7

"We should have that conversation now," Tucker called out to me as I attempted to head straight back to the bedroom where I'd been sleeping. I had hoped that when we got to the apartment, he would forget about the talk we were supposed to have. Honestly, I hadn't lied when I said I had studying to do, a paper to write, a book to finish, and sleep to obtain.

I was running on an empty tank and everything going on in my life outside of those things was tapping what little reserves of strength I had left. Trying to hide my feelings all the time was adding to the stress that piled too heavily on my shoulders. Then, there were the extra emotions, like being angry with myself for wanting to cry over hurt feelings that I should have guarded against.

"Is it possible to wait until tomorrow? I really do have a lot going on right now."

"I don't think we should put it off any longer, Mina."

"Fine," I huffed as I moved to go sit on the incredibly comfortable sofa. No need to worry, I had it cleaned the day after I moved in, you know, to remove any unwanted residue. If I had access to any extra funds, I'd probably have just replaced it and hoped that my doing so pissed my absent husband off. Sadly, I had to settle for hiring out a professional cleaner to come take care of it instead.

"What's different in here?" Tucker asked as he joined me on the couch. I snickered but didn't bother to enlighten him. He glanced at me and then took another look around and sniffed the air. "Did you spray something?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, I had the furniture cleaned."

"Why would you have the furniture cleaned?"

"Because I couldn't afford to replace the lot of it?" My answer came out sounding more like a question.

"I feel like we are going around in circles here, what the hell was wrong with my furniture?"

I just gaped at him for a moment. "The first time I was here in this apartment, there was a naked woman lounging on your couch while wearing only a bottle of champagne. Condom rappers and other unmentionable items were all over the place. If you thought I was going to make myself at home on some disease infested fabrics, you were sadly mistaken. You may enjoy living like a perpetual frat boy, but I do not."

"I cleaned up before you moved in," he insisted.

"Did you scrub the couch?"

"Nooooo," he drew the word out as if my question had been a trick.

"Well, there you go."

"Okay, well, thank you for getting that taken care of. Sorry that I didn't think of it, and if you'll let me know how much it cost you, I will reimburse you."

"No need, Mr. Poker Chip paid for it."

"Mr. Poker Chip?" He thought for a moment before I had a chance to answer. "The giant asshole who was trying to get you back to his room that night in the casino?" I nodded my head and smiled at the memory of helping the man win all that money. "How exactly did he help you pay for this?" The scowl on my husband's face was almost amusing, considering he was angry about the man wanting to take me back to his room, even while Tucker and Wes had procured two women to hook up with that same night.

"I was his good luck charm and helped him earn a half million at the craps table. Then I told him not to go all in on that last one, because I felt like he was pushing his luck, and I realized exactly how much all those chips were worth by then. So, he only put one chip down, lost it, and saved all the rest of his winnings." I smiled brighter then, thinking about how at least one person on this earth was grateful for my existence. "He put a $10,000 chip in my hand when he said goodbye, as a thank you."

"You're kidding?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. Wes went with me when I cashed it out before we made our way to the courthouse to get the license done."

"I don't even know what to say about all that," he admitted.

"Nothing," I murmured, because honestly, what was there to say?

"Okay, well, I feel like I need to clear some things up. I haven't slept with anyone else since we tied the knot."

"Okay?" It was a question, because I wasn't sure why he wanted me to know that, or where he was going with the disclosure.

"It's not okay," he argued my questioning tone. "It's not okay that you aren't demanding those answers for yourself, Mina."

"I'm getting a little whiplash here, to be honest."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"When we entered into this arrangement, you made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me physically, in fact you pointed out several times that I don't do it for you anyway." He winced as I mentioned that part, but I wasn't sure why. They had been his words. His feelings. His admissions and desires, or lack thereof, shouldn't embarrass him. "You also made it clear that you wouldn't stop what you were doing with other women, and only promised to be discreet about it in future. So, why would I ask questions about things you said were going to happen? I don't want to know the details, Tucker."

