would I choose? Eventually, I would need a bride. I couldn’t let the company slip into one of my cousin’s hands. I couldn’t lose my current lead position, either. My position kept me sane in this insane world of mine.
Nervousness pooled in my gut, forcing my hand to my cellphone. Text Tia? I know you went on a date. With your ex. He’s wrong for you. He’s nothing.
No, even more pathetic. Don’t grovel for her. Never, ever, grovel. I would never beg. The fact that I’d come so close enraged me.
What had I become?
I looked over the women again. Few remained. As more were sent packing, I would eventually be left with a difficult decision. I would need to pick between two….
Tia would’ve been the easy choice.
Since she threw in the towel, it would probably come down to Anna, Cara, and Jayne—none of which I could see myself living the rest of my life with. Maybe that was best. A marriage of convenience. We wouldn’t even need to see each other. In that case, we wouldn’t be at each other’s throats.
Anna flipped over on her chair. The Southern girl had a killer figure with her tiny bikini, oiled skin, and curves in all the right places—but simply not enough for me. Anna had a spunky personality, but I never had a deep conversation with her, if she was even capable of one. I highly suspected that her drawl was a put on. Maybe she was a failed actress who thought this was her shot at climbing the ladder.
Cara was more of a tom girl. I got along with her the most, but she was more of a friend than a potential mate, which spelled doom for us. She was also the choice that my father would like the least, not counting Tia.
The third choice, Jayne Clayton, awoke from her sunbathing and strutted over to me, the towel wrapped around her flared hips rocking with each step. She directed my attention from her sparkling blue eyes to the halo like effect of her platinum blond hair. She looked like Grace Kelly standing before me.
She was my father’s pick. Jayne was the smartest choice. Our marriage would unite two of the biggest oil companies in the world. She pretty much ran her company with an iron fist ever since her father went senile.
“I noticed you glaring. Don’t think I didn’t notice you looking,” she said and shifted a lithe hand to a supple hip. “You’re thinking...oh God, I have to choose one of these girls.”
I quirked my brows at her as if asking, “Uh huh, so what’s it to you?”
Like an evil villain in every movie, she would eventually tell me what she planned on doing with me.
“You came to the conclusion that I made the most sense.”
She took a step closer. Her cold fingers brushed my elbow.
“Why don’t you stop this charade and announce it? I’m going to be your final decision anyway, because you’re a smart man. You understand that there’s more at stake here than what you personally want. Infatuation doesn’t last long. People get tired of one another. Even love doesn’t last forever. The best marriages are the ones based on function. Our function? To unite and form one of the wealthiest companies in the world.”
I stared blankly at her.
After a confident smirk, she unlatched her bony fingers.
“Do you need to be enticed, Lucas? Please tell me you don’t.” She cocked her head. Jayne couldn’t understand me.
How depressing that this could be my future wife. Perhaps it wasn’t the furniture that I should’ve thrown overboard, but myself instead.
“Thank you, Jayne.” I said, unflinching.
Jayne seemed relieved I didn’t ask for sex. On our wedding day she would promise me something. What a joy—consummation with that frigid woman. Perhaps we could do a PowerPoint presentation on what it would be like?
She was right about one thing—I was a reasonable man. No one from our world denied money, and the marriage between us would mean lots and lots of money. If I denied it, she would run to my father, and then he would come back and take everything
Nervousness pooled in my gut, forcing my hand to my cellphone. Text Tia? I know you went on a date. With your ex. He’s wrong for you. He’s nothing.
No, even more pathetic. Don’t grovel for her. Never, ever, grovel. I would never beg. The fact that I’d come so close enraged me.
What had I become?
I looked over the women again. Few remained. As more were sent packing, I would eventually be left with a difficult decision. I would need to pick between two….
Tia would’ve been the easy choice.
Since she threw in the towel, it would probably come down to Anna, Cara, and Jayne—none of which I could see myself living the rest of my life with. Maybe that was best. A marriage of convenience. We wouldn’t even need to see each other. In that case, we wouldn’t be at each other’s throats.
Anna flipped over on her chair. The Southern girl had a killer figure with her tiny bikini, oiled skin, and curves in all the right places—but simply not enough for me. Anna had a spunky personality, but I never had a deep conversation with her, if she was even capable of one. I highly suspected that her drawl was a put on. Maybe she was a failed actress who thought this was her shot at climbing the ladder.
Cara was more of a tom girl. I got along with her the most, but she was more of a friend than a potential mate, which spelled doom for us. She was also the choice that my father would like the least, not counting Tia.
The third choice, Jayne Clayton, awoke from her sunbathing and strutted over to me, the towel wrapped around her flared hips rocking with each step. She directed my attention from her sparkling blue eyes to the halo like effect of her platinum blond hair. She looked like Grace Kelly standing before me.
She was my father’s pick. Jayne was the smartest choice. Our marriage would unite two of the biggest oil companies in the world. She pretty much ran her company with an iron fist ever since her father went senile.
“I noticed you glaring. Don’t think I didn’t notice you looking,” she said and shifted a lithe hand to a supple hip. “You’re thinking...oh God, I have to choose one of these girls.”
I quirked my brows at her as if asking, “Uh huh, so what’s it to you?”
Like an evil villain in every movie, she would eventually tell me what she planned on doing with me.
“You came to the conclusion that I made the most sense.”
She took a step closer. Her cold fingers brushed my elbow.
“Why don’t you stop this charade and announce it? I’m going to be your final decision anyway, because you’re a smart man. You understand that there’s more at stake here than what you personally want. Infatuation doesn’t last long. People get tired of one another. Even love doesn’t last forever. The best marriages are the ones based on function. Our function? To unite and form one of the wealthiest companies in the world.”
I stared blankly at her.
After a confident smirk, she unlatched her bony fingers.
“Do you need to be enticed, Lucas? Please tell me you don’t.” She cocked her head. Jayne couldn’t understand me.
How depressing that this could be my future wife. Perhaps it wasn’t the furniture that I should’ve thrown overboard, but myself instead.
“Thank you, Jayne.” I said, unflinching.
Jayne seemed relieved I didn’t ask for sex. On our wedding day she would promise me something. What a joy—consummation with that frigid woman. Perhaps we could do a PowerPoint presentation on what it would be like?
She was right about one thing—I was a reasonable man. No one from our world denied money, and the marriage between us would mean lots and lots of money. If I denied it, she would run to my father, and then he would come back and take everything
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