by Ali Parker
I arrived at work just before I was due in and hoped that nobody would figure out why I had been cutting it so close. I could see a couple of my coworkers glancing at me as I made my way in and did my best to stem the little smile that was threatening to slide up my face.
I took my seat behind my desk and started on my filing for the day. We had just had a huge donation of books come in, and I needed to go through all of them and figure out which were double-ups and which were in good enough condition to be put on the shelves. It was a long job, but I enjoyed it, always liking the chance to go through a big pile of books. You never knew what you were going to find deep down in there.
I lost myself in the work, and before I knew it, it was nearly lunchtime. My stomach was grumbling because I had missed breakfast, and I knew I needed something to eat soon. Where was I going to go? There was that sandwich place not far from here, but I was more in the mood for a salad.
Suddenly, a knock came at my door. A hard one. And again. I jerked, peering at the door as though I could figure out who was standing on the other side if I just squinted hard enough. Who was hammering on it like that? They could at least give me a little warning. What the fuck was going on in the library that was so urgent, they had to come crashing down on my door like that out of nowhere?
“All right, I’m coming, I’m coming,” I muttered as I got to my feet and stretched, making my way over to the door and pulling it open.
I found myself faced with Cleo. She had a face like thunder, eyes dark and flashing as she barged into my office and slammed the door behind her.
“Cleo, what the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. “You can’t just come barging into my—”
And that’s when I fell dead silent on the spot. I saw what she was holding in her hand, and I recognized it.
“The contract,” I gasped, and before I could think, I went to swipe it from her on instinct, but she pulled her hand away and shook her head.
“You really think I’m just going to hand this over to you?” She raised her eyebrows at me. “Come on now, Amaya, you seem smarter than that.”
“Where the hell did you get that?” I demanded. My heart was hammering, and my mind was racing already. I had no idea what the fuck I should do. Snatch it from her? Burn it? Deny any knowledge of it? Everything Kristo and I had so carefully put into place these last couple of months, they were over. I wanted to scream the place down, fear running through me at every turn.
“I found it in Kristo’s office,” she snapped back, and she began to pace back and forth. “So it’s true, is it? All of it?”
“I never signed it,” I pointed out to her, and she lowered her gaze to the papers and gave them a once over. Seemingly satisfied, she returned her gaze to me and shook her head.
“But you were thinking about it if he bothered to draw them up,” she pointed out. “Damn, I thought after all this time he’d found someone who wasn’t a gold digger, but you—”
“I’m not a gold digger,” I snapped back. “I had no idea who he was when we met. I didn’t go after him for his money.”
“And what about your sister? Is she real?” she went on. I nodded.
“Everything else is real,” I promised her. “It’s just things are complicated between us, Cleo, that’s all. I don’t want to get into it.”
“Oh, I think I understand it perfectly,” she snapped. She looked as though she was on the brink of spiraling out completely, and I knew I had to act fast to get her to calm down.
“Cleo, you need to listen to me,” I told her urgently, catching her by the shoulders. “What’s going on between your brother and me right now is really complicated. I don’t even understand it, not really. You can’t tell anyone else about this, all right?”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I could see the doubt in her eyes, the distrust, the anger that I had lied to her. And I knew where she was coming from. These people had let me into their lives, and how had I repaid them? By lying to them, by letting this stupid contract that I had never even signed dictate how I acted with them.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I won’t tell anyone for now. But you have some serious explaining to do, you understand?”
“I understand,” I replied. I would have said anything to her at that moment if I thought it would get her out of here.
“I’m keeping this,” she waved the contract in my face. “And I’m talking to my brother.”
“Sure, of course,” I nodded. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I’m sorry you had to find out about any of this.”
“Yeah, me too,” she replied grimly, and she paused for a moment, just staring at me, and a little sadness flickered over her face as though she was bidding farewell to the woman she’d thought she’d known when we had gone shopping together. And with that, she left, and I sank back into my seat and did everything I could to still my pounding heart. Fuck my life. That had been close. My appetite was forgotten about now, and I snatched the phone up to call Kristo.
He answered after a couple of rings, and he sounded calm and cool. He obviously hadn’t had the Cleo treatment yet.
“Amaya?”
“Kristo, your sister found the contract,” I told him urgently, the words spilling out of me in a panic. “She has it. She got it out of your desk.”
“No, she couldn’t—” I could hear him fiddling with his desk, and then he cursed under his breath.
“She has it,” he snarled. “Fuck, I’m going to tear her a new one when I get hold of her.”
“What do we do?” I demanded helplessly. “I told her not to tell anyone else, but I don’t know if she’s going to take it from me.”
