by Vivian Wood
When he reaches a table, I catch his elbow. He gives me the same look that a king would give a dirty peasant, but I don’t care. I’m pissed.
“Hey. Do you want to lay off a little?” I ask, whispering angrily.
One of his brows rises. “Excuse me?”
I lean closer to his smug face, pointing a finger at him. “You just can’t help yourself. I’m dressing how you want me to, okay? Isn’t that enough? Do you really have to keeping bullying me about every little thing?”
He glares, moving closer so that he’s right in my face. He reaches out and lifts up my pin. “I didn’t realize that sparkly dinosaurs counted as what I wanted. This thing is ugly as sin.”
I yank my body back. “Don’t touch me.”
He actually laughs in my face. “You are such a nun! Admit it!”
“I am not!” I can feel my face turning red. “It’s not prudish to tell a man to keep his hands to himself.”
Luca’s dark eyes gleam. “But what about your husband?”
Fuming, I smack him on the arm. “I swear, this whole please stay married to me thing is just… stupid!”
He glares at me, opening his mouth. Luckily at that moment Bradford calls out from across the bar. “Save it for the bedroom, guys! We open the front door in less than five minutes!”
Luca narrows his eyes at Bradford, but he does shift his stance to grab another table and pull it close. “We’re not finished here, princess.”
“Whatever. You should just be glad that I’m going to be busy all night.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I’m scrambling to clarify. “Because otherwise I would… you know… beat you at sparring. Err… verbally…”
Luca grins. “You know what? Maybe princess is the wrong nickname for you. Maybe it should be Old Lady.”
“That’s not fair!” I protest.
“Cate!” Bradford calls. “Come get an order pad, please!”
Giving Luca a foul look, I head across the venue and take one of the paper pads that Bradford holds out to me. He gives me a look, head to toe.
“Honey, I know that you’re all giddy because the boss man is totally in love with you. Seriously, it’s amazing. Any other time I would thank you. But right now, I need you to get your game face on. I’m about to unlock those doors and I need you to pretend that you have the minutest smidge of experience, okay?”
“Oh, that’s not… we’re not…” I laugh. “I mean, we are getting an annulment,” I finish lamely.
“How nice for you. My point is, put all your personal stuff aside for the next five hours. Look, Levi is unbolting the door… And there is the first guest…” He shoos me away from the bar, turning away to stack copper mugs.
I have to straighten my dress, walk a little taller in my borrowed heels, and go greet the first customers of the night. After that, the night speeds up, going into warp drive around ten. By then I’m waiting on the entire room by myself and I’m way too far in the weeds to so much as think about Luca.
I do catch a glimpse of him, bussing a table here and bringing someone water there. And I have to wonder…
What did Bradford mean when he said that Luca was in love with me? Obviously if he’d been listening, he would know that not a single sweet word crossed Luca’s lips.
Is he just crazy?
By the end of the night, Luca is long gone, leaving me and Bradford to clean up. We do twenty minutes of light cleaning, during which I’m too tired to even process that I had a question for Bradford.
I head home, so tired that I’m about to drop. Only when my head is on my pillow, my eyes closed, does Bradford’s statement float back up to the top of my mind.
The boss man is totally in love with you, he said.
Yeah right. I fall asleep with a smile curving my lips, thinking about what Luca would act like if we didn’t absolutely hate each other.
Chapter Ten
Luca
“You push the cart like a bitch.”
I eye Owen, grunting. “These carts are tiny. If you don’t like how I do it, you push the cart.”
I let the cart go, forcing Owen to grab it before it runs into a huge display of apples. “I hate going to the grocery store. Can’t we just make a list and send one of the employees to do our errands?”
“No,” I say, stopping at the citrus display. I pick up a lime, squeezing it. “We are going into the spring season, which means we need to change our bar menu. This is how I get inspired, man.”
Owen crosses his arms and grumbles. “I don’t know why you had to pick right now to go grocery shopping.”
