Chapter Seven

Van would never claim that he had never been rejected before, but he had not expected rejection from a girl who planned on being his wife. Hazel had thrown his invitation out the window without even batting an eye. And damn was it a turn on.

The way her light hazel eyes had been assessing him made Van uneasy. Her eyes showed no emotion, almost as if she had already made up her mind about him. Admittedly, Van did not like that; being judged by someone who did not know him, and yet he found himself impressed and pleased with her. There was no fun in automatic submission. A little chasing was healthy for his ego.

When Van managed to pick his jaw up from the carpeted floor, he pointed out the room in question. She shot him a look that dared him to follow her, then set off. Van stood, rooted to the spot, watching her strut with utmost confidence to the door. She pushed it open and stepped in, dragging her carryon in her wake. In seconds the door was closed and the only evidence that a fearless vixen had just put him in his place was the lingering smell of strawberries in the air.

Not knowing whether to grin or be shooting back the heavy stuff, Van walked to his room, deciding that a shower was in order. For now, he would pretend that he was the only one there and that he did not have an insufferably sexy and annoying woman in his apartment.

Later on, Van stepped out into the living room to see Hazel standing by the windows, staring at the city below. Her face was pressed to the thick glass and her eyes were closed as if in prayer. The rapidly setting sun made her red hair glow and bathed her skin to a flushed pink color. She looked heavenly.

But by then Van had been able to remind himself why she was persona non grata. This beautiful woman had just become his problem, in more ways than one. Her very presence represented something he did not want; his father controlling his life.

Regardless, he would extend an olive branch and try to be civil.

"Do you want dinner?" Van asked, going up beside her.

"I... Yes." her answer seemed forced and reluctant.

Van managed to rein in his anger at her obnoxious attitude, but could not stop himself from retorting in a curt voice. "Look, if you're trying to play hard to get, drop the act. It's not doing either one of us any favors." He closed his eyes, counting to ten and sighed, "We will be living together, so we might as well play nice."

Hazel's eyes shot open. Play nice, he said. He sounded exactly as she expected him to be; an obnoxious, contemptible jerk. The hour reprieve she had, having locked herself away in his guest room had been spent firstly steaming over the fact that he had acted like every other male and had prepositioned her so vulgarly. And then she had tried to calm her temper and reason with herself that being angry and in a never ending war with him would be of no use for her. After all, if you can't beat them...

But after his speech, she was so over being polite, "In that case, I'll see you in the morning. Or not at all."

Mumbling to herself, Hazel pushed pass him, heading in the direction of her room. Her hand went up to her hair in its usual sloppy bun and she pulled the elastic from it. Her hair felt too tight suddenly. It spilled onto her shoulders and back, enveloping her in a curtain of red that perfectly matched her mood.

There was nothing that she would not give to be back in Chicago. On a long day such as the one she was having she would have made herself a nice warm cup of coffee, making herself comfortable by her windows, looking down at the streets. But she had already made the ludicrous decision to return to New Jersey and now she had to pay the price. And though the price was marrying a man who one could easily identify as an eligible bachelor or a model, Hazel felt as though the price was too high. Things were going to get out of hand, she could just tell. Van did not strike her as the type to roll over and play dead. She would lose control if she relaxed even in the slightest, so she would not.

Control was something she needed to have.

Still, she was determined to fulfil all her goals for agreeing to this madness; she might as well make the best of the situation. Hazel had made a bucket list of all the places she wanted to rediscover and things she wanted to do, because even though Trenton, New Jersey was the one place she had never planned to return to she still had some good memories of the city.

Stepping into the guest room, where she had set up her paintings and some supplies in a corner, she added going to New York and ferrying over to the Statue of Liberty to her mental bucket list. At its height, she could take some amateur photos and perhaps get a sketch or two in, and most importantly, get her away from Van goth Steel and his dark good looks for wonderful hours of peace.

A knock came at her door a couple of minutes later. Distracted, Hazel called out a come in and tried to finish the task of replacing the abstract art painting Van had up with one of her personal favorite by the closet door. What would have been easy enough was a mammoth of a task thanks to the cast on her arm.

"So now you don't like my paintings as well?" Van questioned, folding his arms and leaning up against the door frame.

"I like to look at my own work; sue me." Hazel huffed, tipping on the chair in one last ditch effort to reach the hook.

Hazel was startled by warm hands wrapping around her waist and yanking her off the chair. She stopped short of his firm chest as Van set her down. He pulled the painting from her hand and put it on the wall with ease.

Utterly astonished and thoroughly flustered, Hazel turned her back to him, hoping to hide the flush that had over taken her pale complexion. She would not go as far as to say that she was blushing, but a flush was just as bad; showing that his proximity and actions shifted her equilibrium in any way was a form of weakness. And she would not tolerate weakness.

So she snapped "Maybe Neanderthal manhandling is acceptable and attractive to your women friends, but I won't stand for it."

Van stared disbelievingly at her back, his dark brow disappearing under his bang, then he gritted out, "Jealous already, wife-to-be? Let me assure you that no one I associate with would put themselves in such a situation to need rescuing."

Hazel spun to glare at for his indirection insult, "Did you just call me stupid?"

"I didn't say that, sweetheart." Van crossed his arms, allowing himself to smirk, "But if the hat fits..."

"You are without a doubt an ass." Hazel maintained eye contact, smirking at him, "I was depending on that. If you'd excuse me, I am getting ready for bed. Close the door on your way out."

The mini demon walked away from Van, effectively dismissing any further arguments.

Letting a heavy breath, Van goth threw away any ideas he had of inviting her to eat dinner with him – again, might he add –, and all but marched out of the room.

He had enough for one day.

His father had paid him a visit barely two weeks prior. Johnathan had sat him down and gave a long winding speech about responsibility and business and family. He talked of how Van was wasting his life away and that the ripe age of 27 was not far from 30; which in turn was not far from 70.

Van remembered sitting there on his own couch, staring at his aging father and wondering how his father could honestly say he was wasting his life when he worked hard for the company. Then Johnathan Steel dropped the bomb.

"Son, what I'm trying to say is that you need to settle down. Fun and games aren't going to cut it in the business world. And I've decided that if you don't marry, I'll turn over my shares to Dan effective immediately."

At first, Van thought he had misheard his father. Giving the company to someone who barely stayed in one town for more than a week was, and forever would be, impossible. Dan'te Steel, the youngest of the two Steel brothers, was barely ever sober and spent money on booze like there was no tomorrow.

"You're crazy." Van had stated, frowning at Johnathan.

His father had shook his head slowly, "No, no. What I am is wise and what I want is an early retirement. I can't do that with both of you hanging in limbo. Nevertheless, this way I kill two birds with one stone."

Afterwards, his father had divulged some of the information about his 'agreement' with a business in desperate need of funding and how the daughter of the CEO was a pretty little thing who was willing to merge the two families and companies.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

Van had got up by then, glaring at the man who was obviously losing it.

"Are you crazy?"

To which the older man had simply smiled and said, "No, I'm serious."

And that was how he had become entwined with the fiery redhead who was going to make his life undoubtedly hell. 

*****FORCED*****

I was not gonna but here it is.

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