"There are no details. I know what I said, and I was angry at my family and taking it out on you like a dick. I'm sorry for that too. There hasn't been anyone else. I stayed across the hall in Wes's guest room the past few days to give you some space to adjust. That's all. What happened with the realtor today, that was a fluke, but I swear to you that I didn't touch her and didn't encourage that shit either."

"Okay." I knew it wasn't the word he wanted to hear, but I honestly didn't think there was a better one. What was I supposed to do? Congratulate him on not breaking his vows so soon? "I also have not slept with anyone else. I've been here pretty much the whole time, studying, cleaning, and working."

"Why did you really agree to this? If you thought I was going to just marry you and continue being a complete shit of a person, why go through with it?"

"I have my own reasons."

"I'd like to know them."

"Well, we don't get everything we want in this life and I am not inclined to share that answer with you right now. Let's just say that it worked out because of what I have going on in my life at the moment, if later on down the road it no longer works with what I want, then we'll talk it over and change things up."

"Are you going to hate me forever?" His words were quiet, just above a whisper, as he asked.

"I don't hate you."

"No?" He asked as I shook my head. "Okay," he reached over and placed his hand on top of mine. The warmth of his touch sent a zing through me that I didn't want to acknowledge, but the question he asked threw me for such a loop that the feeling was soon forgotten. "What does your wedding ring look like?"

"That's kind of a crazy, random question," I deflected.

"Maybe, but I'd still like to know what you think of it."

"It's fine and fits well," I explained rather diplomatically.

"Yeah, but what does it look like? Do you need something different? Are you comfortable with the inscriptions? Is it something you ever saw yourself wearing?" Shit, his questions were starting to worry me. I still hadn't taken a look at the ring. I know it seems almost impossible, but I couldn't bring myself to do it before.

"What does any of that matter?"

"It matters to me. I can get you a new set, one more to your liking, if you want. I Just need to know what you think of it." I sighed and glanced down, but of course his hand was in the way. "Why haven't you looked at your ring yet, Mina? Any other woman would have been all over it the moment I said we had rings during the ceremony."

"I already told you that I'm not like other women."

"I know that much, but you still haven't answered my question."

"If I look at it, all of this is real, and I haven't been ready to face that yet. Are you happy?"

"No, but hopefully we will be," he said as if the question I'd asked meant more than the surface level happiness over my answering him about the ring. He removed his hand from mine and there was no stopping my eyes as they finally glanced down and saw the ring that rested on my finger. I already knew it was more than a simple band because I'd caught light glinting off of it when I moved different ways in the sun.

What I saw actually shocked me. "What is this?" I asked while staring at the piece of art sitting on my finger. There were three distinct colors to the band, that twisted underneath of a jewel in the center. On the left side of the jewel was a black band with another one next to it that was a gorgeous blue-green color. It looked like blue fire opal, then the third band, closest to my body was, what Tucker would later confirm to be platinum. On the right side of the stunning sapphire that sat in the center of the bands, the order was reversed. The platinum band was furthest away from my body while the black band was closest. It was simply stunning and something I would have chosen for myself if given the choice between anything else and what currently sat upon my finger. The blue fire opal matched my eyes perfectly. The sapphire, which happened to be my favorite gemstone, was also surrounded in a halo of tiny, glimmering diamonds.

I glanced from the ring on my finger to the one that was on Tucker's and realized the blue band in his matched the one in mine. I wondered what he had been thinking when he chose matching rings for us, but I was too much of a coward to ask a question like that.

"Do you like it?"

"I've never seen anything like this before," I answered, allowing the awe in my voice to speak to the actual question. Of course, I liked it. The ring was beyond stunning.

"I've never seen anything equal to it either, but the minute I saw it, I thought of you." I glanced up in time to notice him watching me. "Your eyes," he murmured as he stared into the orbs in question. "The blue-green in the rings is the exact coloring of your eyes."

I nodded as my focus moved back to the ring in question. I ran a finger from my opposite hand over the band. "What is this?" I asked.

