“We’ll be married by the end of the year, guaranteed,” he said, deciding not to prolong this explanation when she opened her mouth to cut him off and most likely tell him to go to hell. “But first, we are going to date, which means that all this bullshit about keeping what’s going on between us a secret ends now.”

“And if I don’t agree to this?” she asked with a stubborn glint in her eye as she crossed her arms over her chest and tried her best to stare him down, which was just fucking sad.

“Well,” he said, leaning back down to brush his lips against hers, making sure to tease her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and nearly forgetting himself when she moaned softly before he remembered his purpose, “until you start letting everyone know just how much I mean to you, Marybeth, I’m going to keep my dirty little hands off your delectable little body.”

Chapter 13

God, would this night never end? she wondered as she glanced over her shoulder to find the manipulative bastard following her up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” she couldn’t help but ask, especially after that little declaration that he’d just delivered.

“Going to bed,” he said, looking adorably confused.

“I see,” she murmured as she pointed to the right, “then you must be lost, because your apartment is over there.”

“I sleep better with you,” he said with a shrug and a yawn that had her turning right back around and walking the rest of the way up the stairs, wondering why she hadn’t killed him yet.

“That’s really too bad, because I believe that you just decided that you’d be sleeping alone for the time being,” she said, taking some perverse satisfaction that she would get the last word on the subject tonight.

“I don’t remember saying that,” he said, sounding thoughtful as he followed her into her bedroom and started pulling off his clothes and tossing them aside.

“Then what was that little declaration downstairs?” she asked, yanking her top-drawer open and grabbed a pair of pale yellow lacy panties before slamming the door shut.

“You mean my marriage proposal?” he asked, making her right eye twitch.

“That wasn’t a proposal,” she bit out, storming off towards the bathroom, only pausing long enough to reach down and snatch up his discarded shirt.

“Then what would you call it?” he asked, pulling back the covers and climbed in her bed with a satisfied sigh that had her hands twitching with the need to strangle the cocky bastard.

“Typical Bradford bullshit,” she snapped, shaking her head in disgust as she headed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut simply because it felt good to do it.

“Because I want to marry you?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Shut up!” she snapped, hating him more with every passing second.

“Aw, is little Marybeth mad that she can’t have her dirty little way with me?” he asked in the most condescending tone that she’d ever heard and that was saying a lot since she’d grown up around Bradfords.

“Bastard,” she muttered, grabbing her toothbrush and squeezed an insane amount of toothpaste on the bristles before she shoved her toothbrush in her mouth and took her frustration out on her teeth.

“Admit that you’re in love with me and I might consider letting you have your dirty little way with me,” he said, sounding way too pleased with himself, she decided.

She should just accept that things were over between them and move on. It was the right thing to do and she’d probably never get a better opportunity than this, but she just couldn’t do it. It went against everything that she believed in to let the manipulative bastard get away with this.

Jaw clenched, she decided that if he wanted to play games with her that was fine, because she was more than capable of taking this to the next level, something that he should have considered when he’d come up with this asinine plan. Ten minutes later she was showered, her hair was brushed, her makeup touched up and she was wearing his shirt sans panties.

Biting back a smile, she opened the bathroom door and bit back a smile when she saw Darrin, lying back on her bed wearing a cocky smile that told her everything that she was about to do to him was completely justified.

*-*-*-*            

“Get out,” Marybeth said as she walked into the room, pulling the long beautiful black hair that he loved running his fingers through at night, up into a messy ponytail. The movement caused his shirt to ride a little higher, revealing the curve behind her knee, which was one of his favorite places to kiss.

“Sorry,” he said with a long drawn out sigh just to piss her off because it amused him and helped take his mind off the fact that he’d just condemned himself to a week or two of celibacy, “I just can’t do that.”

Shaking her head, she sighed heavily as she walked over to what he liked to think of as her side of the bed and yanked open the nightstand drawer. “Fine then stay,” she said, sounding irritated as she reached in the drawer, “but this might be awkward.”

“What might be awkward?” he asked with a frown as he watched her, wondering if she was going to try and use some bullshit excuse to kick him out of this bed.

It wasn’t happening.

He was staying.

End. Of. Story.

“Your replacement,” she said as she pulled her hand away and closed the drawer.

“My-Oh, fuck…no,” he said on a groan when she held up the small little pink tube that he’d bought for her last year when he had to make a trip up to New Hampshire for a week of training and wanted to make their late night chats a little more interesting.