Still the Billionaire's First Choice - Chapter 16

‘What?’

Felipe’s chest tightened as shadows flickered in Sophia’s eyes. He felt a smothering sense of futility—of something slipping from his grasp. He turned away and saw a large cardboard carton beneath her table. He blinked and noticed there was another leaning against the wall, yet to be unfolded. They’d not been here last night. She must’ve gotten them this morning—to pack.

She’d thought he would be away for work for a few weeks. And she was already moving. So she wouldn’t have been here when he got back. He struggled to snatch a breath. This was no joke. This had never been a joke. But it could be perfectly rational.

‘We should marry for convenience,’ he growled.

‘What?’ Sophia breathed. ‘We should what?’

He turned, certainty suddenly settling into him. ‘Marry.’

He watched her eyes widen in horror.

‘Ares met and married a woman after only a couple of weeks. At least you know me a little better.’ He moved closer. ‘You know I have money now.’

‘I never wanted money,’ she said. ‘And two days ago you said you never wanted to marry.’

Right. He cleared his throat. ‘This would be more of a merger—for business purposes.’

It would make good sense for them both and at the very least he could get her away from this horrible studio.

But Sophia slowly shook her head. ‘Business?’

‘You’re perfect wife material. Well-connected. Well-educated. You were groomed for this your whole life.’

She stared at the floor. ‘Is that what you think?’ Her voice was little more than a whisper.

‘It’s what you intended to have with Ares for all those years,’ he pointed out as she all but shrank from him. ‘So why not with me?’

She was so very still.

‘We could have everything,’ he muttered.

He could protect her. He could make this okay.

‘Everything?’ she echoed bitterly. ‘You know I’m hardly perfect now. Most connections I had are long gone and my education has left me all but unemployable.’

‘Well…’ He couldn’t help a small smile. ‘At least we’d have good-looking children.’

She paled. ‘You want me to be your brood mare?’

Her bitterness stabbed. Deep.

‘So that’s a no?’ he asked.

‘It’s preposterous and you know it.’

So much for rational. It was rage that consumed him. She was just like the women who’d propositioned him when he was the holiday pool boy—the ones who wanted only one thing. The ones he’d flirted with to a point, to keep the peace, but never been intimate with. But he’d been intimate with Sophia in so many other ways. ‘Am I still not good enough for you to be with?’

To his horror her huge eyes filled with tears—the glistening enhancing the green and gold. ‘Back then I couldn’t let anyone know we were friends because my father would have fired you and your mother. You must know that. It was never about being ashamed of you.’

He glanced down, unwilling to acknowledge it, though he knew she was right.

‘So then we could make this work,’ he reasserted himself. ‘This could be perfectly functional—’

‘Except you don’t need me,’ she argued. ‘You’re perfectly successful just as you are. You have more charm than you know what to do with.’

Yeah? Well, that supposed charm was getting him nowhere right now.

‘But you shouldn’t have to run away just because of these fools. I mean it, Sophia.’ With a sense of fatality, Felipe repeated the exact words he’d said to her that awful night six years before. ‘You could just marry me.’