Loving the Bastard Read Online Free PDF Page A

the sight of it.
    The thing stood three stories with balconies on each window overlooking the grounds. Doric columns ran the length of the front of the house, top to bottom, giving it a stately air. To Zeta, it looked more like a resort than someone’s home. Could it be any more ostentatious? The house definitely fit the owner.
    “You actually live here?”
    “For eleven years,” he said proudly, as if she should be impressed.
    “We could live here together for years, never leave the house, and never see each other!”
    “That’s the point I’ve been trying to make, sweetheart. We can live together without actually getting in each other’s way.”
    “Okay, first off, I’m not your sweetheart,” she said, needing to get that out of the way. Endearments would only lead to a false sense of security should he insist they have a more intimate relationship. Given the kiss they’d shared in his office, that was most definitely on his agenda. “Second, how can you possibly hope to have a successful marriage by never seeing each other in private?”
    “Successful in my book equals no divorce. Since it’s in the prenup…success.”
    As he pulled into the garage, Zeta decided two things. Maximilian had a very fucked-up idea of what marriage was and how a husband and wife should treat each other. Next, it might be foolhardy on her part, but she was going to show him.
    “I tell you what,” she said. “We have six months before I give my final word. I get that you expect us to basically have nothing to do with each other after you get your heir, but I want you to see things my way. Just for this six months. If I’m going to go out of my comfort zone, then I expect you to do the same.”
    “Has anyone ever told you you’re an exasperating female?” Maximilian didn’t look irritated or angry—he looked amused. As if this were all a grand experiment, a game they were playing.
    She pretended to think about the question before answering, “No. Can’t say I’ve ever heard that one.”
    “Fine. What do you propose?”
    “Outside of your work, we do things as a couple. We have meals together. We watch TV together in the evenings or whatever. We pretend we actually matter to each other and see what happens.”
    “Like me going with you to the YMCA to help you with your math tutoring?”
    “No. You’ll do that because it will make a difference in the life of a young man or woman.” When he rolled his eyes, she amended, “And because you said you thought it was too dangerous for me to go alone. If you don’t want to help”—she shrugged—“fine. But these youngsters could certainly benefit from your vast knowledge and experience in the corporate world.”
    “I’m still not sure how you managed to talk me into that one.”
    Maximilian escorted her into his home with obvious pride as they spoke. Admittedly, he had much to be prideful of. The place was gorgeous. Spacious living areas, a kitchen that was to die for, and the promise that there were three more in different wings of the house if one didn’t meet her needs.
    At length, he took her to a suite of rooms on the seconed floor. The balcony in back overlooked the pool in the center of an expansive courtyard. There was a sitting room, bedroom, spacious bathroom, and a full kitchen. The sitting room was bigger than her entire apartment with an entertainment area with the biggest TV she’d ever seen. A leather sectional formed a U for comfortable viewing. In the corner—almost as an afterthought, as if it had been put there because the designer thought it might be a requirement—was a white baby grand piano. A plush area rug as big as a room lay underneath the instrument but looked as if it had never been walked on. Zeta’s fingers itched to try out the piano. She bet it sounded so much better than her old upright. While still pleasing, the sound was likely nothing like what she could produce with this piano.
    “Consider this yours while you’re