“You want to watch the Seahawks game on the big screen? This is the price you pay.” I sweep a bag of lemons and a bag of limes into the tiny cart, then throw a couple of grapefruits in for good measure. “Besides, this store is in such a weird part of town. I never drive by this place, I only come here on purpose.”
“It’s expensive as fuck.” He looks unimpressed. Then his head turns and his brows lift. “Is that Madisyn?”
My heart seizes up. I look over and there she is, at the other end of the produce area. She tosses her long hair, looking displeased, and points at her cart. She’s not alone, of course. No, Madisyn is with a big, ripped dude that’s wearing a Seahawks jersey.
“Fuck,” I say.
As if she feeds off of my unhappiness, Madisyn turns away. Our gazes clash. And the biggest smile overtakes Madisyn’s whole face.
“Ah, shit. She’s coming over here,” Owen complains, shoulders sagging. “Like I need to be dressed down right now. I had a long day.”
“Hello boys,” Madisyn chirps, striding up to us. “I’m not sure you’ve met Reginald, my fiancé?”
She motions to the guy ten paces behind her, who is having a hard time controlling his cart.
“Hey,” I say.
Owen stays quiet, watching Madisyn through slitted eyes. They never got along very well. I can’t say that Owen was sad in the least when Syn dumped me. He crosses his arms reflexively, tugging on his dark blue hoodie.
“I see you’re shopping…” Madisyn looks around. “I don’t see your wife, though. Where is she?” She pulls a sad face. “She isn’t fake, is she?”
Owen snorts. “Cate is realer than your fake ass handbag.”
She shoots him a glare, adjusting the big purse on her elbow. “This is a Birkin, you cretin.”
He leans forward but I silence him with a hand gesture. “We’re shopping for the bar. Trying out a few new recipes.”
“And she’s… what, at home?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t keep tabs on her. We’re in a healthy relationship that relies on both us wanting to come back to the other every day.”
Owen coughs and I eye him. Yeah, I know it was a lie. So what?
Madisyn gives me a bored look. “I want to meet her. See what my life would have been like if I hadn’t… you know…” She makes a face. “Broken your heart.”
“Okay,” Owen says, rolling his eyes. “I think I should go look at something… somewhere else. I’ll be in the next aisle, man.”
“Mm,” I answer, narrowing my gaze on Madisyn. “You’ll have to catch her some other time.”
She makes a sad face again. “That’s too bad. I really want to meet her before my wedding. Make sure she’s not a psycho before I let her into a ballroom full of my loved ones.” She pauses, thinking. “Maybe I’ll try to catch her at your house!”
That catches me by surprise, as I’m sure it was intended to. “My house?” I echo, my face showing a little of the horror I feel. I can just imagine Madisyn coming by the house to meet Cate and concluding that she isn’t real.
“Yes, silly.” She rolls her eyes.
“Well… you can… but Cate is in the middle of moving in still. Boxes everywhere, that whole thing. I don’t think she would take kindly to a visit. I feel like she would think that you’re being an intrusive busybody.”
I just let that lie, putting my insult onto Cate. Madisyn glares a
t me. “I think that’s an excuse. Either she is real and you live together or she isn’t and you don’t. Which is it?”
“The first,” I say. My gaze slides around the store. I can feel Madisyn wearing down my edges. She already knows that listening to her talk about any topic for more than three minutes will bore me to death.
“Well then,” she says brightly. “I’ll just feel free to pop by and try to meet her sometime soon.”
“Well, you should call first. I mean, you have to realize what you might be interrupting. Cate is so fucking hot and it hard for us to keep our hands off each other.”
There, that one was only a partial lie. Cate is hot. It’s only the touching each other part that is completely untrue.
She rolls her eyes. “I’m willing to risk it.”
Eyeing a very bored-looking Reggie, I shrug. “Doesn’t your man Reggie have any concerns about you coming to my house? After all, you did practically live with me for a year…”
She looks completely smug. “Nope. Reginald knows where his bread is buttered, okay?”
