Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
“My team drafted these while we were en-route.”
She flipped blindly through the documents, before lifting her eyes to meet his again.
“Prenup,” he said, separating one paper-clipped document from the batch. “Basically, protects us both. What’s mine is mine, what’s yours stays yours. With the exception of Lambecrete (Pty) Ltd.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Where do I sign?”
She looked up in time to see that familiar little frown marring his forehead again.
“You should read it first,” he said, his voice flat with censure. She imagined it offended his lawyerly sensibilities that she didn’t bother to read the document.
“What’s mine is mine, what’s yours stays yours?” she repeated and he nodded, the frown deepening. “That’s good enough for me.”
“Fern, come on…”
“How long is this drive?”
“Another ten minutes, max.”
“I couldn’t read this in an hour, much less ten minutes.” She leaned toward him to nab the heavy pen from his grip and flipped to the last page, where she found a blue sticky tab next to her name. She signed with a flourish and initialed all the required spots, pausing to read those at least—pretty standard stuff really—before handing the contract back to him.
He sighed, sounding aggrieved, while his father looked on with what appeared to be amusement.
“Dad? Witness?”
His father nodded and took the contract from him, using his own expensive platinum pen to sign.
“What are those?” she asked, lifting his pen to point to the other papers in Cade’s massive hand.
“The transfer of Lambecrete to Hawthorne Construction & Engineering. Pending completion of our exchange of marital vows.”
“Gimme,” she said, holding her hand palm up and opening and closing her hand in a grabby motion. “C’mon.”
“You’re sure?”
“I just flew halfway across the world with a couple of strange men, fully intending to marry one of them. Why would I change my mind now?”
Her exhaustion and relief were making her feel giddy and euphoric, and she knew she wasn’t behaving in an appropriately somber manner. Cade probably believed the mood should be slightly more funereal, but Fern was happy and she was optimistic. And she couldn’t suppress either of those emotions.
He sighed heavily and handed her the papers. She took her time flipping through this one, stopping to read all the highlighted clauses that required her initials.
“And this is final, right?” she asked when she’d reached the last page. “He can’t undo this? He can’t take it away from you again?”
“I’d like to see him try,” Cade said with a calm confidence that made Fern’s stomach flip. Who knew self-confidence could be so sexy? It must be nice to be so brilliant at something that it left you in absolutely no doubt of your own competence and capability.
“My son does love a good fight,” James Hawthorne said, his voice brimming with pride. “Gets that from his da, he does.”
“I’m sure he does,” Fern said, levelling a wide smile at her future father-in-law.
Fuck.
Cade had never seen her smile like that before and it transformed her face from plain into something else. Something enthralling and hard to look away from. The way her eyes lit up, and her expression softened. Like she cared deeply about the person she was smiling at, like he meant something to her…
Suddenly Cade resented the hell out of the fact that all of that warmth and—yes—beauty was aimed at his dad. He wanted her to look at him like that. He wanted her to smile at him like he was her entire fucking world. And that freaked him the hell out because he shouldn’t want that.
Realistically he knew that he didn’t want that. But that smile was doing really fucked up things to his body and mind and he resented the hell out of it, while simultaneously craving it with every fiber of his being.
He was glaring at her. He couldn’t control it—he knew he was being an utter twat—and both Fern and his dad became aware of his glowering at the same time. She turned her head to fully face him, and the smile he’d so coveted disappeared in an instant. His dad meanwhile stared at him with raised brows, as if to ask what the hell his problem was.
Cade wished he knew.
He wet his lips and her eyes dropped to follow the movement. Cade found that he liked that, liked her gaze on his mouth. And he couldn’t understand this unforeseen bizarre possessiveness he felt over her. Maybe it was due to the fact that she would be his wife in a matter of mere minutes. Perhaps it went with the territory. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but it confused him and Cade did not like being confused.
This was still the same woman with whom he’d had the worst sex of his life, the same woman who’d lied about a pregnancy to get her way. The same woman who’d allowed her family to treat her like a doormat for a decade and a half. This was not anyone he wanted to get to know, or spend time with.