Swallowing hard, she opened her mouth and set him free, “I want a divorce.”

“I see,” he murmured thoughtfully as her grip tightened around the menu.

“Good,” she whispered. “Garrett could probably have the papers drawn up and-Ooomph!” she ended on a grunt when she suddenly found herself on the bed, lying across Darrin’s lap.

“Now, where were we?” the smug bastard asked as he settled her across his lap and used his large arms to keep her there.

“Let me go, Darrin!” she snapped as she tried to escape, but the big jerk wouldn’t let her up.

“Not until we get a few things cleared up,” he said, shifting on the bed with a sigh as he made himself more comfortable while she lay there, groaning when the move jostled her a bit.

“First thing,” he said, placing his hand on her ass, “we are not getting a divorce.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off before she could correct him. “I’m done playing games, sweetheart,” he said, absently massaging her bottom.

“We’re not staying married,” she said, reaching back to-

“Ow!” he snapped, yanking his hand away from her bottom, “stop pinching me!”

“Are you going to let me go?” she demanded, giving up on trying to wiggle her way to freedom since she already knew that it was pointless.

“No,” he said, emphasizing his refusal by returning his hand to her ass and giving her cheek a rebellious squeeze that dared her to do something about it.

Rolling her eyes as she shook her head in disgust, she reached back and-

“You dirty rotten son of a bitch!” she snapped when he grabbed her by her wrist and restrained her arm gently behind her back.

“Since we’re staying married,” he said, continuing to massage her bottom and making her bite her lip as she struggled not to lick her lips, “you can feel free to openly worship me in public now.”

She rolled her eyes.

She really couldn’t help it.

“Just keep it rated G when we’re around my family and children. I know how you get carried away when you touch me,” he said, sounding completely serious.

“Yeah, it’s a real struggle,” she said dryly, trying to pull her hand free as he continued to paw her ass.

“I know,” he said with a patronizing ass rub, “I know.”

Her lips twitched even as she rolled her eyes and gave up trying to pull her arm free. Sighing, she reached over and grabbed a pillow with her free hand and decided to get more comfortable since she knew from experience that she could be here for a while. He’d used this same method with her to get her to agree to attend prom with him.

“I realize that we had a bit of a rough start to this marriage, but-”

She snorted at that. “You mean when you gave me an ultimatum, leaving me with no choice but to marry you?”

“Well-”

“And even after I agreed to marry you, you refused to listen to a word that I said. Instead, you dragged me across state lines, made the Justice of the Peace cry before you dragged me back across state lines all while giving me the silent treatment only to drop me off at my door without a word and pretend that I didn’t exist for the past three weeks? You mean that rough start?” she asked with a mocking sweetness that any Bradford could appreciate.

He released a long-suffering sigh, letting her know that it was going be a long afternoon and making her regret passing up on that extra bag of nuts the stewardess had offered her on the plane.

“I was giving you some time to come to terms with the honor that I’ve bestowed upon you.”

“By being an asshole?” she asked, pulling her arm free when she felt him release her hand and used it to snuggle her pillow as she waited for him to get to his point and let her go so that she could go for his balls.

“I didn’t want you to get overwhelmed by your good fortune.”

“By being forced to get married?” she pointedly asked as he continued to rub her ass and back, which she’d have to admit was nice after spending the past three weeks missing him.

“That’s not how I remember it,” he said absently as he ran his hand over her back in a soothing caress that had her closing her eyes and savoring his touch.

“And how exactly do you remember it?” she managed to ask on a soft moan as he ran his hand down between her shoulder blades.

“That you were so overset with joy that you couldn’t contain yourself,” he said dryly and if he had been anyone else, she probably would have rolled over and punched the jerk for what he’d done.

Instead, she settled for enjoying his touch, that is until he ruined everything by reminding her that she loved him too much to do this to him.

“I’m sorry about the last three weeks, sweetheart. I know I fucked this up. I love you, Marybeth, and I don’t need children to make me happy, not as long as I have you.”

Chapter 24

“What the fuck just happened?” he asked, staring at their hotel door as he struggled to figure how he’d ended up here.

One minute he’d been apologizing for fucking up and telling her how much she meant to him and the next…

She’d somehow managed to shove him off the bed, drag him to the door by his ear and shove him out the door before he could stop her.

“Are you okay, sir?” a man asked, drawing his attention to large man with pepper black hair and sun kissed skin, wearing a blue blazer and an earpiece.