I shrugged. His behavior was still irritating. And it still hurt.

“You’ve been stressing out for months over this…and overworking to compensate. And you damaged your health. Totally not worth it. Let’s resolve this, okay? Let’s do the paperwork.”

I mulled that over, but apparently not fast enough. She shifted to face me. “Tell your lawyers to send me something to look at, okay? A draft or something? We’ll hash it out.”

I shrugged.

She got in my face, putting the tip of her nose to mine. “Listen. I’m going to insist on this. It’s about time I get what’s due to me.”

I raised a brow at her. “And what is that?”

“You still haven’t paid me my 750K from my scandalous virginity auction. I refused to be stiffed.” Then she bit her lip to keep from laughing, an action which failed miserably after only a few seconds.

Her laughter was infectious. I finally cracked a smile of my own. “Maybe I’m simply making sure I get the most out of that money.”

“Oh, I’d say that you have.”

Despite my exhaustion, a heated tongue of lust licked its way up my spine. If I had the energy—and a non-explosive spleen—I’d try something right this minute. My hands inched up her thigh, aching to touch her everywhere. Instead of acting on this, I simply took a deep breath and relished the feeling, like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

“Come on, Adam. I know your stubbornness has gotten you far in life, but this is not the hill you want to die on.”

I closed my eyes and opened them again, leaning forward to kiss her on her neck. “Fine. We’ll do it. But I intend to be extremely fair. As fair as possible.”

She nodded in response.

I held her gaze. “You need your own lawyer, someone not associated with my lawyer. It needs to be totally independent, okay? Peter could probably give you a name. Obviously, he can’t do it for you because he’s family, but I’m sure he’ll know of someone.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I bet Lindsay would be a better person to ask for a referral.” It made sense. Lindsay was an excellent lawyer herself and had been through her own divorce a few years previously. Emilia had good instincts. I had no doubt she’d pick a competent lawyer for this.

“Whoever you hire, have them send me the bill. I’ll pay it, no questions asked.”

She shifted on my lap. “Sounds extremely fair, Mr. Drake. Now, about that 750K…”

I leaned forward and caught her earlobe between my teeth. “I do recall that you said ‘no deal’ to that.”

She rewarded me with a delighted sigh. “Maybe I figured out that getting the man was worth a whole lot more.”

My hand was on her ass in less than a second flat. “Like…how much more?”

“Like…worth all the bugs you kill for me—for life. And all the tight hugs. And the stimulation.”

Now we were talking. I ran my other hand up her thigh. “Stimulation?”

“Mental stimulation.”

I pressed my mouth to her succulent neck.

“I’m exhausted. Let’s cuddle.”

“You’re still under doctor’s orders to rest. No work. No hanky-panky.”

I fought laughter at the archaic term. “Hanky-panky? For real?”

“Nope.” She shook her head, kissing my nose. “None.”

I got my hand up her t-shirt. “What about a little…panky?”

She snorted, pushing herself off my lap. “You need to go back to bed. You’re about to fall over. And I need to go get a lawyer.” She leaned forward, grabbed me by the wrist, and tugged to pull me out of my chair. “There will be neither hanky nor panky.”

I sighed. But, admittedly, all my body wanted to do was collapse and doze for a few more hours. I’d fantasize about seducing her later.

After a nap.

***

Between long bouts of sleep and occasional phone calls to my lawyer, I spent hours over the next week working on my Dragon Epoch mystery.

For the quest, I helped Lord Sisyphus gather his friends. When Princess Emma fell ill, I went on the hunt for a magic elixir to cure her. Once she was well, I escorted Princess Emma to a beautifully secluded beach at sunset, where he proposed to her and she accepted.

I even helped his cousin win a duel so that the wedding date could be established.

All uncomfortably familiar. But not in a creepy way.

Whoever had set this up—and it was elaborate enough to have required some time to develop—knew a lot about Emilia and me. And they knew something of the trials we’d endured to get where we were today.

Once I’d collected bottles of different types of tasty spirits from the different parts of Yondareth, I was on the verge of quest completion. It was almost time for Lord Sisyphus’s Wild and Crazy Bachelor Party.

And with the drop of one simple line, I discovered the person responsible for the wedding quest.

 

My gratitude to you, FallenOne, for all of your help. But you must be careful when arranging my honeymoon travels to the exotic city of Pah-Arees. My boss, the King, just might end up stealing my long-awaited vacation.

 

Pah-Arees. That obscure reference could only mean one thing…because his boss had taken his long-awaited vacation from him—at his behest. To Paris. And though he’d been glad to offer it to us, he’d never ever let me hear the end of it when I’d taken Emilia to the City of Lights on the trip of his dreams—that he had spent months planning for himself.

Jordan.

Well. I’ll be damned.

 

 

Chapter 14

Mia

Apparently, I was required to read through a full disclosure of Adam’s assets as part of the prenuptial contract agreement. Who knew? I certainly hadn’t.

And though I’d never tell Adam this in a million years, the disclosure packet was, um, overwhelming.

By California law, both future spouses had to fully disclose their assets to their partner before anything could be signed. As part of my due diligence, I read through the list of Adam’s assets and their estimated current value. The document, bound as a booklet, was easily the size of a sturdy medical school workbook.

His collection of assets was as varied and interesting as the man himself. As I turned page after page, I’d tried to squelch feelings of inadequacy with the knowledge that my disclosure could fit on an average-sized Post-it note. And most of that was gifts from him, like my car, my computer, and various other things.




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