Marriage Merger

Chapter 46

Pushing Adriano as far away from her as possible, Ximena began to angrily march towards the front door. Sure, she was pretty mad that he and her best friend had practically kidnapped her but she was even angrier at the fact that a small part of her actually found it romantic. Even though her face was contorted into a scowl, her lips were fighting hard not to break into a smile.

Before she could turn the door knob, Adriano swooped in right before her and bolted it shut using a key heaven know he had pulled out from where. She looked up at him, blue eyes blazing. “What the hell did you lock the door for?” she fumed, her nostrils flaring in the process.

“You are not leaving until you hear me out,” he remarked coolly, and grabbed her shoulders so that he could direct her towards the living room.

She tried to shrug him off but he wouldn’t let her go. “Okay, so now you’ve resorted to forcing me to do things? Whatever happened to consent? This is quite illegal I’m sure,” she grumbled and Adriano chuckled. Her head turned back to him so fast that she was moments away from getting whiplash. Was the bastard finding all of this comical? Seconds later, she was placed on the plush couch and he proceeded to sit right next to her. He was so close that she could smell his scent; his intoxicating scent that made her weak at the knees and made her mind race vividly.

“Are you blushing?” he asked her, amused at the red tint that had overtaken her face.

Looking away in embarrassment at the various scenarios that were running through her mind of them, together in scandalous positions she coughed unceremoniously. “I am not blushing!” she defended weakly, and he laughed richly once again. Curse you Adriano Dos Santos, she swore in her heart.

“I’d love to enact whatever is going through that pretty head of yours but first I need you to listen to what I have to say,” he began in a playful manner and then took hold of her hand in his large ones. She slowly looked back at him, succumbing to the fact that she couldn’t run away from him any longer. It wasn’t like her father was there for her to dictate her actions.

Adriano sighed, looked heavenward and then back at her. “Amanda and I were lovers,” he breathed lowly. Then and there Ximena wanted to rip her hand out of his, having decided that she had already heard to much but he wouldn’t let her. His grip was firm as he willed her to keep on looking at him. “Hey, calm down. I know it sounds wrong but that’s the truth. We were lovers before I met you,” he emphasized and Ximena swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

He continued to speak after giving her a moment to digest the new piece of information, not that she didn’t already have a vague idea of it. “We met by chance and I guess we connected. I found comfort in her because she was wild, mysterious and bold. In fact, she was the one who asked me out,” he chuckled at the memory, and Ximena felt a pang of jealousy because she wasn’t remotely close to fitting that description. But she kept quiet and let him go on.

“We dated for a couple of months, probably the longest relationship I ever had. Most of my past flings were just casual hookups but with Amanda…she made me want to slow down a bit. Everything was great, until my father decided to rain on my parade by telling me about the contract. I’ll admit that I was really upset about it. I didn’t want to be sold off like some cardboard game piece just to satisfy his never-ending greed. What made me particularly furious was the fact that the person I was going to marry was you,” he said, and she gulped. The last statement he had said almost sounded like it held to much resentment that she was at a loss for words.

“Ximena Dos Ramos, a.k.a heiress of the Dos Ramos shipping throne, the girl every man wishes was his…and the woman I haven’t been able to get out of my head since I saw her in that purple dress that left little to the imagination that one night,” he whispered with a smile and Ximena had to bite her lip to stop a grin from bursting through.