Chapter １３４

“That's why you didn't want the hassle of finding someone who would just... be a trophy wife?”

He shook his head. “I didn't want a trophy wife, I wanted a real wife. But falling in love...” He seemed to shudder. “That's why our contract was so exacting. I didn't want you to feel as though you owed me anything and start resenting me. But I truly did want a wife. It's just hard to get a wife when you don't want to fall in love.” That faint smile crossed his face, and I realized, for the first time, that he was laughing at himself, at what he thought was his own ridiculousness.

“And why did you want a wife?” I asked him.

He turned and looked at me. His green eyes were so deep, so intense. Just like the eyes I gave him in my sculpture. I wanted to fall into them.

“I wanted someone to give a shit about me, I suppose,” he said. I heard the lump in his throat. It was the most raw and honest thing I'd ever heard him say.