“We need to talk.”
“Obviously or why else would you be here?”
“I could think of a handful of reasons, and that’s only referring to us.”
She scoffed out a snide chuckle. “Us?”
“Would you rather I let you go in unprepared like I was?”
“Go where?” Her eyebrows pinched together. “What am I unprepared for?”
“For the deal of a lifetime.”
“What deal?”
“The one where you carry my last name.”
“Enough, Tristian! You’ve truly lost your mind if you think that’s ever going to happen.”
“I’ve never been more sound of mind, kitten.”
“Tristian,” she stressed through a tight jaw. “Stop calling me that. I hated it back then, and nothing has changed. If anything, I despise it more than I used to.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
“Your time is up.” With that, she snapped around, angrily rushing toward her desk. “You can see yourself out.”
I didn’t move an inch. Instead, I added, “What we want isn’t far from reach, Belle.”
Now that she was sitting behind her desk, her gaze connected with mine.
“Oh, that got your attention, did it?”
She didn’t hesitate in asking, “How do you know what I want?”
“Because it’s the same thing I’ve always wanted and didn’t think I could have until now.”
“Until now, what?”
“Marry me, kitten.”
“We’re back to that?”
“We never left.”
“What exactly do you think you’re preparing me for?”
I glanced down at my watch. “In about five minutes, I’m going to escort you into the conference room where your grandfather and mine are sitting at the table waiting for us.”
She listened intently, absorbing my every word. “And?”
“They’re going to present you with a contract they want us both to sign.”
“A contract for what?”
“Our arranged marriage.”
“What is this the eighteen hundreds? Our families loathe one another. Why would they want—”