Free Twisted Affair: The Complete Series Box Set by M. S. Parker Page A

again if she didn't want to.
    Once we were inside the small break room, she turned toward me, her face expressionless. “I am assuming you did not come here for another drink.”
    I grinned at her. “Actually, I had something I wanted to talk to you about.”
    “I do not want to deceive your father that we are engaged.”
    “Okay,” I said. I hoped she'd get the difference in what I was about to say. “That's not what I want you to do anyway.”
    She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, obviously waiting.
    I pulled out the ring box and opened it. “I want you to marry me for real.”
    Nothing. No change of expression at all.
    I hurried to explain, “But not in the 'I love you' sense for real. I told you last night about my father is forcing me to get married or I’ll be disinherited.” She nodded so I continued, “What I said this morning was impulsive. I didn't plan it, but after you left, I couldn't bring myself to tell my father the truth. Then, I thought, maybe it didn't have to be a lie.”
    She seemed to realize I wasn't joking with her because she sank down in a chair. I took the chair across from her and set the ring between us.
    I suddenly thought of something that would end this quickly. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
    “No.” She tilted her head and gave me a scrutinizing look.
    “Then here's my proposal. Since you're working in this lovely place.” I gestured around us. “I'm assuming you're not rolling in money and I doubt that working at a bar has been your vision of the American dream. I have money but I need a wife for the next three years. If you agree to marry me, I'll pay you a hundred thousand dollars a year, and that's not counting access to the penthouse, cars and things like that. After our third anniversary, you file for divorce and I'll agree to twenty thousand dollars a year, after taxes, for alimony.” I looked down at the ring. “Plus you get to keep the ring and any other gifts you get. And the day we get married, I'll give you a fifty thousand dollar bonus.”
    She didn't respond for nearly a full minute so I finally looked up. She appeared to be thinking.
    “Look, Liv, I completely understand if you think this is crazy and don't want to do it,” I said. “But I figured since I'd already introduced you to my dad – well, more or less – I might as well see if you want to follow through on it.”
    “Livie,” she said.
    “What?”
    “My name. Livie Dusek.” She leaned forward and picked up the ring box. “I do not need to marry for a green card.”
    “Okay,” I said. “Do you already have one?”
    “No,” she said. “But I have applied.”
    “Getting married would help with things in that respect,” I said.
    “I would have conditions of my own.”
    I couldn't believe she was actually considering it. I hadn't realized I'd been certain she’d say no until she didn't. Granted, I still had to hear her conditions, but I'd already considered what I'd do if she asked for more money. I'd pitched the amounts low for bargaining purposes in the first place.
    “No sex.”
    I blinked. I had to have misheard her.
    She made sure to clarify. “There is to be no physical contact between the two of us.” She paused, and then added, “A kiss at the ceremony and the occasional public touch to preserve the illusion will be allowed.”
    Dammit. It wasn't like I'd expected her to jump into bed with me, but I'd assumed things would get there eventually. I mean, a honeymoon was a honeymoon, and it wasn't like I was hideous. Even with Rebecca, I figured I'd get at least something, if only random hook ups just for good sex. Well, maybe not with her, but that was a moot point.
    “This is my only condition,” she said. “We will maintain the appearance of a marriage in public, but we will not be physically intimate.”
    Her only condition? She wasn't going to ask for more money? I sat back in my chair. My father's warning about infidelity buzzed in my head, but I pushed it aside.