partly because for the last five years he’d poured all his energy into getting his business set up, to the exclusion of all else. Slater Security was a bigger success than he could have ever imagined, but recently he’d found no pleasure in his work.
Which was why, when his company won the contract to provide security for a cruise line, and there had been a last minute opening for chief security officer on the ship, he’d jumped at the job. A nice, relaxing cruise to set his mind straight.
Ha.
But it had given him the time and space to realize that he’d put his life on hold when he’d said “I do.”
The marriage had been a business arrangement. He’d always known he’d never marry for real, so it hadn’t seemed like such a big deal at the time. Except for some reason, in the back of his mind, he’d never been able to shake the thought that he was married. That going with another woman was somehow cheating. Which was crazy.
But, crazy or not, he was going to have to cut ties to his fake wife before he could move on and have that no-strings sex he needed.