Lie to Me (26 page)

“Congratulations.” He slid his thumb across her cheekbone. “You’re a free woman.”

Confused, she peered at the computer screen, but his fingers flew over the keyboard, and a different document popped up as a whirring noise sounded. He opened a drawer, revealing a hotel-issued printer, and snatched up the printout.

“Yours.” He handed the sheets of paper to her. “Proof you’re free. To clarify, I don’t own you, and you’re not my property. Neither can you ever be forced to serve another. My wedding gift to you.”

Head spinning, she accepted the documents as she attempted to wrap her brain around what’d just transpired. “We’re no longer married?”

That thought should’ve relieved her, but instead saddened her. Would he now marry Katarina? She couldn’t blame him since the woman was stunning. Poised, she’d carried herself regally despite her despondency at losing Stone’s affection. Even though Kella had been a blonde for the past eight years, she’d envied Katarina’s flawless skin, amazing blue eyes, and golden-blonde hair. She and Stone would make beautiful babies.

“Sorry to disappoint, sunshine, but we’re still very much married.”

Relief surged through her at the confession. But then more questions surfaced. “I don’t understand. You’ve freed me, but we’re still married. How does that work?”

He retrieved more papers from the printer and handed those to her. “My contractual offer.” She took the next stack and skimmed through the points, as he expounded on his proposal. “My initial offer provided you with the protection of my name for a term of five years. During that time, no consummation of the wedding would take place. You were too young.”

Kella refrained from mentioning she’d lost her innocence soon after their marriage.

“After five years, on your nineteenth birthday, you would’ve been granted your freedom. At that time, I’d planned to officially propose to you. If you said yes, we remained married. If you declined, I granted you a no-fault divorce and gave you immediate freedom like in the document I handed you first.” This contract was a much different beast altogether from the original one he outlined. “The new contract grants your immediate freedom and requires you to remain with me one month for every year I lost for a total of eight months. No obligation of sex. At the end of that eight-month period, if you decline my marriage proposal, I’ll grant you the no-fault divorce originally promised.”

Kella couldn’t catch her breath. He offered her a way out free and clear with no need to run and hide. It was what she wanted. Right? Then why was she more torn than ever before?

“If you agree to the terms, it requires our signature.” Stone presented her with a pen. “Take your time reading it.”

“Why would you offer me this?” He had to know he made a huge gamble with the proposal.

“Can’t you just accept this as proof I’m not the big bad wolf you thought I was?” At her headshake, he went on. “You never were the trusting sort, even made me earn it as kids. I’ll teach you to trust me again.” His thumb slid across her bottom lip. “All I’ve ever wanted was
you
, Kella. No games, or the X-gene between us, just us making a decision to be together.”

“I can’t have kids.” She felt compelled to remind him. “Your line would end with you.”

A slight pause from him as if he debated disclosing something of import. “I don’t care. That’s even spelled out in the contract. Section nine, clause three.”

Silence fell between them as she read the contact. Twice. It was straightforward with no hidden agendas.

“Section eight says sexual favors are to be negotiated and mutually agreed upon by the parties over the eight-month contractual term. But you said no sex.” Kella looked up, but he’d drawn closer, getting in her personal space. His heat warmed her, while his pheromones warmed another part of her anatomy. She craned her head back to catch his gaze.

“You’re all grown up now, Kella. The rules have changed. I didn’t say no sex, I said no obligation of sex.”

Flashes of their shower earlier exploded in her head. The feeling of his hands sliding over her body, the shivers of delight that puckered her flesh, and the sweet ache between her thighs. She’d known he could handle the ache. His touch promised to do just that if she’d just accept him.

“That contract guarantees I’ll never lie to you. It’s voided if I do. Ditto for you.”

She nodded. She’d thought that clause interesting. There wasn’t a way to determine their honesty, but the boy she’d known would’ve lived up to a handshake. A written agreement he would’ve taken even more seriously. Her biggest dilemma now was that she wasn’t sure she could trust the man the way she had the boy.

