Chapter 5: Marry Me First

The auction begins as soon as the opening dance ends.

Rosalie’s diamond rose brooch is saved for last.

Under the spotlight, its layered petals blaze around a brilliant center stone.

The bidding passes one million dollars almost immediately.

Rosalie would have been pleased with one million. The room does not fall quiet until the bidding reaches $1.8 million.

“Three million.”

The bid comes from beside her.

Rosalie turns.

Adrian has already lowered his paddle, his expression unreadable.

The hammer falls. Applause erupts as cameras catch Rosalie’s gown beside Adrian’s matching tie.

He catches her staring. “What?”

“I’m glad you like my work.”

“It’s decent.”

Three million dollars for decent.

Rosalie lifts her glass to hide her smile.

---

After the auction, she waits for Adrian in the second-floor lounge.

Nearly twenty minutes pass before he appears with Evan, who is carrying the brooch.

Adrian still wears the charcoal suit, though the mist-blue tie has been loosened at his throat. Rosalie rises to meet him.

“You kept me waiting. Don’t I get something for my trouble?”

Adrian walks straight past her. “We’re leaving.”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you home.”

That is all? Rosalie follows, certain he did not bring her upstairs simply to offer a ride.

Ten minutes later, the Bentley pulls away from the hotel.

The driver raises the privacy screen.

The instant it closes, Rosalie grabs Adrian’s tie and pulls him toward her.

She kisses him.

Adrian goes still for half a second.

Then his hand locks around her waist, and he kisses her back.

Five years of buried hunger take over. He kisses her as if he can take back every night she was gone.

Rosalie leans away under the force of it, but only pulls him closer by his tie.

Then Adrian remembers every careful move she has made tonight.

She came back without warning and has been seducing him from the moment she arrived.

She wants something.

If he gives in, what stops her from disappearing again? He will not survive that twice.

Adrian tears his mouth from hers and moves toward the window.

Rosalie follows.

The way he retreats makes her feel like a shameless woman cornering an innocent man.

Unfortunately for him, she has no intention of wasting the opportunity.

Still holding his tie, she cups his face and kisses along his jaw.

The same trick worked on her five years ago.

Why should it fail now?

Adrian’s back meets the door. When her free hand starts down his chest, he catches her wrist and pulls it away.

“Adrian!”

Rosalie struggles, then kicks him lightly in the shin.

His hair is already disheveled, his tie pulled crooked, yet he is still pretending she has no effect on him.

She kicks him again. “Stop playing dead.”

Adrian’s gaze drops to her swollen lips.

When he speaks, his voice is rough.

“Is that why you came back? To sleep with me?”

Rosalie is already annoyed enough to be honest. “Yes. I want to sleep with you.”

His expression does not improve.

“No one else could satisfy you?”

She stares at him, then yanks her wrist free. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? There has never been anyone but you.”

The anger Adrian has carried all night eases at once.

He turns toward the window before she can see the corner of his mouth twitch.

Rosalie studies him suspiciously.

“Wait.” She leans closer. “Do you have someone else?”

Adrian turns back sharply. “Of course not.”

“Then why are you holding back?” Her gaze travels pointedly down his body. “You don’t look like a man who has been waiting five years.”

“Don’t accuse me of having someone else. There has never been anyone.” The next words leave him before pride can stop them. “I’ve always been yours.”

The car falls silent.

The fight goes out of Rosalie.

Adrian looks away but does not take the words back.

They are still close enough for her to feel the uneven rise and fall of his chest.

Unable to bear the silence, she grabs his tie again. “Then what are you waiting for?”

Her eyes dip lower. “Unless you can’t anymore.”

Adrian shifts to block her view. “You can have me.”

Rosalie’s eyes brighten.

“Marry me first.”

She stares at him. “Seriously? What century are you living in?”

Adrian laughs without humor. “You vanish for five years, come back wanting to get me into bed, and you think I’m the problem?”

His gaze hardens. “What happens after?”

The smile leaves her face.

“I…”

Her hand begins to slip from his tie, but Adrian catches her wrist and pulls her close again.

“If you won’t marry me, are you planning to sleep with me and run?”

Rosalie opens her mouth. Nothing comes out.

He sees the answer in her hesitation.

“I knew it.”

The words sting more than they should.

“Adrian…”

“You did it five years ago.” His voice is still rough from kissing her, but the anger underneath it is edged with something far more painful. “I spent a month in a hospital bed. By the time I woke up, you were gone.”

Rosalie’s hand falls from his tie.

For a moment, she can smell hospital disinfectant again.

She remembers Adrian lying unconscious and the day she forced herself to leave without looking back.

One look would have ruined her resolve.

“You wouldn’t even see me before you left,” he says. “Now you come back and expect me to let you use me before you disappear again. What am I to you?”

Rosalie cannot answer.

She cannot tell him why she returned, and she cannot promise to stay.

Adrian waits, as if he already knows silence is all she has to give.

He releases her wrist, only to cup the back of her neck and draw her close.

“I can’t risk it twice.”

His breath brushes her lips.

“You want me? Fine.”

Adrian holds her gaze.

“Marry me first.”