"Blue fire opal, sapphire, and diamond inlaid in a platinum and tungsten ring."

I laughed. "You sound like a jeweler."

"I asked the same question that you did. That's the quick version of the answer I was given. There were other details, but I'll be honest, I don't remember them. I just saw that they had bands that matched, and I had to get them."

"It's gorgeous, thank you."

"I'm glad you like it, but the question remains, do you want something else, or are you happy with that?"

For some reason, I wondered if he was still talking about just the ring, or if there was more to what he was asking. Considering all our interactions up to that point, I figured it was totally about the ring and finally answered. "The ring is stunning, why would I want anything else?" He didn't say anything, but I caught a subtle nod from my peripheral vision.

"Can I ask you something else, without you getting upset?"

"I guess that depends on what you're asking."

He chuckled then. "I guess it does. Back at dinner, you said that you made vows and didn't plan on breaking them." I slowly turned so that we were looking at one another. There was no telling where he was going with this, and that had me worried.

"Yes," I agreed with that much.

"Did you plan on remaining celibate for the entirety of our marriage, even if I was quietly seeing other people?"

Shit. I bobbed my head up and down, unable to speak. I had my reasons, but they weren't things I was willing to talk about, especially with a man I barely knew and definitely didn't trust with anything important. Sure, he made certain I had a beautiful ring, one that was a thoughtful purchase since it reminded him of my eyes. He had also made sure that I had a beautiful setting to remember for our wedding. The problem with that had been when he invited women he planned to hook up with, which made everything seem contradictory and begged a new question.

"You claim you haven't been with anyone else since we married," I stated, while trying to find a way to word this, and at the same time deflecting from his original question.

"It's true, not just a claim."

"Yet, you invited two women you planned on hooking up with to be witnesses at our wedding." He flinched at the mention of those women. "If you hadn't seen me in the casino that night, would you have brought them back to the suite?"

"No." His answer was curt and quick, but there was an underlying appearance of guilt in the way his shoulders rolled up and forward, as if he needed to hide from the simple answer.

"You would have taken them somewhere else then?"

"Do you really want that answer?"

"Yes," it was a simple, quiet demand.

"Then yes, that was the plan."

"And would they have still been witnesses to our wedding the next day?" His head snapped up and our eyes locked again.

"I wouldn't have done that. It was pure coincidence that we saw them on the way to get everything set up." I nodded my head again.

"If I hadn't left that night, where would you have spent our wedding night?" It was a question I had been pondering since I decided to catch that earlier flight and he and Wes had followed me.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Where would you have spent the night, if we had stayed in Vegas as you originally planned?"

He sighed and looked away. That's what I thought. It wouldn't have been with me. "I'm not sure what you want from me here. This whole thing is new, and not exactly something I would have jumped into on my own if there weren't much bigger responsibilities at stake."

"I get it. I just need you to see why I assume things are the way I do. You have shown me that they're true, both in words and actions. Yet, you want me to open up to you about my reasons for agreeing to do this. Some of which are things I have not trusted to another soul in this world." His eyes were boring a hole in the side of my head, since I refused to face him as I spoke. "I gave you my faithfulness, even if you never touch me, because it's mine to give. The rationale for why I did so will also remain mine because you've given me no reason to trust you with that answer. All I ask in return, is that you are overly cautious with what the public sees. If it were just about me, on a personal level, I wouldn't care what people thought of me, but one day, I hope to be a successful author and the last thing I need is to have everyone think I'm someone's pitiful little doormat. Since I won't be able to explain the arrangement publicly, that's exactly how I would come over."

"Mina," he called to me, but I was done.

I stood and nervously wiped my hands across the far-too expensive denim pants I'd purchased for the dinner we had to attend. "I really do have to get my studying in before tomorrow, and I'm running out of time and energy. So, if you have anything else, it would be great if we could curtail the rest of our talk until next weekend when I'm not pressed for time and exhausted already." I didn't wait for his response and instead made my way to the bedroom I'd commandeered for myself.