Free Possessed - Part Three by Coco Cadence

lost my job.”
    “I’ve got the perfect solution to that. You love to write, right? Well, I can now offer you a permanent column in W Magazine.”
    My jaw drops as I blink and stare at him. “What? Are you serious?”
    “Dead serious. I’m not taking no for an answer,” he says with a smirk.
    “But what about Marilyn? She won’t like this; it’s basically circumventing the deal.”
    “What’s done is done; she has no control over me now. She and I made a deal that I’d fire you, and I did. She got what she wanted. She already signed. The marriage is over.”
    I suck in a breath. “So you’re a free man?”
    “I’m as single as can be.” Suddenly, he wraps his hand around my waist and pulls me close. “Not that I want to be … I much preferred the fake marriage life.”
    I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips. “So you’re basically just screwing her over by giving me a whole different job?”
    “Yep, big time, and I don’t regret a thing.” He grins. “Like I said, I always get what I want, and what I want is for you to be happy.”
    “Does that include a certain asshole in my life?” I ask, tilting my head.
    “That depends … do you want him to be there? Because, if not, he’ll still happily take the column writer. The two don’t have to be connected, and I won’t hold it against you if you choose not to want to continue with me, but do want to write for W Magazine.”
    I mull over it a bit, and then a wide grin spreads on my face. “Nah. That’s like asking me to choose between chocolate and Doritos. I like to have them both.”
    He smiles broadly, resting his forehead against mine. I place the bouquet of red roses on a small ledge and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tight. People behind us are still staring and some are even whistling, making me laugh.
    “I love you,” he says. “I love you more than anything in this world, and that says a lot coming from me.”
    I chuckle. “Yeah, it does, actually. You’re such an asshole.”
    “I know, that’s why you love me,” he muses.
    I poke him in the side, and he flinches. “God, you piss me off so much. Sometimes I just can’t stand you. And you hurt me like no man ever has before. I think I hate you more than anyone else.”
    “There’s a thin line between love and hate, Princess,” he muses, winking at me. “The people you despise the most are the people you feel the most for. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to hurt you.”
    “Maybe …” I say.
    “Maybe what?” he says with a soft voice.
    “Maybe I do love you.”
    “You know, I was hoping you’d say that,” he says.
    “Why?” I ask.
    “Well, I want the fake marriage to stop being fake.”
    I frown, confused. “You said she signed. Aren’t you going to tell your parents?”
    “I’d much rather tell them nothing at all and just keep things as the way they were,” he says.
    “No, why? I don’t want to live a lie.”
    “You don’t have to,” he says. “I was hoping we could turn it into something real so we don’t have to pretend anymore.”
    He unwraps his arms but holds onto my hand.
    And then he goes down on one knee.
    “Will you marry me, Samantha Webber?” he asks with a huge smirk on his face. “For real this time?”

Chapter 13
     
     
    With my jaw dropped, I stare at him as he fumbles in his pocket and takes out a little box. When opened, a sparkling diamond ring flashes in the sunlight.
    “What do you say?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.
    I go for the first word that springs to my mind. “Yes!”
    And then I jump him. I literally jump on him, wanting to hug him so badly that I smother him with my breasts. My added weight makes him tumble over and fall ass-first to the ground with me lying on top of him.
    The entire crowd behind us is cheering and clapping, making a lot of noise. My cheeks flush as I wrap my arms around him and he coughs from the lack of oxygen.
    “I guess that’s a definite ‘yes,’” he says,