I don’t go to work the next day, because fuck it. It’s an irresponsible move to make, and I know it’s probably the wrong one, but I can’t help myself.

I know she betrayed me. But she didn’t know me, and when she did get to know me, she changed her mind. I can’t fault her for wanting to do right by her family, even if her family is a bunch of psychotic assholes.

I won’t hold that against her. Not when I’m so desperate to taste every single inch of her tight little body.

I hire a sitter for the next day, and we spend it in an expensive hotel room, just exploring each other. We fuck slow, we fuck hard, we taste every single inch. And when we’re through, we head back to my house to relieve the sitter and to put Lacey to bed.

As soon as we’re back at my place, and Lacey is in bed, I can’t help but think about tomorrow. I have to go back into the office and face James, that traitor bastard. He’s much worse than Erin, much, much worse. And although I’m keeping him around, I still hate looking at his smug fucking face.

“I want to get back at them,” I say to Erin as I pour myself a drink.

She looks at me and smiles a little. “I don’t blame you.”

“I don’t know what I did to that fucking bastard James.”

“Some people are just…” She trails off, shaking her head.

“What?”

“Rotten.” She smiles when I hand her a drink. “Some people are just rotten. They can’t see beyond themselves. They think they deserve more.”

“Nobody deserves anything,” I say.

“Maybe. But some people just think they deserve the world, and they’re mad when they don’t get it. They blame everyone but themselves.”

“And they’re willing to hurt those that are closest to them to get it,” I say softly.

“Maybe.” She shrugs again. “Maybe he’s just not willing to work hard. But he’s willing to betray you in order to get what he wants.”

I grunt and look down at the counter. The thought of James betraying me breaks my fucking heart.

I brought that guy with me. When things started going well, I gave him everything. I made him a very rich man, and in return he’s always been my closet friend and confidant. But maybe that was always an act. Maybe he was just pretending to like me in order to keep getting paid.

And now that he has a lot of money, he doesn’t need me anymore. To get to the next thing, he’s willing to do whatever it takes, even finally revealing himself as the snake he really is.

“So what do we do?” she asks me.

“I’m not entirely sure.” I frown at my whisky and take a sip.

“They deserve it, you know. They deserve some revenge.”

“I know,” I say. I watch her as she sips her drink and suddenly an idea comes to me.

I don’t know why I think of it. Maybe because I look at her left ring finger and it just pops into my brain. But it could be a good idea, or at least the start of one.

Erin is the key to this. Her father doesn’t know that she’s not on his side anymore. But I don’t want to use her the way that her father used her. I want to make her mine, completely and entirely.

There’s one easy way to do that. It’s insane, and definitely too soon, but it just might work. It just might throw Rick Fisher off enough for me to get the upper hand on him.

Or it’ll be a total disaster and it’ll ruin all of my relationships. But as I look at Erin and she smiles at me a little quizzically, I don’t think that’ll happen.

“Actually,” I say softly. “I did just think of something.”

“What’s that?”

“We need to throw your father off his game,” I say. “Make him rethink everything he’s doing. Maybe that way, he’ll finally give in and sign the damn papers.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” she says. “But how do you want to do that?”

“You,” I say, leaning toward her.

She raises her eyebrows. “How am I going to throw him off? He doesn’t care about me.”

“Maybe not as a person, but he cares about you as a tool.” I clench my jaw a little bit but push on. “He’s that kind of man. He’s a user. And I don’t want to use you.”

“Griffin,” she says softly. “I’ll help you. I owe you that much.”

“I want to ask you something, but it’s a lot. I want you to know that you can say no. There are other ways.”

“What is it?”

I stare at her, not sure about this at all. It’s insane and too soon but it just might work. This whole situation is so over the top, so absolutely crazy, that I need something equally crazy to really get back at Rick. My only hesitation is how Erin will feel about it.

I don’t want her to think she’s just a tool to me like she is to Rick. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have brought her back to my apartment again and let her see my daughter. I want Erin in my life for real, want her to stay around. Frankly, this plan is crazy and it’s mostly about winning this little war against Rick Fisher, but there’s also some selfishness involved in it. I want this girl and I want to make her mine, and this is one easy way to do that.

