He glared down at her menacingly. "Cut the crap. I don't like it," he thundered in a sneering snarl.
"I don't really care if you like it! I don't care for how this 'agreement' is working out. I didn't like it from the beginning and I like it even less now."
"You agreed to it fast enough."
"Yeah? So what? You're hot. You're sexy. And you were damned determined to get your way. I caved. So sue me, really. Just sue me for the freakin' money and let's get this over with."
"I'm not going to sue you, Natalie. We've had this goddamned discussion before. Money isn't what I want from you."
"Yeah? Well treating me like a possession that you only take out to play with at night isn't going to cut it anymore. I want more. I've never harmed you. I've never done anything to be treated with disrespect. I deserve better."
"I've never disrespected you. I--" He paused before continuing, "I've never respected anyone more than I respect you. That's the God's honest truth."
"You have a sorry-ass way of showing it, Marco."
"What do you want from me?"
"Some dignity would go a long way."
"Dignity?"
"Yeah, dignity. You know, having a reason to live here with you? Having at least the small ability to claim you as my boyfriend. Being able to hold my head up in public--to look myself in the mirror without shame. Being something more than the maid you sleep with."
"You're not the maid."
"No? I clean your home. I cook your food. I wash your clothes. Those are the things that either a maid or a girlfriend does. Or dare I say it? A wife? But we won't go there. Marriage isn't something I'm dangling for. Far from it. I'm not totally stupid. All I want is the face-saving claim of us being a couple. I cringe when we're out in public. I'm always worried we'll run into someone you know--and then what? You'll introduce me as what? The maid who you take out to supper? Your personal live-in call girl?" Natalie slashed her hand through the air and turned away. "I'm done. I've got nothing left to say."
"Natalie, I don't know what to say. I don't see you in the derogatory way you're describing. I--"
She turned back around to face him with accusation in her eyes. "I hate that you have the power to hurt me. How did this even happen? How has this escalated from cleaning your house to avoid a lawsuit into what it is now? And I don't even know what it is. You're overbearing and want your way. And I'm what? Supposed to do as you say? Supposed to be a good little whore--"
He was beside her in a flash. His arms gripped her tightly and he shook her just once, just enough to contain the diatribe that was quickly turning into vitriol, that spilled from her mouth. "Shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up." One hand left her arm and slid into her scalp and held her tightly. "You want to be my goddamned girlfriend? That's what you want? Fine. You're my girlfriend. We're a couple." He clamped his jaw tight. "Does that make you feel better?"
She shook her head back and forth. "It doesn't have to be this way. I don't want to force you into a relationship you don't want. I can just leave. Justin will pay you back soon, and then I can pay him back."
"You're not going anywhere. Get that shit through your head."
"You can't keep me here through intimidation. Get that shit through your head, Marco. If I stay--we need to be a couple. If we're a couple, you need to understand that it's because it's what we both want. If you threaten me--try to intimidate me--that shit won't fly. See, here's the thing. I know you'd never hurt me. I feel it in my bones. So that crap won't work. And if it was working? If you were scaring me? I'd leave you in a second flat." Her words were firm, even, and she stared into his eyes while she made the speech.
He listened closely and Natalie believed he absorbed everything she said. His hand in her hair gentled almost imperceptibly. "I'll quit trying to intimidate--if you promise we're a couple."
Shock, combined with a tingling of pleasure hit her low in the stomach as sensation flooded through her from his fevered attempt at compromise. Now he wanted her to promise him they were a couple? Was this his way of almost begging her to stay? He was now ready to claim a relationship just from her mere explosion of anger? Did he have deeper feelings than he even knew? And was there a chance at all for them?
Whatever the future held, she wasn't going to pass up this moment to cement something with him, no matter how small. "I promise," she said softly.
His hands tightened and a look of relief crossed his face. "You can't take that back."
Her fingers lifted to cover his mouth to stop him from saying anything more that might ruin the tentative truce they had reached. "I won't, as long as you hold onto your end of the bargain."
He grabbed her hand and held it to his mouth and kissed it, running his lips over her finger and the palm of her hand. "You can hire a cleaning service if you want." he asked.
"Me?"
"It's your house. We're a couple, right? That's your department now."
She gave him a quizzical smile. "Woman's work and all that?"
"Are you trying to trick me? Are you trying to fundamentally change me now? You've gotten me to tone down the intimidation and now you think I'll become politically correct as well?"
"No. You've done enough. You just took me by surprise. I don't want or need a cleaning service if that's okay with you."
"That's fine. I don't like strange people in my house anyway, like I told you before. But you'll take care of it if the housework becomes too much to handle?"
"Yes."
"So--we're done with this?"
"Yes."
His finger smoothed over her bottom lip. "I love that word on your lips."
A sensual light passed between them. "Yes," she whispered.
"Yes to anything?"
She licked her lips. "That's one of your rules, isn't it?"
"And you don't want to break my rules, do you?"
She shook her head softly. "Never."
****
The next morning, Marco stood fastening his tie as he watched Natalie lying in bed from his position in front of the mirror. She stretched, her body supple and young, and the same unwavering compulsion to keep her near came over him once again.
She swung her feet to the floor and looked around for the nightgown he'd lifted from her before he'd allowed her in the bed the night before. Her eyes fell on it, and she retrieved it and quickly slipped it over her head. She began making her way to the bathroom, and he stopped her by calling her name. "Natalie."