CHAPTER 8

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

I could feel his breath on my face. His breath smelled of peppermint. I could not help but lick my suddenly dry lips.

"I wish it was easy as you are implying to just walk up to my father and tell him that I want out of this marriage. A lot is at stake that you don't even understand. It will be easier if you tell him yourself, that is, if you are being honest with me when you tell me you don't want any of this," Sean snapped back at me, leaning even closer than he was before. I was sure that if any of us made a move at this point,our lips would touch.

"Do you mind? Didn't your mother ever teach you about personal space?" I angrily pushed him back because the closeness wasn't doing me any good. You just met the guy for fuck sake Isabella and you don't even like each other let alone know him. Get a grip of yourself. I chastised myself in my head as I walked to the other side of the room to give myself the same space to breathe.

"I don't have to explain myself to you. Whether you believe me or not is your problem, not mine. I won't risk my life or my parents' because scared Sean can't grow some balls and face his father," I calmly replied back, looking at him dead in the eye. If looks could kill, I would already be six feet under due to the glare that Sean sent me after I finished my little rant.

"Grow some balls? Oh, I have huge ones but that is besides the point. Everything that I have worked so hard for will go to vain if I don't marry you. I won't allow you or anyone else to take my hard work to waste. I can face and talk to my father openly without fear but I just don't know what this marriage did to him because he is adamant in making sure that I marry you," Sean all but bellowed. I could see the vein in his head indicating that he was struggling to put his anger in control.

A tense silence followed his outburst. I took this chance to look at his room. It was not what I expected for a guy's room. The walls of his room were painted gray. Boring. However, it was clean for a guy's room. The king sized bed in the middle of the room was neatly made with gray satin covers and a black and gray duvet. The pillows were also neatly arranged. There was a study table on the corner, with some files on top, which were also arranged neatly. The wall to floor window was covered with beautiful white curtains. There were two doors on the other side of the room, which I guessed one led to the bathroom and the other to his closet. There were beautiful gray and black throw rugs at the foot of his bed, at his study table and at the beautiful sofa near the door. The big plasma television mounted to the wall completed the exquisite look of the room.

"What did you mean when you said you won't risk your life or your parents' lives by backing out of this marriage?" Sean asked quietly, breaking the silence. I turned to him with a quizzical look. "Is your favorite color gray by any chance?" I asked instead, ignoring his question.

"Answer the damn question Ms. Carson. What did you mean?" He asked again, staring straight at me. I arched an eyebrow at him. So now he is going to play dumb. "You answer my question first. Is your favorite color gray Mr. McCaffrey?"

"This is childish. No, my favorite color is not gray. We are not playing twenty questions here. Now that I have answered your question, answer mine," Sean gritted out his words. "That is none of your business. If you can't talk to your father then you have no choice but to get married to me. Seems you had everything planned out even before you came here. I mean, you are complaining about this marriage and all but you have already gone ahead and hired a personal assistant for me. What for? I am capable of taking care of myself. I was doing just fine before you came along and I can continue doing it even with your sorry ass in my life. Just don't get in my way. Let me continue living my life the way I usually do. You do you, and I will do me. Don't interfere with my studies or people I hang out with. What I do is my business. Marriage is what our parents want, so a marriage I will give them. However, this will only be on paper. I won't start acting like these rich men's wives. So, don't you dare force me because I will only embarrass you big time."

I took a deep breath after my little speech. I deserve a pat on the back for saying all that in a calm tone because God knows how much I am raging on the inside. Sean took two strides towards me and stood in front of me. I took one step backwards to maintain some space between us. Sean glared at me, not missing the motion.

"I hired a personal assistant for you, only with your best interest in mind. She will help you get your footing as I said earlier. After we get married, you will have responsibilities that you have to meet. There is no bargaining. You will also have to act in a certain way. This foul mouth of yours will have to go. You will behave as you are expected to, married to a man like me. I won't get in the way of your studies. That is why mother said you should give the new personal assistant your school schedule so that appointments won't get in the way. However, you are right about one thing. We will only be married on paper.

Don't expect me to be the kind of husband you have dreamt of in your Barbie dreams. I have needs so I will continue with what I usually do to scratch the itch. I don't want to take any chances with you, so I will prepare a contract that will state our mutual understanding with each other. I will come to pick you up tomorrow so that we can go and buy our engagement rings. Let us go back to the patio or my mother is going to come up looking for you," Sean said, already heading to the door. He opened the door and turned his head to look back at me.

"Coming?" I nodded my head, following him out of his room.