“I don’t want to marry you,” she said, making her words as clear as possible.
“Why not?”
She was going to kill him and it wasn’t going to be her fault. “I don’t know you. Despite what your ego-inflated brain tells you, I don’t particularly like you. I’m not interested in getting married for some arcane sociological reason and I think a single parent can do a perfectly excellent job.”
“We could try.”
What was with him? Why did he keep pushing? And why was she both furious and incredibly sad?
“I don’t want to try. Not with you.”
“Okay. So it’s not me,” he said. “You object to marriage in general.”
“I do not. I want to get married. Someday.” When men stopped lying to her. “Just not now and not to you. You’re a man who assumes all women are after his money. I couldn’t stand that.”
“You’re saying you’d object to a prenuptial agreement? Protecting my assets is only reasonable.”
Right now he should be a whole lot more worried about his ass than his assets, she thought grimly as she briefly glanced around, looking for something sharp so she could stab him.
“You need to go,” she said between gritted teeth. “Seriously, I have work to do. I know you don’t understand how I could possibly turn down your incredibly flattering offer. Based on your view of women, there must be thousands who would take the plunge, especially after such a romantic proposal. Be still my heart. Wait. It is.”
One corner of his mouth twitched, as if he found this funny. That made her want to grind him into dust.
“So much energy,” he said in an infuriatingly soothing tone. “Makes me wonder what you’re hiding. Getting married isn’t all that unexpected a concept, Julie. So what are you really upset about?”
She stood. “This has been fabulous. We should do it again. Maybe have a party, exchange gift bags.”
He stood and walked around to her side of the table, took her hand and pushed her back into a corner of the room. One where they were out of sight of anyone walking by.
“I’m not going to leave this alone,” he said, staring into her eyes and making her thighs whimper. “Whatever you say, whatever you do, I’m sticking around. This is my child and my life, too. Don’t think you can hide from me forever.”
Then he kissed her. Right there in the office, in front of an empty conference table and a display cabinet holding some very expensive crystal pieces.
He pressed his lips to hers in a move that was both erotic and possessive. The heat was as instantaneous as it was intense. Her fingers itched to grab hold of him and never let go. The rest of her body just wanted to be naked and plastered against his.
She fought against her desire to deepen the kiss, but before she could either win or lose the battle, he stepped back.
“Have the paperwork drawn up for the retainer agreement and sent over to my office,” he said. “I’ll messenger it back with a check.”
What? Oh, yeah. Work. “I’m not interested in working with you.”
“Maybe not, but you want the account, so you’ll suffer. And Julie?”
She carefully wiped her mouth with her fingers before answering. “Yes?”
“How ever much you try to deny it—I know the truth. You do like me.”
“I love bagels,” Marina said as she emptied the bag. “I love the smell of them toasting, slathering them with cream cheese, taking them out onto the patio and eating one while sipping coffee and reading the Sunday paper.”
Julie glanced at Willow. “Okay, I’m suddenly hungry. How about you?”
“Starved. Mom won’t be back for another half hour or so. We could snack.”
“There’s plenty to choose from.”
In one of those unexpected quirks of fate, Julie had finished up all her work on Friday and hadn’t had to go into the office on Saturday morning. With nothing to fill her time except brooding, she decided to go to the farmer’s market and wander around. She’d indulged herself with tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, a sinfully gooey Danish and a baker’s dozen of fresh bagels that she’d shared with her sisters.
Marina pulled out the three bagels she would take home with her and put them in a separate bag. “So how are you feeling?”
“Good.”
“Not that I need to know,” Marina continued as if her sister hadn’t spoken. “I’m used to you keeping things from me.”
Julie groaned. “I invited you to join Willow and me last week, but you had that microbiology class.”
“Inorganic chemistry, but thanks for being interested.”
“Marina, come on. I told you as soon as you got home.”
“Yes, you did.” Her sister smiled at her. “So I still love you.”
“Great. Another conditional relationship. What happened to unconditional love forever?”
“We put it in the recycling bin,” Willow said helpfully. “It’s too late to get it back. They’ve already picked up.” She dumped the container of blueberries that had cost a fortune from the colander into a bowl. “Berry?”
“Thanks.” Julie grabbed a handful as she sank onto a stool by the center island.
“What’s wrong?” Marina asked. “You seem, I don’t know, not yourself.”
“I’m fine. Sort of.”
Willow wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound good. Are you sick? Too much queasiness?”
“No. I can handle that. It’s just …” Julie hadn’t decided if she was going to mention Ryan’s stupid proposal, but suddenly she couldn’t keep it to herself.
“He came to see me yesterday,” she began.
“Ryan?” Marina asked helpfully.
Julie nodded. “He made an appointment. He’s dangling his company’s China business in front of me and I don’t like it. One of the partners met him and now sees flashing dollar signs. It would be a lot in billable hours.”
“Which sounds good,” Willow said cautiously. “So what’s the problem?”
“I don’t trust him. What if he’s just playing another sick, twisted game? What if he sets this all up and then disappears, taking his billable hours with him? I would look stupid in front of the partners. It wouldn’t be good for my career.”
Marina and Willow glanced at each other and then at her.
“Um, don’t take this wrong,” Willow said quietly, “but why would he do that? What does he have to gain?”
“I don’t know. Just to screw with me. Don’t forget this was a guy intent on teaching me a lesson, even though he’d never met me and knew nothing about me.”
“That was wrong,” Marina said. “But this is totally different. Julie, I can’t believe he wants to hurt your career. You’re having a baby together—why would he want to hurt the mother of his child?”
“To get control. That’s all he cares about.”
Julie knew she didn’t sound exactly rational, but she couldn’t seem to keep a grip on her emotions. “I just …” She swallowed and found herself fighting tears. “Okay, I’m weak. That’s