Chapter 74: An Offer
\[Gianna’s POV\]
I stare in disbelief as Grant pulls open the door to the taxi in front of us and when he steps aside and motions for me to enter I realize that he is serious about what he is saying.
He’s actually intending to marry me because I was pregnant with his child, but there was no way that I could allow that to happen, right?
“Get in,” Grant says, making it clear that he wouldn’t let me get away with running. “Or do you want me to put you in myself?”
For a moment, I don’t speak as I stare at the man and the vehicle in front of me.
What the hell was actually happening?
How was it possible that I was all but being told that I needed to marry this man that I barely knew who was related to me because of my mother’s marriage?
No.
I couldn’t do that, not when there wasn’t any love.
“You’re being ridiculous.” I sigh, crossing my arms and planting my feet. “Who gets married just because of a child this day in age?”
We were living in the twenty first century and there was no reason for Grant to be taking these steps because of this.
“I won’t ask you for anything and…”
I don’t get to finish my words before Grant is moving toward me and when he reaches, he grabs me and then he gently places me in the cab. As he does, the cabbie stares at us like he isn’t quite sure what to do, but when Grant climbs in beside me, slams the door, and passes him a wad of cash, he simply shrugs.
“Where to?” He asks, starting his meter and hitting the gas.
“To the nearest courthouse.”
“No!” I hiss, moving to open my door, but stopping as I see the scenery just beyond my window moving. “Hey!”
“Just be good,” Grant sighs. “You say that I don’t have to marry you because I feel obligated to do so, but that’s wrong.”
“Wrong,” I repeat, frowning. “And what about what I have said is wrong?”
“I’m not doing it because I feel obligated.” He tells me. “I told you from the start that I need someone beside me to make my family leave me alone about marrying someone. Now, I have the perfect excuse to not get married since the main reason they want me to marry is to create an heir.”
“That’s still not enough of a reason.” I counter. “Try to think clearly, will you?”
“I am thinking quite clearly.” Grant counters. “If I have to marry and raise a child with someone, I think that you’re the perfect person to do it. We work together, we have to see each other because of your mother and Anthony, and we are pretty compatible in bed.”
“Hey!” I hiss, shooting him a look and then looking toward the cabbie. “What the hell do you think you’re saying?”
“I’m just making it clear that if it is you, then I think it would be fun.”
Fun.
Was he really considering a marriage of convenience as something fun?
What about when it wasn’t fun anymore, then what?
“You’re overthinking things,” Grant sighs, drawing me out of my head. “When we met that night and you decided that you wanted to sleep with me, what were you thinking?”
That I wanted to win a bet. I respond silently, while wondering how he would feel if I told him that.
“That I thought it would be fun.” I say outwardly. “You looked good sitting there alone and it had been a while since I fucked someone.”
As I speak, the cabbie peeks back at me, but I don’t care because honestly, Grant already made this whole drive and conversation awkward with his honesty.
“Then why not just go with that frame of mind now?” The man himself says. “You marry me and get to reap the benefits of being my lady.”
“While possibly losing someone important to me.”
Even now as I sit here in this taxi with Grant beside me, zooming to the damned courthouse of all places to sign a marriage certificate I can’t help but wonder what my mother or even Anthony will think.
They weren’t shy about making their thoughts on my relationship with Grant known and because of that I was extremely wary.
“How about this,” Grant says, drawing me back to the present. “Why don’t you agree to that contract marriage offering? I’m even willing to pay you handsomely.”
“I don’t need money.” I point out. “I have worked my ass off to make my own, you know?”
“Sure,” he agrees. “But when you start showing you won’t be able to work. You know that as well as I do and when you can’t work, how will you support yourself and our unborn child?”
Our unborn child. I don’t know why, but hearing those words does something to me that I don’t like, but I would never let Grant know.
“I’ve got savings.” I say slowly. “I’ve been saving since I started and…”
“Those savings will run out fast.” Grant counters. “And once they run out, how do you intend to continue living?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
Honestly, I never thought that far ahead because I was still trying to get used to fact that I was pregnant, but now that Grant was asking me this, I realized, that I had absolutely no plan B for when I couldn’t continue modeling.
Dammit. He had me and he knew he had me. I can see it on his face that he knows that he has managed to make me stop and really consider what he is offering, but even then, the stubborn side of me doesn’t want to agree.
But the child is his. The small voice in the back of my head says. You didn’t make that child by yourself and you most certainly won’t be able to stop this man from being a father to the child if he wants to be.
Then did I really have any other choice but to let myself be with this man?
I mean, I did, but that wasn’t fair to the baby.
I knew that. I was more than aware of that, but the thought of what my life would become once I agreed to be with him even if just in contract, scared the shit out of me.
“I promise I won’t make you regret anything.” Grant says, his hand gently grabbing mine. “I will make sure to spoil you rotten and I will make sure that your every wildest dream comes to fruition.”