he thought for a second she would take him up on his outrageous offer. “Gage! What you’re suggesting is insanity! You didn’t even give an expiration date for this union. How long would you expect this to last?”
“It’s a business deal that will last as long as needed,” he stated calmly. “You get the money you need to save a dying technology firm, while I get a wife from an upstanding Austin family. Think about it, Fallon. Our marriage would legitimize my social standing while simultaneously letting all those pesky bankers who have been hounding you know the Campbell/Stewart family is as solid as ever.”
“That’s real vague. Plus there’s any number of society debutantes out there waiting to meet a catch like you, Gage. You don’t have to marry me.”
“But it’s you I want,” Gage responded. Within seconds he’d slid closer to her in the booth, until they were thigh-to-thigh.
Fallon flushed. “What are you saying?”
“A caveat to the marriage is it will not be in name only.”
“Meaning?”
“Do you really need me to spell it out?” His piercing look went straight through her. “We would consummate the marriage and share the same bed. Become lovers.”
Fallon sucked in a deep breath. Sweet Jesus! She had drunk too much wine because the words coming out of Gage’s mouth didn’t make any sense. She took another small sip of water.
“I think we would be quite good together,” Gage said, picking up her hand and turning it over palm side up.
Immediately she tried to pull it back, but his grip was too strong. “How can you say such a thing? I haven’t seen you in sixteen years.”
“Yet, you still want me.” His hold softened but he didn’t let her go. Instead his thumb began circling the inside of her palm, making her pulse race erratically. “I can see all the signs of arousal in you, Fallon—the way your eyes dilate when you look at me, the way your breath hitches when I come near. Even the way your breasts peak with one look from me.”
Fallon felt her cheeks flame. Was she so obvious that he could read her like a book? It was as though he’d put her under some kind of spell, the same as when she’d been sixteen. And why oh why wouldn’t he stop circling her palm with his thumb? He was teasing her and she didn’t like it. She jerked her hand free. “Stop it, Gage.”
“Stop what?” he asked so innocently she would have thought he meant it, but she knew better.
“Whatever game it is you’re playing.”
“No games. Just facts. I’m willing to give you millions to help Stewart Technologies, even though it’s been hemorrhaging money. I’m willing to give my money to help save your company. And in return, I offer you the chance to be my wife. I think it’s a fair trade.”
“Of course you would.” Fallon scooted out of the booth. “But I’m not a stock to be bought and traded. Furthermore, you got your signals wrong. I’m not interested in you in the slightest.” She made it as far as the foyer of the restaurant before Gage caught up to her and swung her into a nearby alcove.
“You’re not interested in me, eh?” Gage asked, stepping closer into her space. So close, her body was smashed against his. “How about we test that theory, shall we?”
She saw the challenge in his eyes seconds before his head lowered and he sealed his lips to hers. Fallon wanted to refuse him but the thrill of having his lips on hers again was too much to resist. Need unfurled in her, the likes of which she hadn’t felt since...since the last time he’d kissed her. No other man had ever come close to making her feel this way.
This hot. This excited.
Gage’s arm slid around her waist to the small of her back and he pressed her body even closer to his. Meanwhile his tongue breached her mouth, allowing him to increase the pressure, demand more and compel her to accept him. The kiss was hard yet soft, but also rough enough to thrill her. Fallon’s lips parted of their own accord and his tongue slid in. Teasing, stroking, tasting the soft insides of her mouth.
Fallon whimpered and her stance relaxed as the sheer power of his kiss enflamed her. Sliding her arms around his neck, she held his head to hers, reveling in the deeply carnal kiss. Gage ground his lower half against hers and she felt every inch of his hard body. Her tongue searched his mouth ravenously and he met her stroke for stroke. Her breasts rubbed against his chest and her nipples hardened. Fallon had never felt so desirable and could have gone on kissing him, but Gage pulled away first.
His breathing was ragged but he managed to say, “I’ve proven you are interested, but I’ll give you some time to think about my offer.”
Fallon looked up, dazed and confused. “Wait a minute.” How could he compose himself after that kiss? “How much time?” she croaked out.
“Forty-eight hours.”
She shook her head. “I can’t make a decision about the rest of my life in two days.”
“Well, that’s too damn bad because that’s my offer,” Gage responded. “You can take it or leave it. It’s up to you.” He tapped the face of his Rolex watch. Then he reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out his business card. “My personal cell. Call me when you’re ready to say yes.”
* * *
A whirlwind of thoughts swirled around Fallon’s mind as she somehow managed to drive herself home from her dinner with Gage. When she got back to the cottage she kicked off her heels, undressed and removed her makeup, and put on her old college T-shirt. Sliding into her king-size platform bed and falling back against the pillows, Fallon recalled the bombshell Gage dropped.
Marry me.
Gage had proposed marriage in exchange for saving Stewart Technologies, the company her father started forty years ago. Could she let it slip through her fingers without a fight? But Gage wasn’t offering a marriage in name only. He wanted them to become lovers.
The thought both excited and terrified her, especially after that hot kiss at the restaurant. Her attempt to appear unaffected had been smashed to smithereens. The chemistry between them was off the charts. He’d smelled and tasted so good. And the way he’d held her close, her heart had fluttered unlike anything she’d ever felt with other men. Had his one life-changing kiss all those years ago ruined her for anyone else? Because there hadn’t been many men. Since Gage she’d never succeeded in finding someone who could fulfill an ache. So instead she focused on her career at the expense of her personal life. Work was her baby, so much so she hadn’t given much thought to marriage or children.
Would Gage want children?
No, no, no. She shook her head. She wouldn’t have children with a man as part of a business arrangement or for money like her mother had. She was no fool. She knew Nora hadn’t married her father for love. Instead she’d married him for the life he could give her. Fallon wouldn’t want that for herself or for Gage. And why would he want to marry her anyway? She’d lied and cost his family their livelihood. He should hate her but instead he was offering her a way out. It didn’t make sense. He could be setting her up for failure so he could give her the comeuppance he thought she deserved.
Was she honestly giving Gage’s proposal serious consideration? She couldn’t. Shouldn’t. He’d been a brute, only giving her forty-eight hours to make a life-changing decision. Marry him or risk losing the company. Marry him and agree to be his wife, his lover. He could have been her first if they hadn’t been interrupted by her parents. Fallon remembered the passion she’d felt in his arms then and now. Was it fate they would end up in this predicament? Was she always destined to be his?
* * *
Unable to sleep, Gage restlessly prowled his penthouse. Wondering. Wishing. Hoping.
Would Fallon say yes?
Would