I Do (Hate You) by Sienna Blake
Excerpt of To Have & To Hold
Talia
At Logan’s penthouse, we were greeted by an elderly gentleman, straight-backed and impeccably dressed in a suit with coattails, who held out his hand to take my bag and coat.
“Holy crap, you have a butler?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
I slapped my hand over my mouth. Really, I needed to develop a filter.
An actual butler? I’d never so much as known anyone who even had their own cleaner come in once a week. The realness of the world I had signed up for hit me with full force. I was so in over my head. I would never make it out alive. They would all know I was a fraud.
“This is Lane. He’s more of a confidante and friend, really,” Logan said, tossing his coat at Lane, who caught it with the graceful deftness of a professional quarterback. “Like a grumpy uncle who fusses over me.”
“In other words, I’m Logan’s mess cleaner,” Lane shot Logan a meaningful look, “and I make sure he eats his vegetables.” Lane caught my eye and winked.
I liked him already.
“So basically,” I said to Lane, “you’re a long-suffering babysitter to a perennial man-baby.”
Lane grinned at me as he took my coat. “Madam, your insightfulness is astounding. I can already tell you’re going to be a breath of fresh air to this place.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “Traitors, both of you.”
“Please, call me Talia.” I smiled with sincerity at Lane.
“Talia, of course. If you ever need anything, please let me know.” Lane smiled again, and there was warmth in his eyes, which made me feel like I might have at least one person in my corner here.
Perhaps being Logan’s trophy wife wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Call me Lane,” he said to me, “and we’ll figure out a code name for the man-baby later.”
I laughed out loud. Logan didn’t crack a smile. He grabbed the newspaper off the coffee table and started thumbing through it.
“What do you call him now?” I asked.
“I couldn’t say with a lady present.”
I giggled, earning me a smile from Lane. Logan looked peeved as he stared at the paper held tightly in his fists.
“Lane,” I leaned in again, “what does Logan do all day other than drive you nuts?”
Lane looked over his shoulder at Logan, who was pretending even harder to ignore us. “That’s pretty much it until dinner,” he sighed. “Sometimes he eats a snack.”
Logan shook the paper, then snapped it into a crease, folding it into uneven halves. “I can hear both of you. I’m so glad you’re best friends now.” Sulking, he tossed the paper down and stood. “Why don’t you unpack, Talia?”
“Dinner at seven, sir?” Lane straightened his back with his nose high in the air.
“Don’t you start, Lane.”
Logan grabbed my elbow and dragging me down the hallway and into a master bedroom. The drapes were drawn. Logan yanked them open, and the room flooded with light. My box and suitcase were stacked in the corner, having been carried up by porters before. But what really grabbed my attention was the fact that there was only one bed in the room. One enormous king-size bed.
“Where do you sleep?” I asked.
Logan looked at me as if I were light-headed. “I sleep here in that bed.”
“Okay,” I started again, “then where do I sleep?”
“In the same bed, my dearest fiancée.”
“What? No!” I kept my voice down to a low hiss. I now cared about Lane’s opinion and didn’t want him to hear us arguing. “I’m not sharing a bed with you.”
“Hang on to your chastity belt, Talia,” he said. “We are now an engaged couple in love. And couples in love sleep in the same bed.”
“You can act like you love me from another room.”
“That is not what you agreed to.” Logan shook a finger at me. “Talia, people drop by unannounced all the time, including my father’s lawyer. You will unpack your things into this room and you will be sleeping with me.”
“What?” I nearly shrieked, “I never agreed to have sex with you.”
“I’m not talking about sex. Sleeping in the same bed is not sex. Two different activities.”
“But sleeping in the same bed will lead to sex,” I argued.
An annoyed Logan looked toward the bed as if it could reason with me instead. “I’m not such a horn-dog that I can’t control myself. I can sleep next to you without touching you.”
I should’ve been satisfied. Logan was adamant that he could resist me. But for some reason, that just left a sullen look on my face and a bitter taste in my mouth.
He grinned. “Unless you’re worried you can’t control yourself around me, darling?”
I let out a snort. “Even if you were the last man on earth.”
“Then it doesn’t matter if we sleep in the same bed. Right?”
Dammit. I stared at the large bed between us. I had no comeback.
My mind and my heart were off-limits. But my body was doing backflips at the thought of snuggling up to Logan at night.
Dear God. How could I want to sleep with someone I didn’t even like?
I let out a huff.
This was going to be a long, long year.
“Fine, Logan, I will sleep here.”
“Great. I’ll leave you to unpack.” Logan turned to leave. And I turned back to the boxes that contained my entire life.
“By the way,” he called back, “I sleep naked.”