There was even a paragraph mentioning her dig and savings. She retained ownership one hundred percent. That was so unexpected she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Part of that contract is learning to trust one another.” This agreement spoke very loudly to his integrity. He could demand everything, and she couldn’t stop him. “I want to make love to you, Kella, but I’ll never coerce you or force you. That’s not the type of man I am.”

“I know.”

“Then give me eight months.” She bit her bottom lip, and he must’ve sensed her indecision because he said, “What’s eight months compared to the eight years you’ve spent evading me?”

“I’m free to move about as I please without answering to you?”

He paused over that question, eyeing her. “What are you up to, Kella?”

“Nothing, just making sure I can work at my dig without you balking.” She took the pen from him, praying he bought that half-truth.

“I’ll spend time there with you.”

“Why?”

“To gain a better understanding of what you do as a relic pirate...and
why
you do it.”

“You know why I’m a
vintage archeologist
.” Kella flipped the contract to the last page and wrote in an additional clause:

“Add Emmerson to your name.” She looked up at him, realizing he leaned closer to get a better gander at what she wrote. Before she could argue his request, he said, “It’s your legal name, and this is a legally binding document.”

Acknowledging the wisdom in that suggestion, she modified her name and added in her married name according to his instructions.

She handed him the agreement, and he read the amendment in silence. “I’m not saying we’ll have sex, but I felt this should be spelled out just in case.”

“Agreed,” he said a moment later, but his energy seemed lighter than a moment before. “Add this in as a separate clause. ‘The parties agree to remain in Quad2 during the eight-month duration so the wife can oversee her dig, but if the bride should become pregnant, all parties agree to return to Quad13 immediately’. For safety reasons of the unborn child.”

Unable to argue the reasonableness of that addendum, she penned his demand below hers as X(1). “How will you manage your kingdom from here?”

“Dad’s holding down the fort for now.” Remembering his father’s vicious words and actions on the night of her auction, she shivered. Former Regent Peter Emmerson was not a man she ever wanted to see again, and she sure as hell never wanted him as part of her child’s life. “I have the teleport machine and can go back and forth as much as I’m needed. There’s videoconferencing too. I’ll manage.”

“Why would you agree to remain here?” Sacrificing his Regency even for eight months confused her.

“I know you want to finish excavating your site.”

They stared at one another while she processed his answer. The warm fuzzies were exploiting her pathetic emotions because he’d thought about the importance of her dig. No, he’d thought about
her
and what was important to her. But she knew there was more. She sensed he’d refrained from confessing the totality of his reason. “And?” He elevated his eyebrows, his silent way of requesting more information. “There’s more to it than that, Stone. If you lie now before the contract’s signed, how can I trust you to be honest afterward?”

“Omission isn’t a lie.” His fingers traveled through his hair. She’d begun to realize he made that move when he was frazzled. “And I have a debt to settle with Regent Jones. That has as much to do with you as it does me. I’ll send a profound message through him.”

“Which is?”

“No man fucks with you without feeling my full wrath.”

Jesus Christ, moisture leaked from her core. What was it about his need for vengeance that got her all hot and bothered?

“Anything else you wish to add?” He nodded toward the contract in her grasp.

She shook her head. “Not that I can think of.”

“You want to sign first or me?”

Nervous over making this decision, probably the biggest one of her life, Kella handed him the pen. Without an ounce of hesitation, he scrawled his signature above his name. Tamping down her strange excitement, she placed her autograph on the document below his.

We really just did that
.

Giddy at the idea of him being hers for eight months without the X-gene between them, she saw his prior actions through a different set of lenses. In hindsight, maybe she should’ve given him the benefit of the doubt when he bought her at auction. Maybe his dad had lied. And maybe she should reveal the truth of that night to Stone.