She giggles, glancing at Reggie. Reggie shrugs and nods, which is apparently enough to satisfy Madisyn.
“See?” she says. Her phone chirps and she peers inside her giant purse, looking for it. “Anyway, I’ve really got to get moving… so much to do for the wedding, so little time. Right Reggie?”
“Yup,” he rumbles.
“I’ll be seeing you soon though, don’t worry.” Madisyn gives me a cheesy smile. “Bye bye, Luca.”
With that, she starts walking toward the front of the store. Reggie dutifully wheels the cart in her wake, utterly unbothered by anything at all. I stare after him for a second, shaking my head.
Maybe Madisyn would never have dumped me if I just went along with every stupid thing she said. If that’s what she was looking for in a mate, I’m very glad that we broke up when we did.
Very, very, very glad.
I hurry to find Owen, my mind spinning. Do I just hope that the wedding hoax works out and Madisyn never finds out? Or do I escalate things by asking Cate to move in with me for the duration?
I mean, it really wouldn’t be a big deal to have her move in. My place is huge. We could practically live together and never see each other. And Cate’s home life is… well, from what little I know of her situation, it seems like it’s chaotic at best.
Really, I would be doing Cate a favor. At least, that’s what I tell myself when I decide to ask her to move in.
Once I drop Owen back off at the bar and unload the groceries, I head to Cate’s place again. It’s a drive, way on the very outskirts of Seattle, in a big old house next to a set of railroad tracks. I pull up out front and walk around the vegetable garden growing in her front lawn.
A very old black lab watches me skeptically from a dog bed on the front porch when I pound on Cate’s front door. After a few seconds, I’m about to knock again.
The door is yanked open by Cate, wearing a bathrobe, a towel in her hair, and a face mask. “Yeah, yeah,” she starts. Then she sees me and stops. “What... what are you doing here, Luca?”
She pulls the edges of her robe closer together, as if I care about that. I clear my throat.
“Move in with me.”
The surprise on her face is clear. “What? Why?”
I shrug. “Because. You’re my wife for the next seven weeks. We should present a united front.” I look behind her, where three dogs are fighting over a rope toy. “Plus it would be your own space for a while. I doubt that this place can boast that.”
She sucks her lower lip into her mouth. “I don’t know, Luca. Won’t we be tripping over each other just the same at your house? At least here, I know I’m not… you know, unwelcome.”
Rolling my eyes, I challenge her. “I have a ton of space. And you’d be doing me a favor.”
Arching a brow, she crosses her arms. Her little pink bathrobe hitches up on one side, showing me more of her hip than she probably wants me to see. But I can be gentleman, and to prove it I keep my eyes raised.
“How much of a favor?” she demands to know. “Are we talking an extra bonus? Because I’m pretty comfortable here already.”
My nose wrinkles. “All right. Let’s say… eight thousand dollars, as opposed to five. At the end of the whole thing, for your signature on the annulment papers.”
“Ten,” she fires back. “And I get to bring my cat.”
Grinding my teeth, I pause for a second. The cat is no thing, but… is Madisyn not being able to find out that we’re not married really worth an extra five grand? Well, not married in the long term, anyway.
Blowing out a breath, I concede. “Fine. But you have to start moving in immediately.”
Cate narrows her gaze on my face, as if she knows that I’m up to something but can’t quite figure it out. She sticks her hand out, and I shake it briefly. Her hand is warm and soft in mine. When I lean closer, I get just a whiff of vanilla scent.
Mmmm, I think. It’s automatic, just enjoying the clean smell of a freshly showered Cate.
“I work tonight. You know what the boss can be like.” She smiles, pursing her lips. “Tomorrow I can move my stuff in, though. There isn’t much.”
“All right.” I glance at my watch. “I have to stop by my house and then go to work… I guess just call me when you’re ready to move tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She closes the door without ceremony.
