"You want to talk about all the times we shagged and I wondered if you were thinking about someone else?"
I watched as her skin went pink from her breast up to her neck, to her pale cheeks. "We never had a problem in the bedroom."
"Well, I made sure you didn't." My personal philosophy was no one went to sleep until my partner came. That morning’s yoga situation was an anomaly. It still didn’t sit right.
She blinked rapidly. "That is uncouth, Edgerton."
I shrugged. "It's also the truth. What do you want, Mina?"
"Look, I saw the papers. The photos of you. I know what they're saying. Playboy Bridge Edgerton, really living up to the moniker. Bridge Edgerton has gone off the rails. Heartbroken. Spinning out. I know that can't be good for you. I am willing to help you."
I laughed genuinely for the first time in weeks. "What? How do you plan on helping me?"
"I know they're making it seem like you're spinning out, but we can spin this. We'll just say we got back together and we've been working things out. We'll make up some bullshit about couple's therapy, and everything will go back to normal. Let's be real; you've missed me."
I tipped the corner of my lip up into a sneer. "Oh yeah? What makes you think I've missed you?"
Her smile was pure evil. "You forgot what happened in your office not too long ago?"
My fucking office, right.
She'd walked in, begging me to take her back, stripped naked, and then straddled my lap. Refused to let me lock the door, hoping someone would interrupt us. And okay, I'd given in. I fucked her the way I'd always wanted to. The way she would never allow.
Completely unrestrained. Mina had been very strict. She only ever had sex in the bed or the shower. Nowhere else. She had zero interest in it. Even in the house, she rarely would let me eat her out, and most of the time she didn't want me touching her breasts.
I wasn't allowed to leave bite marks, beard rash, or other marks on her skin. Everything expertly restrained. For years I thought someone had hurt her, so I'd done my best to be gentle. But that day, I hadn't felt like being gentle, and she'd said and done all the right things. And hatred or not, if I was going to fuck a woman, she was having an orgasm.
She had come—twice. But there had been something in her eyes. They were empty, calculating. And I could see that the whole scene had been about control. And I made a vow that I was never touching her again. I knew from that moment, everything had been a lie.
"Look, this is dangerous for you. I know how you worry about appearances. All you have to say is that it was me you were with. Hell, I'll say it. That we were making up. Everyone will like the love story, and we can go back to our lives."
"Your life? You mean the life I gave you?"
She pressed her lips firmly together. "The life I've gotten accustomed to. I wanted to become Mrs. Bridge Edgerton. But you've been distant for the last several months. I know your friends have poisoned you against me."
"Oh, really? You think it's them? The only one that hated you was Ben. Now I know that the others knew about you. And they thought I loved you enough, so they didn't tell me. Ben though, God, he has always hated you. And he could see it. I don't know why I missed it."
She pursed her lips again. "He just didn't like that I had your time. He's very controlling, you know."
"Right, he's the controlling one. Got it. Get on with it, Mina."
"Fine. I will help you. We’ll get married. Something quick, not big and lavish. Just a hundred people or so. Tasteful. At Hyde Park or something. We'll invite the paparazzi."
"Uh-huh, this sounds amazing. What do you get out of it?"
"You mean besides the honor of being your wife? A ten-million-pound payout. A million pounds a year for ten years. After that, we can go our separate ways. Tell everyone we gave it a good try."
I laughed. "Oh, is that all? Ten million. It's a drop in the bucket."
But she wasn’t done yet. "And well, you're going to give me Belgravia. After all, I decorated it. And the equivalent of one of your hotels, so I can continue to earn money."
I laughed then. "Oh, wow. So all that, and what do I get?"
She tilted her chin and met my gaze. "And then I won't tell anyone about that dirty little secret you have at the Austrian boarding school."
I studied her. I had always thought Mina a magnificent beauty. Her pale alabaster skin. Her dark, sleek hair. There had been something vulnerable about her once. Like she needed taking care of. But I could see now that had been part of the act for me. This Mina was cool and calculating.
I had thought I loved her. I thought she needed me. All those things were appealing to me at the time. But I don't actually think I ever really loved her. Not the way I should have. "Wow, you're just going straight for the blackmail."
"It's not blackmail. I'm just saying, you're already in trouble. For you everything carries on, I don't tell anyone about Austria, and I get my life back."
I pushed myself to my full height then. And that was the only time she took a step back. What? She thought I was going to hurt her? I'd never put my hands on a woman.
You did spank Emma last night.
I ground my teeth just thinking about her. I swallowed hard against the flash of need. The immediate tingling.
Fucking Emma. Intruding on my thoughts right now. It was always inconvenient.
What about all those times you fucked Mina and thought about her?
Nope, I was not doing that. Not right now. I shoved those thoughts back into their locked dungeon in the recesses of my mind where they belonged.
"Well, Mina, you've given me quite a thing to think about."
She sighed. "The clock is ticking. The offer only stands—"
I held up a finger to her, interrupting. "Well, my first answer is not if you were the last fucking woman on earth. Not if your pussy was lined with gold. That's my initial answer. I will come up with one that is more thorough with a little time."
Her eyes went wide. "What did you say to me?"
I slowed down my speech so she could hear me properly. "I said…" I inhaled deeply, wrinkling my nose at that rose water scent she always used. It was always far too much, trying to smell sweet when honestly she was decaying on the inside. "That I wouldn't marry you even if your pussy was lined with gold."
She raised a hand to slap me, and I grinned and tsked. "Uh-uh-uh. Cameras, remember? Cameras."
As it turned out, Mina gave not one fuck about the cameras as her palm connected with my cheek, quick and sharp. The thing was, I think it hurt her hand more than it hurt my face.
I glowered at her. "Now, if you darken my doorstep again, I will have you removed. How did you get up here anyway?"
"Everybody knows me. They know I'm your fiancée. They assume we're still fucking."
"Then I'll fire them. Every single person you talked to from the moment you walked in this place, I will fire them. Don't come here again."
"Why, you—"
I simply stepped back into my loft and closed the door while she was still speaking.
Chapter Five