“What do you mean your grandfather just landed on the estate?” Cara shrieked.
“Landed as in jet, airplane,” Adonis stated with a stoic expression. “You don’t know what it means to land a plane?”
Cara grounded her teeth together, trying to maintain her cool.
“I don’t mean that! I know what a plane is, thank you very much. You said I wouldn’t meet him until the day after tomorrow.”
“I thought so too.” He yanked the black shirt he had on over his head. “I thought so too, but he’s here now, so get your act together and be ready to meet him.”
“What am I going to say? I know nothing about you. What if he doesn’t believe me?” Her gaze followed his hand to the waist of his sweatpants.
“And what the hell are you doing?” She cried out quickly, averting her gaze.
“Changing as you should. Nonno is a very weird person, and he’s all about first impressions. Wear something pretty. Not too flashy but elegant.”
“How can I change with you in the room?” She asked, still looking away from him, her eyes covered with her palms.
“We’ve f*cked more than thrice, and you’re still worried about me seeing you naked? Turn around.”
“No.”
“Turn around Cara.”
“No. You may be comfortable with that, but I’m not.”
Adonis walked over to her and forcefully pulled her arms away from her face.
“Ah!” Cara screamed, shutting her eyes immediately.
“F*cking hell, I’m dressed.”
“Really?”
Instead of a reply, Adonis slammed his lips into hers, giving her a hard, fierce kiss that ended a little bit earlier than she’d have liked it to.
“Open your eyes, Bel.” Tentatively, she popped one eye open, and the other followed when she was sure he was dressed.
He had changed into a pair of dark wash jeans and a shorthand black shirt, which he opted to leave the buttons open at the top, giving a partial view of the tattoos she had seen on their night together. He also had on a small, tiny silver necklace she hadn’t noticed before. Cara traced his face from his hard, defined, sculpted jaw to his full lips, up to his nose that looked to have been broken more than once, and then his dark gray eyes that were already waiting to meet hers.
She wondered what the exact colour of his eyes was; one moment, they were grey, and the next, they were as black as night.
Her hand unconsciously reached out to brush away a few hair strands that had fallen over his eyes. For a hairstyle that was achieved in his haste to change, it looked oddly nice.
“Are you done checking me out?”
She snapped her hand back.
“Wrfghhkl?”
“Good. Now do as I instructed and meet me in five. Nonno hates to be kept waiting.”
And with that, he was out the door, leaving Cara behind to wonder what the hell just happened.
Did she just speak gibberish?
She slapped her hands to her face in embarrassment. Handsome men were dangerous. Especially when they were supposed to be your enemy.
Her mind went back to his instructions, and she felt affronted by his attitude.
How dare he order her around?
Her lips curled to the side, a rebellious look on her face as she walked over to her side of the closet, inspecting the available clothes.
He wanted pretty; then she’d show him pretty.
****
Cara was late, but that wasn’t the issue.
Adonis watched, his face devoid of any form of emotion, as Cara stepped into the living room, heading over to the front door. She bypassed him, walking over to the elderly man in a fitted suit who had just been wheeled in by one of his men.
Her eyes widened an inch in surprise, but she caught herself before anyone noticed. Pulling on a bright smile.
“Hello, sir! You must nonno. It’s nice to finally meet you. Alessandro has said a lot about you.”
It had never once crossed her mind that he might be disabled, so she was surprised, but Cara did her best not to let it show.
Adonis grandfather eyed Cara from head to toe. He looked like a child whose new teacher used to be a teacher who once took away his lollipops.
She felt self-conscious.
Did she overdo it?
She had decided to go against Adonis’s wishes without actually considering that other people might be present and find her weird. She glanced down at the baggy tee she had paired with a track pant that was obviously not her size-courtesy of Adonis’s wardrobe.
She didn’t think it was that bad.
She looked up again at the men in the room. Adonis’s grandfather had come with three men; two were standing guard at the door, and one was by his side. They were all looking formal. She peeked at Adonis from beneath her lashes. Although not formal enough, he blended in well. She was the only one looking like a jobless buffon.
Was this supposed to be a business meeting or what?
And to think she crowned it all with a simple, well-structured, messy bun.
Dimitri harrumphed and wordlessly ordered to be wheeled in further.
Cara took a few steps back until she was by Adonis’s side, she laced her arm with his. Looking up to see his face still devoid of emotion, which she returned with a questioning look.
“You are late, and you came in dressed like this?” Adonis reprimanded coolly.
“What? I would not have you order me around. Contract or not!”
“You must have forgotten.” Adonis shifted his arm until he had laced his fingers with hers in a firm grip. “Your only role in this agreement is to be my wife for a year, without any issues. How do you expect to do that when you go against everything I say?”
Cara tried to wiggle her hand free.
“Let me go.”
Adonis made his grip tighter.
“I will not waste my money on a brat that wishes to spoil my plans. I am paying for you. You are mine for a year. That means you should live for me. Breathe for me. Everything you do within the next year should be for me, and that includes doing what I say. You are mine. Am I understood?”
“You’re hurting me,” Cara whispered in pain, but Adonis clasped his fingers around hers the more.
“Am I understood?”
“Yes.”
He released his grip instantly, earning a painful moan from her.
“Good. Now, we’d go in after my grandfather and act like the perfect lovey-dovey couple we are, and he’ll not notice a thing. Am I right, Bel?” He asked with a small smile.
It was the first time he’d given her a genuine smile. Not a cold smirk or chuckle.
“Yes.”
Adonis tilted his head in reply, his face holding an expression that said ‘and’
“Yes, Alessandro.”
“That’s a good girl. You’re my good girl.”
He praised, pulling her along to meet his grandfather.
What could she do?
Cara quietly let herself be pulled along like a puppet. She felt her stomach drop, and the little food she had the night before threatened to come up her throat.
Who exactly was he? The more she believed she’d seen all that there was to him, the more she doubted if he was actually the same person.
One thing was sure: no matter who he was, she wasn’t going to sit around and let him treat her this way.
They both arrived back at Adonis’s floor, and he walked towards the second room door that was shut during the tour. He turned to Cara.
“Smile.”
And then he pulled the door open.