I can’t be too worried about that, because I’m officially running out of time. Work is in less than two hours and I have to squeeze a shower in before then. After driving back to my side of town, I pull the car in the driveway of my three story white colonial and sprint up to the house.
I stop briefly to check the mail and then flip through it as I let myself into the house. It’s mainly junk, but there is a large padded envelope from someplace called Chapel of The Bells. I recognize that name; I tried to go there the morning after I woke up next to Cate, wretchedly hungover.
Setting the rest of the mail aside, I tear open the envelope. Inside are a thumb drive and several sheets of photos. I brace myself for the photos: surely we’re good and toasted by this point in the evening. Who knows what we’ve had to drink, how we got to the chapel, or what we are even wearing.
I’m expecting… I don’t know, one of us to be wearing a foam finger and the other to be dressed as an alien, or something. Red faced, sweaty, looking like we are about to puke. Maybe even mostly passed out.
But when I look at the photos, I’m surprised for a different reason.
In every single photo, I’m staring at Cate like she is the only woman I’ve ever loved. Like she’s the reason for my existence, something I’ve never felt for anyone. And her eyes are glued on me as she beams. In the photos, she’s wearing a round pink piece of plastic on her fourth finger and looking blissed the fuck out.
Sure, we’re a little intoxicated. But we are both bright eyed and bushy tailed, so to speak. There is absolutely no reason that anyone wouldn’t marry us, especially a Las Vegas chapel.
Wow. When have I ever been that happy before? I guess never, which is why I had to be extremely drunk for those pictures to be taken. Still, it’s better if no one else sees the photos. Especially not the judge that we are about to plead incapacitation to, hopefully.
Shoving the pictures back in the envelope, I drop the entire envelope into the fruit bowl in my kitchen. That’s as good a spot as any while I decide what to do with the photos.
The expression on my face in the pictures keeps coming back to me as I shower, though.
What did she do that made me so happy? And vice versa, how did that happen exactly?
As the shower washes away my shampoo, I know I can’t do anything to make myself remember, but I would really like to know.
Chapter Eleven
Cate
I haul a box of my things through the front door of Luca’s house, ignoring the little voice inside my head. The one that screams as I walk into Luca
’s foyer. The one who whispers nasty things to me as Luca shows me around.
“This is the living room,” he says. “There’s a more formal parlor around the corner, but I never use it.”
And the little voice, the one that sounds just like my cranky grandpa before he passed… it whispers, don’t even think about getting comfortable here. You know that someone as rich as Luca has a dozen girls lined up, ready to take your place the second you falter.
I take a deep breath, carrying the box through the open concept living room and up the stairs to the right. The floors are covered with pristine white carpet, the walls are very muted jewel tones. Even back before my parents died in a car accident, we never had the kind of money that this house suggests.
I can just imagine my mother’s face as she looked around this place. So light! So airy! I bet it gets good sun.
My mouth twists. My mom was fairly obsessed with the amount of light a room affords her plants.
I really, really miss her a lot right now.
Turning a corner, I nudge my bedroom door open and drop the box of stuff on the bed. Luca is right on my heels, dumping a fourth box on the bed. He frowns at the boxes.
“Is this really all you have?”
My cheeks flush. I don’t mean to, but I automatically go on the defensive. “Some of us weren’t born with a lot of money, okay?”
Luca flinches just a hair. “I didn’t mean that. I just mean, did we leave something behind? It seems like you should have way more stuff.”
Cheeks burning, I shake my head. “This is it. Everything I need for the next seven weeks, anyway.”
Okay, it’s everything I have period, but he doesn’t need to know that.
The voice in my head snickers. You’re just lucky you happened to get drunk and marry him. Look at how wealthy he is! Don’t expect it to last.
I clench my teeth. Luca shrugs. “Okay. Just checking.” He glances at his phone. “Shit, this is the manager for the Tells. I’ve got to answer this.”
