Free Sweetened With a Kiss by Lexxi Callahan Page A

walk her back up to the party that had suddenly morphed into an engagement party with champagne everywhere.
    Everyone had known but her. And no one had questioned her agreement. What if she’d said no? But he hadn’t actually asked her, had he? He just said we’ll get married and she’d smiled like a little fool. She cringed as the sweet memory lost a little luster. How could she have been so gullible? Now she understood why Jared had avoided her for most of that week prior to the party. And when he danced with her at the party, he’d just cut her off when she’d tried to tell him it was what she really wanted. “You know where to find me when you need me, Jen,” he’d said, then gone back to play with the band again.
    “You know, you never asked me if I wanted to marry you,” she said.
    Blue eyes narrowed on her, but his expression didn’t change.
    “Were you afraid I’d say no?”
    “You’re feeling better,” he announced, changing the subject.
    “Yes, actually much better.” She felt steadier and clearer than she had in a long time.
    “Good,” he said, “Change. Office.” And he was out of the room before she could say anything else.
    She knew she was right. He hadn’t asked her because he hadn’t been sure she would say yes. And he just hadn’t wanted to risk her saying no. Maybe he couldn’t read her mind after all.

Chapter Five
    Even an hour later, riding in the passenger seat of the Range Rover on the way to Sellers Tower, she was surprised at how good she felt. Her skin felt light. Everything was sharper. Brighter. Like the sun had come out from behind a cloud. She had no idea why finding out that she’d been in the accident made her feel better but it did. Because it was the truth, she guessed. And it explained so many things.
    She rested her head back against the leather seat and watched him drive. She’d never let herself look at him for this long at one time before, but now her eyes drank him in. There wasn’t much left, in the hard angles of his face and the unbearably sexy hollows under his cheek bones, of the beautiful boy she’d grown up with. But every line was familiar. The angle of his jaw was more refined. But there was strain around his eyes. He looked tired. He looked worried.
    Worried? Jen shivered as she identified the unfamiliar expression she’d seen flickering around his face in the last twenty-four hours. It took her breath away. Stefan was worried. If she hadn’t seen it for herself...
    “If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t make it out of the parking garage.” he told her. She smiled to herself. She was starting to believe that he didn’t see a child when he looked at her now. And she was still reeling from that whole prom–dress-cotton-candy comment, and the fact that he had not been sure she would say yes if he had bothered to propose on her birthday. The idea that Stefan wasn’t one hundred percent in control of things was disturbing, but it was also exciting.
    “You didn’t have to bring me, you know,” she said. “I actually feel better than I have in a long time.”
    As soon as he cut the engine, he turned in his seat. “I can’t think straight when you’re out of my sight. And I need to think straight today. So you are going upstairs with me, and we aren’t going to argue. And you aren’t going to start up about not marrying me. Got it?”
    “Got it,” she echoed, a strange little thrill curling up inside her. She leaned forward and brushed her fingers across his face. He covered her hand with his and leaned into the caress, pressing his face against her fingers and sending hair line cracks running all over her belief that he was not in love with her.  He cared about her.  She had no doubt about that.  But he wanted to marry her because he felt responsible for her, responsible for the company their fathers had built. He didn’t want to risk losing control of STI.  She understood that, had proof of it. It was just so hard to