No Strings Attached

Chapter 3

Hearing those words, lan’s expression turned icy in an instant. His dark eyes fixed on Clara with an intensity that felt like a physical force. “I’ve told you before I’m not the marrying kind, Clara. If you couldn’t handle that, you shouldn’t have agreed to this.”

A faint redness tinged the corners of Clara’s eyes. “It was different before, lan. It was just the two of us. Now, there’s a third.“–

“She can’t threaten you.”

Clara let out a self–deprecating chuckle. “She just makes one call, and you drop everything for her, leaving me in the dust. Tell me, lan, how is that not a threat?”

A flash of anger sparked in lan’s eyes. “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill over a little menstrual pain?”

“What if it was more? What if I was pregnant?”

“Don’t try to trap me with talk of a kid. I’ve always been careful!”

was cold, his words unhesitating. If there were a child, he’d probably

fists

her chin, her smile bitter. “You once said that we were all about the romance, not the nuptials. That

one could

the veins standing out like cords, his gaze piercing Clara. “Do you

to hear it from me, but I’m tired,

enough, that marriage didn’t matter. But she was wrong because lan’s heart had never truly

this your way of forcing me into marriage? I must

“Think what you want. I’m

hot lips found hers with precision, biting gently. His husky voice was laced with

widening. “What three years?! What

sticking with me even with no marriage on the table–wasn’t

crisis. After lan got involved with her, he had indeed thrown a lot of business their way, pulling them out of the mire. She had thought that lan was willing to help because

years, all your

irritation at her words. “Just a relationship of convenience, Clara. Did you really think I was