She plunked herself on a seat. Then rubbed her temple as his words attacked her once more. ‘You just... You just asked me...’
‘To marry me, yes,’ he confirmed, his voice brimming with unequivocal power and certainty.
‘But...why?’
‘Because my child won’t be living in New Jersey. It will be living with me.’
Cold dredged through her. ‘And the only way I will have access to our baby is to marry you? Is that what you’re threatening me with?’
He didn’t answer immediately. Silence ticked by as he paced in front of her. Then he stopped and propped his hands on his lean hips.
‘Tell me a little bit about your background, Goldie.’
Her gaze flicked up to meet his. ‘Why?’
‘Because I want to understand why you’re fighting this, when all signs indicate that you would think this a perfect solution if other factors weren’t an issue. So make me understand why our child can’t be with us, full-time, wherever that may be.’
‘I don’t have to make you understand. Just because you suddenly think marriage is a perfect solution, when only last night you were dead against it for your own brother, it doesn’t mean I agree.’
‘I don’t think it’s a perfect solution. I think it’s the most viable one.’
She batted the answer away. ‘I would really like not to talk about our child as if it’s a commodity you’re brokering.’
His head went back as if she’d struck him. ‘Trust me, pequeña, a commodity is the last label I’d hang on our child.’
The words were soft but deadly. Too late, she remembered what his parents had done to him as a child. Gael might deny it, but that period in his life had left scars. Deep scars that still dictated his motives.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘I didn’t mean to... It’s just that you speak CEO all the time.’
He lifted one eyebrow. ‘All the time?’
A fiery blush flashed into her cheeks at the blatant reference to their night together. Recollection surged into her mind, making her breath shorten. Unable to drag her gaze from his, she watched, fascinated, as his eyes turned dark and stormy. Despite the brightness of the room she suddenly felt as if they were cocooned in a dark, decadent piece of heaven.
Which was absolutely the last thing she needed to be thinking about now.
He seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. He blinked and gritted his jaw. ‘I’m all ears, Goldie. You grew up in a broken home, correct?’
She winced. ‘Eventually, yes.’
‘And your father? Is he in the picture?’
‘Long-distance.’
He pursed his lips. ‘Given the choice, is that what you wanted to happen when you were growing up?’
She closed her eyes. Swallowed. ‘Okay, you’ve made your point, but I still think we can make an alternative arrangement—’
‘No.’
She glared at him. ‘Let’s explore another option. Couples live together full-time without marrying. Why do we need to be married?’
‘You don’t think our child’s conception from a one-night affair is more than enough for it to have to deal with? You want to add to the long line of illegitimacy in his history? When you can prevent it? What have you got against marriage?’
‘I... Nothing. But that doesn’t mean I want to be knee-jerked into it.’
‘The welfare of our child should be nothing like a knee-jerk response. It should be everything to you.’
Her mouth dried at the enormity of what he was saying. While she’d been lost in dreamless sleep, it was clear Gael had spent hours thinking about the situation they found themselves in. He had a brilliant mind, but she didn’t think he’d put together this presentation on the fly.