The Tie That Binds (Serendipity, #1)

by Catharina Maura

“Must be some magic pussy for him to abandon his best friend on a day like this.”

“The clause states your shares are to be given to your grandmother unless you marry the man of your father’s choosing within a month from now.”

“Your father’s wish is for you to marry Daniel. There isn’t anyone he trusts more with his company and his daughter.”

“He always wanted you as his son. I guess he’s getting his wish granted in death,”

“The two of you will have to live together and stay married until Alyssa either becomes CEO or turns twenty-five. If you two separate or divorce before then, the shares are still to be given away.

“I know you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, Alyssa. You either marry me and lose a part of your personal life and a chance to make that unrequited love of yours work. Or you lose the company that’s rightfully yours. It’s a tough situation, but it’s no walk in the park for me either. The last thing I need is to be saddled with a teenybopper for the next few years. However, I will marry you if you’re willing. Even if it’s just to honour your father’s last wish. He’s never asked anything of me before today and I won’t let him down now.”

“Alyssa Moriani, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

“Couldn’t it have been me? If all you had to do was marry a Devereaux, then why not me?”

Dominic inhales deeply. “She’s not you, Alyssa. She’ll never be you.”

My eyes follow him as he turns and walks right out of the church instead of sitting in one of the pews.

“I guess that love wasn’t as unrequited as I thought,” he whispers.

“I want our marriage to remain between us. I don’t want it publicly announced and I don’t want anyone to find out about it.”

“I’m happy to keep our marriage a secret, but this doesn’t mean I’ll condone cheating. As long as we’re legally tied to each other I expect you to be faithful to me, as I will be to you.”

“Rule number one,” he says. “We’ll be faithful to each other. Defy that rule and I’ll divorce you, shares be damned.”

“Rule number two. You’ll keep an appropriate distance from Dominic. I don’t want to hear any rumours about you two, or about any other men for that matter.”

“I said an appropriate distance, Alyssa. Be as close to him as you want to be, so long as you keep things appropriate.”

“Very well. Rule number three is that we keep our marriage a secret. I don’t want anyone to know beyond the people closest to us. If anyone needs to be told I’d prefer that we discuss it beforehand. In three years we’ll divorce, and I don’t want to be known as your ex-wife for the rest of my life.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

He’s still only wearing his pyjama bottoms. I hate to admit that he looks sexy as hell.

“Alyssa lost her father and just moved into a new place. Her best friend, the one person she should’ve been able to count on, was too busy screwing his girlfriend to realise she shouldn’t be left alone. Of course I was there to console her. The question is, why weren’t you?”

“What do you expect me to say, Dominic? Daniel’s right. You weren’t there. You haven’t been there for me in months. When is the last time you and I even had a private conversation? You didn’t even drive me to my house from my father’s funeral. You didn’t accompany me to the reading of the will even though I asked you to and you didn’t check up on me last night. You’ve made it quite clear that you don’t give a damn about my wellbeing. What exactly do you expect me to say, huh?”

But there’s someone that I can’t seem to get off my mind.”

“Well, if you want to pursue her, I won’t stand in your way. If you’ve waited four years for her, I won’t make you wait another three years until we divorce.”

“I’ll make you a bet. If I propose within the next four years and she says yes, then you’ll owe me a new Aston Martin. It’ll have to be whichever model has just come out. If you win, I’ll buy you an apartment the equivalent of the Aston.”

“Are you an idiot? Did you get into uni the same way you got into DM? Didn’t you hear the way the CEO introduced you to me? I’m your senior, so yes, you are my little bitch. Now get to work or get the fuck out.”

“I think we should add some more details to the rules. Cheating from now on includes anything ranging from flirting to sleeping with someone else.”

“Very well. If you say so, Wifey.

“So just date me, wife.”

“Of course. I’d be happy to do that. Though you’ll have to promise you’ll make it home for dinner every day like you did with your dad. I’ll do the same.

I hook my foot through his armrest and pull his chair closer until he’s sitting right in front of me. He moves to get up so I place my red bottomed shoe against his chest and push him back down. He sits back, looking completely stupefied. Before he can respond, I spread my legs so they cage him in, my heels brushing his outer thighs.

“Go ahead. Call HR. I’d love to see how that goes. Go ahead and tell them Mrs. Devereaux, your wife, is harassing you.”

“I’m sorry, Daniel. I’m sorry I haven’t been putting you first. That’ll change now, if you’ll give me a chance.”

“You don’t need to make excuses, Daniel. Our marriage isn’t the type where that is required. Like you said… You’ll do what you want and there’s nothing I can do about it if I want to inherit my father’s shares. Point taken. You needn’t worry. You’ve made it clear that I don’t have any rights to you. I’ll stop now. I’ll stop seeing things that clearly aren’t there.”

“I didn’t think that was still a thing considering you didn’t show up for dinner once last week. It’s not a tradition if you only keep to it when it suits you. Besides, it isn’t something we used to do before we got married. You wanted things to be like what they were before we got married, right? You don’t need to humour me with this,”

“So I can cheat on you tomorrow and then tell you I want to take it back? That I wasn’t thinking clearly when I clearly told you I wanted to see someone else? Also, how fickle are you? Didn’t you tell me you had someone you wanted to pursue? Didn’t you bet you’d marry her? So who is this girl you’re seeing now?”

“Yep. This is my wife, Alyssa.”

“I don’t know, Dan. It might be better if we do see other people. Considering your track record, it’d be a surprise if you can actually last three whole years without getting laid.”

“Who says I’m planning on going without sex for three years?” he whispers.

“Do you want to bet on whether or not I can make you beg for it?”

“Tell me you’ll be faithful to me, Alyssa. I’m not asking you to sleep with me. I’m just asking you not to sleep with anyone else.”

“Tell me you’ll be mine for as long as we’re married, Alyssa. Promise me you’ll be mine like I am yours.”

“Are you mine, Daniel?” I ask, my heart racing.

“Yes, sweetheart. I’m yours,” he says. “I promise.”

“And what if I won’t? I’m not the one who decided to create or abolish the rule in the first place. You do whatever the hell you want and expect me to agree. What if tomorrow you change your mind again?”

“I won’t change my mind. We can get it down on paper. I’m happy to sign a contract. I’ll give you my DM shares if I ever cheat on you.”

“I missed you too, baby,” he murmurs.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” he whispers.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me,” I tell him.

“I promise I’m not playing with your feelings, Daniel. But I can’t promise I won’t play with your body.”

“Baby, you drive me insane,”