Read Online Marriage Made on Paper by Maisey Yates - Free Book Online

stocked, and some ofthe housekeeping staff I’ve already hired are staying on site, so they’ll be around to take care of our needs.”
    “I don’t need housekeeping,” she said dryly. “How do you think I manage in my daily life?”
    “I assumed you were busy and you would have some domestic help.”
    Which would require her to allow a stranger in her house. Which might seem fanatical to some, but she’d done cramped, shared communal living with her mother and whatever man of the month her mother was currently attached to. No privacy. And some of the men had attempted to take advantage … it was no wonder she’d never been the kind of woman to experiment with flings. She’d had to work too hard to maintain any sort of innocence in that environment.
    “We’re not all billionaires, Gage.”
    “But I know what I pay you,” he said dryly.
    “But you don’t know my expenses. Maybe I own beachfront property.”
    “You don’t.”
    She turned to him, eyebrows raised. “You don’t think I do?”
    “You’re too sensible.”
    She smirked. “As it happens I own a beachfront condo.”
    The West Coast, the ocean, had been her dream growing up. She’d seen the ocean for the first time at seventeen, when she moved to California, and it had been her goal to be able to see it from her bedroom window. It had taken quite a few years, but eighteen months ago she’d finally gotten the keys to her new beachfront home. A home she’d worked for. The home she’d earned. It had been the best feeling in the world.The ultimate reward for her years of hard work, focus and independence.
    “You don’t seem the type.”
    “I don’t?”
    “Do you surf? Swim?”
    She laughed. “No.”
    “That’s why you don’t seem the type.”
    “I used to dream about the ocean,” she said without thinking. “In Kansas we have seas of cornfields. No ocean. I thought if I could see the ocean … it was like the world would be open to me. Endless possibilities on the horizons.”
    As soon as she finished she wished she hadn’t said anything. She’d never told anyone that before, not even any of her friends. Her dreams had always been her own. She had a really nice group of friends, but they kept things casual, not really in depth. And that was how she liked things in general with people. Now she felt horribly exposed, and to Gage of all people, who always seemed like he could see into her, like he knew things about her even she didn’t know.
    “It’s a good dream,” he said. “And now you have it.”
    She nodded once. “Part of it.”
    “You want success.”
    “I want unsurpassed success in my field,” she said.
    “Something I understand.”
    “You have that kind of success, Gage.”
    He offered her a partial smile. “Yet, I still want more. It’s never quite enough, that’s the thing about ambition. But that’s what keeps me going, and in business, you have to keep going. Money doesn’t wait for you. If I wasn’t building this resort, someone else would be,and it would be my missed opportunity. As it is, it’s my payday and someone else’s regret.”
    “You don’t do regret, do you?” she asked.
    “I make sure I never need to.”
    They pulled onto a road that was newer than the main highway, the pavement dark and smooth as the road curved around the base of sheer rock face covered with vines and moss. The road led up the mountain and the foliage grew thicker and greener and palm trees and other topical plants grew thick along the roadside.
    It certainly hadn’t been overtaken by Forrestation Inc., as some of the environmental groups had feared. With the exception of the road, Lily could barely make out any signs of civilization.
    The partially built resort was at the top of the mountain, with a clear view of the crystalline ocean and the white sand beaches. Paths led from the main building and into the trees and, she assumed, to the separate teakwood villas.
    The limo came to a halt and Lily got out without