Seventeen

It was late at night, while we laid in bed, when he spoke. "I've been thinking about something."

"Oh, you didn't hurt yourself, did you?" I smirked at him, and he pushed against me with his shoulder, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious—this is serious. I need you to listen to me."

"When have I not listened to you, Edward?" I raised my eyebrows in question, knowing that I was full of shit.

"I love that you've decided to show me this playful side." Rolling over and hovering above me, he kissed my lips. "But I need you to knock it off and fuckin' listen to me, woman."

I searched his eyes for a moment before nodding. "I'll listen."

"First, I need to know for certain that you've finally given me your full trust. My plan will never work if you don't trust me."

I sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I trusted him. He'd shown me in more ways than one, most recently by bending to my will, by putting his life directly in my hands, knowing that I could have ended it in seconds. "I do. I trust you."

"Good." He kissed my forehead. "Then we need to get married and you need to hand the business over to me."

My eyes widened and it felt as if I couldn't breathe. I pushed at his chest and he rolled off me, letting me sit up. "What?" I shrieked. "There's no fucking way—"

"Would you shut up and let me finish? Not for real. I mean, the marriage, that part would be real, but I'm not about to take over. It'll be for show. You want a way to get close with Maggie so you can take her down. You need to appear powerless and scorned by me and your father. Let her and every other mob wife think we've fucked you over. We'll announce that you're stepping down at our engagement party. I don't see this all coming to fruition for a few months if we want it to seem realistic, so you've got some time to adjust to the idea."

I closed my eyes, letting my breathing return to normal as I let his words swirl around in my brain. He was the Clyde to my Bonnie, as he'd told me on a few occasions. There were no guarantees in the life that we led, but he'd never purposely throw me to the wolves. My heart knew it, I just had to let my mind continuously play catchup. "I don't know, Edward. Me and marriage, well, we don't really mix, if you haven't noticed." I mimicked a gun with my fingers, putting it to his head and pretending to pull the trigger.

Edward threw his head back and laughed, and I bit my lip, trying not to smile. We had to be two of the most twisted people walking the earth.

"I think I can handle you, darling. I've had some practice. In all seriousness, though, I think this will work. I've been trying to find out how many of our shipments those two fuck-up cousins of yours sold out from under us, and it's been difficult. There's no better actress than you. Maggie will be suspicious at first, but I have no doubt you'll have her singing after a few weeks."

I sighed, flopping back onto the bed and running my fingers through my hair to tug at it. "You know what this means, right?"

"What?" He eased my fingers away from my scalp, lacing them with his own.

"If I'm going to fit in with those ridiculous women who volunteer at charities and throw garden parties, I need to grow my hair out. I'll never understand why they do all that useless shit. They act so proper and hide their heads in the sand, while in reality, they're married to cold-blooded killers."

His eyes sparkled with mischief. "Does that mean you're saying yes? You'll marry me?"

"This was the least romantic proposal in history, but yes, I'll marry you. For my family's sake."

Edward leaned down, pressing his lips to my chest before sucking at my collarbone. "For your family, right. Come to think of it, I might like you with long hair. Something to wrap around my fist so I can control you better when I'm fucking you from behind."

My jaw dropped as I stared at him, a knowing smirk on his lips.

"You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I want to practice. Roll over and get on your knees," he commanded.

I did as he asked, and as he ran his fingers down my spine, followed by his lips, I was certain I'd made the right decision by saying yes.

I wouldn't mind being joined to him for the rest of our lives.