Ian liked women to look pretty but stay quiet. The females he’d been around didn’t hold his attention. They either talked about the latest celebrity gossip, which he had no interest in, or wanted his money. Again, he didn’t care.

Money brought women to him, and he accepted that, even expected it, but that didn’t mean he liked any of them.

Tapping his fingers on the back of one of the leather chairs, he thought about going back to her, talking to her. Moving his neck from side to side, he closed his eyes. He didn’t like the feeling that her words created.

Women were a commodity to him. He didn’t care one way or the other about what they did or said, and yet she’d completely thrown him by saying she’d made a mistake.

He wasn’t a very good man when it all came down to it. In fact, he was a complete and total asshole. He accepted that and embraced every single part of him. In the circles he walked, being nice got you hurt. He’d had to become every single part the bastard he was today in order to survive.

Tapping the back of the chair, he couldn’t do it.

He’d married Lucy to have his way when it came to relationships, to get back at his family. The last thing he wanted to do was marry anyone his mother liked. He had no intention of divorcing and so he wanted to make this work with her.

The few occasions they’d been together, he’d liked her. He knew she was different and rather than fight that, he intended to embrace it.

Making his way to one of the spare bedrooms, he held his knuckles up and hesitated. He didn’t do this … go after women to make amends. This wasn’t something he was used to at all.

Closing his eyes, he fought with himself to just walk away. Having a wife that hated him was no hardship.

He had thousands of people who hated him. Some didn’t even know him and still hated him.

Instead of walking away, though, he knocked on the door. He wasn’t a coward and he refused to back down, even this time.

“What do you want?” Lucy asked.

Her voice sounded muffled.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Look, I don’t want us to be fighting on our wedding day.” He’d wanted to be at his parents’ to flaunt his wife in front of them. For them to see that he’d married someone they would completely despise.

You’re a fucking asshole.

They will hurt Lucy.

Pushing those feelings aside, he refused to think about the guilt that suddenly gripped him.

“It’s fine, Ian. I get it.”

He rested his forehead on the door and sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have asked you before just going ahead and changing your life like that. I don’t want us to be like this, Lucy. Please, open the door.”

“It’s already open.”

“Yeah but I don’t want to barge in. I tend to read everything the wrong way and I don’t want to do that right now.”

He heard some rustling and then the door opened.

“You’ve not been crying?” he asked. He’d expected her to cry after her sudden emotional outburst. That was what women did. They used their tears and attitude to get what they wanted.

“Why would I cry?”

“Because I didn’t consult you about your apartment.”

She shrugged. “That’s not something to cry about, at all. I mean, what did you expect, me to be sobbing over it?”

“Well, yeah, actually I did.”

She chuckled, and he loved her little dimples. He’d never noticed them before. She’d never smiled in his company, either.

“I don’t cry over little things. In fact, I don’t think I’ve cried in a very long time.”

“I guess I’m not used to women like you.”

“Women like me?”

He saw the confusion on her face. “Shit, no, I don’t mean anything bad about that. You see, I’m bad at this.”

“Bad at what?”

“Doing this? I don’t have a clue what I’m doing and I’m making it up as I go along. I don’t want us to fight. This isn’t what this marriage is about.”

She stared at him for several seconds without talking. “You wanted a wife to rub your parents’ faces in.”

He cringed at the way she put it. “Okay, yeah, I did but I don’t like the sound of it.”

She released the door, leaving it open as she moved to go and sit on the bed. He watched as she leaned down. The angle of her body gave him a perfect view of her cleavage, and what a sight it was to behold. His cock ached for more as she kicked off her shoes and sat up.

“I don’t want us to hate each other or for this to be hard work.”

“What do you expect from a marriage?” he asked, stepping into the room.

She didn’t throw her shoes at him so he stayed near the door.

“I don’t know. I’ve never really been around married people. No parents growing up. What do you want?”

He folded his arms. “I want the complete opposite of what my parents had. They were … They are together for money. Wealth is really important to them, as is power.”

“Sounds horrible,” she said.

“It wasn’t the best place to grow up. I don’t know. I see something more, something better.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to fuck this up more than once.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not used to trying. I’m used to getting what I want and people dealing with it. I don’t give a shit about anyone else’s feelings. They can do whatever the hell they want but they are to stay out of my way.”

“Wow, that is kind of mean.”

“Yeah, it’s mean, but you have to be. It’s the only way to survive.”

“So I have to accept the fact you’re going to be an asshole? You can’t control it?”

“I’m going to try. It won’t always be easy, though, and I accept that I’ll be the one to blame.”

“You’ll try?”

“For you I will try.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“You’re my wife, Lucy. I’m going to do everything in my power to make this work.” Even as he said the words, he knew, deep down in his very soul, he meant them. Already she was starting to mean something to him, and that scared him just a little.