The moment she rested the ballpoint atop the agreement, he hooked his finger in the belt of the robe she wore, and used the sash to tug her against him. Off balance, her palms landed on his chest to steady her footing. He released the tie with a few twists of his fingers. The front of the robe parted enough to reveal her cleavage, but the way their abdomens aligned together maintained the rest of her modesty.

Stone thrust his hand beneath the material and roped his arm around her waist, hauling her up and against his chest. Her tiptoes dragged against the floor, while his other hand palmed the back of her head.

“Seal our deal with a kiss, sunshine.”

A request she could choose to accept or decline. Kella liked kissing Stone, but she forgot herself when they engaged in the activity. “That’s probably unwise.”

“We’re married for the next eight months. Nothing we do together is unwise.”

She laughed, and his features softened a touch. “That’s not true, Stone. Most everything we did together growing up was unwise.” Not to mention, she risked losing her heart to him if she relaxed toward him even just a little.

“Name one thing we did that was rash.”

“Runner.”

He grinned. “Excellent pet.”

“That mountain lion thought he’d be a better meal than our pet. Had we been smart we would’ve given Runner to the lion.” They’d found the wolf cub orphaned. The cub’s eyes had still been closed, and there’d been blood all around the site, so they’d surmised the lion moving in for the kill had probably already slaughtered the rest of Runner’s siblings. Determined to save him from the lion, they’d thrown rocks at the cat which had succeeded in pissing off the feline instead of running her off. Thankfully, James had arrived in the nick of time to scare her away by shooting at her or Kella and Stone would’ve been mauled trying to save the wolf cub. Satan had been furious. His face had turned so red she’d feared he’d suffer an aneurysm or have a heart attack. It’d been the one time she’d truly feared James Monroe.

“The best moments of my youth were getting into trouble with you.” He lowered his head, and she thought he’d kiss her, but instead he nuzzled her ear. “Be my reckless bride and kiss me.”

Stone turned his head, his lips dragging along her cheek to hover over her lips, tempting her with their closeness. Their gazes met, and their breaths mingled and became one. Kella skated her hands up his chest to circle his shoulders...and leaned forward until their lips meshed. His hand on her waist tightened, and his fingers in her hair slid downward to knead her nape—and he took over. His tongue dove inside her mouth, tangling and dancing with hers, growing more frenzied as the seconds lapsed, until he broke the kiss.

“The reality is better than the fantasy,” he said against her lips.

Kella struggled to process anything other than the texture of his body against hers, and his breath striking her face. “Huh?”

“I used to imagine what it’d be like to kiss you.” Turning abruptly, he carried her to the bed and settled her on the mattress, with her legs dangling over the side. Leaning over her, he pushed apart her robe and slid his gaze along her body. “You wearing a bikini right before your fourteenth birthday is burned into my memory. Naked is
much
better than the bikini. I wanted to kiss you all the way from here”—he stroked his finger along her lips to indicate where—“to here.” He trailed two fingers down her throat to circle a nipple. Breath hitching, Kella bit her bottom lip, as his fingers traversed lower across her belly. “And ending here.” Stone elevated his gaze and held hers as he touched her vaginal lips in a wispy stroke, decimating her ability to suck in air. His eyes darkened as she focused on inhaling and exhaling. “You’re already wet for me.”

He removed his touch from between her thighs and towed his damp pads along her lips. Instinctually she went to lick the moisture off, but he lowered his head and licked her dew away himself. Stone groaned and thrust his tongue into her mouth.

“You ever fantasize about me, Kella?” he asked, going back to stroking her nipple.

Kella had to concentrate hard on the question and not the way he touched her. “I wore the bikini to get your notice. I was a different person then.”

That truth served as a douse of cold water. She pushed up onto her elbows and would’ve slid away, but he halted her by releasing her nipple and giving her breast a slight squeeze. With her getaway stalling out, she glanced down at his hold on her.

“We’re both different now.” His thumb began to circle her peak, and she felt her wet response between her thighs. “Doesn’t mean I stopped wanting you. I just want different things. Right now I want leisure time so I can make you climax and watch you experience pleasure for the first time.”