“Are you sure you want to know?” I ask her.

She nods. “I promise. I want to hear it.”

“Okay.” I lean back and cross my arms, smirking at her. “Erin Fisher, will you marry me?”

She goes dead silent for a second, her eyes wide. I grin at her, waiting for her response, loving her reaction. She’s clearly surprised, but she’s not revolted or something like that. In fact, I can tell that she’s interested.

Slowly she gets control of herself and her surprise is replaced by a smile. “So that’s your plan,” she says.

“Hear me out.”

“Okay. I’m listening.” She smiles at me. “Although I’m pretty sure this is just a ploy to get in my pants.”

I laugh and jostle her a little bit. “Been there already.”

“Good point.” She winces a bit and adjusts her seat. “As I’m very aware.”

I grin at her. “Are you complaining?”

“Not at all.”

“Good. Because I can give you something to complain about.” I lean in toward her and kiss her softly on the lips.

She laughs and pushes me away. “Okay, asshole. Tell me about the plan.”

“It’s simple, really. This whole deal negotiation is a psychological battle between us. He was trying to use you to find something to throw me off my game with. I want to do the same thing to him.”

She looks at me for a second and then nods her head slowly. “And you think getting married will do that.”

“Exactly. Marrying his daughter will really freak him out.”

“And then what?” she asks. “He’ll just do whatever you want?”

“Not exactly,” I say. “But I’m hoping that he’ll be more willing to finally cut a real deal. Once that happens, I’ll make sure James gets what’s coming to him.”

She watches me for a second, considering this, and I’m shocked to realize that I’m nervous.

I don’t know why. This isn’t a real proposal. Well, it is, but it won’t be a real marriage. We’ll be doing it just for show, just to get back at her father. When it’s all over, we can divorce and move on from there.

Or we can stay married. I mean, I don’t know what we’ll want at that point, but there’s no reason to divorce if we’re still happy together. I won’t say that out loud, though, since I don’t want to freak her out too much. Besides, she’s a smart girl, and I know she’s thinking about what’ll happen after we’re through with this issue with her father.

Still, I’m nervous, and I’m worried she’ll say no. I don’t know why I care, since it’s not like I want to marry her for real, although I sort of do. It’s a fucking complicated situation, and I’m suggesting we make it even more complicated, but goddamn I can’t help myself. Just looking at her makes me want to kiss those perfect full lips. I realize that I’d throw everything away for her, if she just asked me to, and that’s terrifying.

For a split second, I wonder if this is Rick’s plan all along. Maybe he told his daughter to come seduce me and then admit to the truth in the hopes that I’d fall even deeper for her. Maybe she’s playing the long game, and in the end she’ll turn around and destroy me as soon as they get what they want from me.

But I can’t think like that. I take a sharp breath and bite my lip. I have to trust her. I do trust her. I can’t second-guess myself, not anymore, not right now. If I want to win this thing for real, I have to follow through with my plan and put my trust in her. It’s a two-way street. She’ll be taking a big leap if she marries me just like I’ll be taking a big one marrying her.

I watch her face as she slowly meets my eyes. “Okay,” she says softly.

“Okay?” I ask. “That easy?”

“That easy,” she says, nodding.

“This could get messy, you know. Going up against your own father like this.”

“I’m not worried about that,” she says. “I’m done with that family, Griffin. I’m totally done with them. I don’t care what happens, as long as they don’t get to hurt you anymore.”

I watch her and feel a sense of growing pride. She’s really figuring out what she wants, and she’s learning to move past her abusive and controlling family.

“Okay then,” I say. “We’ll get married.” I look at her and laugh, shaking my head.

“What?” She grins at me, laughing too.

“It’s just crazy. You know that, right?”

“Of course I know that. It’s totally insane.”

“But we’re doing it,” I say.

“We are,” she agrees.

I grab her and pull her against me. I kiss her deep and full, not for any particular reason, not because I want to get back at her father, but only because I want to kiss her. It’s that simple at the end of the day. I want to kiss her and be close to her, and nothing will change that, not even getting married.