Accidentally Married to the Billionaire 3(22)

“I knew you would. But it was fun to toy with you.”

“I’m just glad the interview’s over, and we got the outcome we needed. Do you think this will go a long way to reassure your stockholders?”

“Who knows? They’re a crotchety lot, those stockholders, but as long as I’m married and meeting the terms of the will by all appearances, I don’t see how they can make much fuss. Lena, however, can always cause drama wherever she goes. And don’t think for a second that this is anything but a stay of execution. She and her team will keep coming after us again and again.”

“Until what?”

“Until she wins or until one of us drops dead, I guess.”

“That doesn’t sound like a cheerful prospect. That being said, I hope it’s her.”

“Me, too. I don’t actually wish her dead. I just wish she’d get a hobby.”

“You mean a hobby besides trying to wrest your father’s legacy out of your grasp and getting Botox? Because those keep her pretty busy. Not much time leftover for golf or anything like that.”

“A new man, perhaps. Someone wealthy who can take her on a Mediterranean cruise for a few years would be perfect.”

“I can’t imagine she’d argue with that. Hey, should we hire her an escort or something? Hire a guy to romance her and take her great places and distract her!”

“You mean bankroll a gigolo? I’m not in the business of human trafficking not even if it would get Lena off my ass. It would be fantastic if she found someone to wine and dine her, but I’m not willing to pay an actor or—worse, a sex worker—to distract my stepmother.”

“You’re so all-American WASP, I swear. If I had that kind of money, I could pull everybody’s strings. I would rain down manipulations on them and target their wildest dreams to distract them, blackmail them, bring them all under my control!” Marj said with a theatrical villainous laugh. “Maybe I’d even get revenge on my ex.”

“I’m startled by your...continued resentment against someone who isn’t even in your life now.”

“It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I loved him with everything I had. And my life has not been a piece of cake.”

“I know that. It’s just…well…do you still love him, Marj?” he said with a wry shake of his head, “I’m upset that the mention of this man can still distress you. It says something worrying about our relationship. What if you’re not over him?”

“Do you seriously want to talk about the relationship? Because I wasn’t aware you were a woman,” she deadpanned.

“Right, women want a sensitive man until he starts to talk about feelings,” he said.

“Does it seriously bug you? Like that I’m pissed at Luke? And you should be mad at him too. He almost cost us everything!”

“Luckily you raced up that tree and confronted that photographer.”

They both burst out in laughter.

Brandon smirked. “What would you have done if the press would’ve come out and seen you up there trying to smash some poor dude’s camera?”

“Say he was being attacked by an angry squirrel and that I was just grabbing his camera to knock the ferocious beast off?”

Brandon broke out in more laughter. “That would’ve never worked, darling.”

“Lucky you came out. Or I would’ve been up shit creek without a paddle.”

“When one of your caterers told me you left with a man out the back door, I had to check it out discreetly.”

“And you found me on top of a very skinny man. That couldn’t have looked very good.”

“I know the fiend,” he said. “He’s trailed me before. Total sleezeball. He’s scared of his own shadow. I would’ve loved to see his face when you charged up the tree like a roaring bear.”

“He was petrified!”

They laughed again.

“I heard your ex didn’t get paid for his little appearance,” Brandon said. “Lena was furious with him and that photographer.”

“Good.”

“Are you hurt that Luke did that to you?” he asked.

“When he told me he still had feelings, I felt nothing. Whatever we had died a long time ago. But I’m still mad that he’d use me like that.”

“I just don’t want him getting in the way of us.”

“It won’t. It’s in the past, and he has no part of my life now. I hope that reassures you.”

“No. I don’t feel adequately reassured. We should have sex. And cuddle,” he said, and she whacked him in the head with a pillow.

Soon they were laughing and pillow fighting all across the bed. Marj crouched over him and kissed his lips, tugging his bottom lip toward her with her teeth, sucking on his tongue, straddling his stomach until he was peeling off her tank top. He pushed back her hair, taking handfuls of it and holding it back so he could passionately kiss her neck. She rubbed and writhed against him, and he flipped her onto her back, pressing her down into the mattress and kissing her. Pinned beneath him, Marj wound her arms and legs around Brandon, giggling and kissing him back.