Chapter 10: Margot's POV: Rule One

Margot's POV

On Saturday night I stood over my husband in the dark hallway and decided to break the first rule.

Not rule two. We had already wrecked that one.

Rule one was the separate bedrooms, the clause I had written myself because I could not trust either of us.

Declan lay on the floor outside Archie's door with a pillow and a blanket.

He had slept there six nights in a row.

I knew because I had stood here six nights in a row and watched him do it.

Tomorrow we would walk into my father's house.

I had three years of lies in my mouth, and I did not have the courage to say them tonight.

So I knelt down and put my hand flat on his chest.

His eyes opened immediately.

"Margot."

"Come to my room."

"No."

"Declan."

"You'll tell me what this is first."

"I can't. Not tonight." I made myself keep looking at him. "But I can tell you I want you. That part is not a lie."

He looked at me for a long, hard moment.

"The contract's over," he said slowly.

"I know."

"Then this isn't a rule you're breaking."

"No. It's just us."

He sat up.

He stood and picked me up off the floor.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he carried me down the hall without a word.

He kicked my door shut behind us.

My back hit the wall beside the bed, hard, and his mouth came down on mine.

It was nothing like the hallway kiss.

This was slow and deliberate, and it was worse, because he took his time.

He kissed me until my knees stopped working.

"Take your shirt off," I said against his mouth.

He pulled it over his head with one hand.

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