“I’ll take care of this,” he replied firmly. “I know how to handle Cleo. I know what she’s like. You just get back to work and forget about it, all right?”
“Fuck, I don’t know if I can just go and do it like that,” I groaned. “How am I supposed to forget it?”
“Trust me,” he shot back. “I’ve got this.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose and listened to my husband, and I let myself believe he was right, that he was strong enough and sound enough to sort this out and make sure nothing came of this contract situation. I had to believe it. I had no other choice.
“I’ll see you at home,” I replied, and I hung up the phone, sitting at my desk in silence. I tried to focus on work, but my brain felt as though it was going to melt with the stress of it.
I managed to make my way through the rest of the day at work but only barely, my head hurting as I tried not to focus on what had happened with Cleo. A couple of people tried to ask me about her, but I waved them off, saying she was just my sister-in-law and it was only family drama. Which was all true, of course, but they would never find out exactly what kind of drama was going down with me.
I drove home faster than normal and arrived back at the apartment, and as soon as I was through the door, I felt as though a weight had been lifted. At least I didn’t have to pretend not to be freaking out anymore.
“God, I’m glad to see you.” I went over to Kristo and gave him a hug. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s taken care of,” he promised me. He looked as frazzled as I felt, his hair a little messy from where he’d clearly been running his fingers through it all day long. I bit my lip and eyed him, not quite sure if I believed him yet.
“What happened?” I demanded. “With Cleo?”
“There’s no need for you to get hung up on the details.” He waved his hand. “Really. Just trust me when I say that it’s all dealt with and that you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes. Don’t question his methods if they work, I guess.
“I’ve started running you a bath, and we’re going to order in tonight,” he continued, and I had to admit I liked this side of him, the one that was confident in taking complete and utter control when he needed to, the one that would make sure nothing would get out of hand. W
hatever had gone down with Cleo in the last day, he was the only person in the entire world I would have trusted to take care of it. I had a feeling Cleo probably felt the same way about him. He was her big brother, after all, and he was bound to have a little sway over her.
“Thank you,” I replied and let out a long breath. “I feel like I’ve been running about half-mad all day long.”
“Me too,” he sighed. “Beer?”
“Several,” I replied, and he pulled a bottle from the fridge and popped the top. Handing it to me, our fingers connected, and I was reminded of this morning before all of this had started, when we were just a playful married couple stealing some previous time together before the day began. I wished I could go back there, but the thing with Cleo had shaken me up and reminded me that all of this had started as a business deal, nothing more, nothing less.
“I’m going to take that bath.” I slipped out of the room and left him behind.
“You want me to order?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” I called back. “Anything you want.”
I looked down at the hot, steamy bath in front of me and bit my lip. It had been a hell of a day, in every way that was possible, but I was glad I had Kristo to come home to at the end of it.
42
I waited at the bottom of the stairs, practically dancing from foot to foot as I waited for her to come down. I was nervous as hell, ready to leave for this gala, but I had something to give her first. I reached into my pocket and closed my hand around the ring box. This was really happening. It felt like a proposal, even though we were already married.
“Are you almost ready?” I called. I wanted to get this done with before I had a chance to back out. And all at once, she appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, and my jaw all but dropped.
She looked incredible. Like a princess. Even though this was just a library fundraiser, she was dressed up like she was hitting the red carpet, and I felt this zing of pride knowing she was about to be on my arm tonight. Her hair was long and loose over one shoulder, her lips dark and red – and she was wearing a dress, a green, clingy number that was so close to the one she wore in Vegas that I couldn’t help but chuckle. She knew what she was doing to me.
She arrived in front of me and bit her lip, and I realized I still hadn’t responded.
“You like?”
“I love.” I ran my hands over her waist, fighting the urge to just rip it off her. “Give me a twirl.”
She giggled as she spun around slowly, and I reached into my pocket and gave myself one last chance to back out of this. Was this really a good idea? The rings were gorgeous, as gorgeous as her, but it would make things real. True. I hesitated a split-second longer and then pulled the box out of my pocket and popped it open. When she turned back around and saw it there, her jaw dropped.
“Oh my god, Kristo,” she gasped, and she just stood there, looking from the rings to me and back again. “What are these for?”
“I wanted to give you real rings,” I replied simply. I didn’t say whether it was to uphold our lie or that I wanted her to have them, because I had no idea myself.
“These are …” She stared at them, at the sapphire and silver that perfectly matched her dress and the thin diamond engagement ring that went with it.
“Put them on,” I suggested, and she gingerly took them out and slid them over her finger. She held her hand out to admire them and then threw herself at me.
“Careful, you’ll mess up your makeup.”
But she didn’t care. Her mouth was on mine, grateful and sweet and eager, and I was kissing her back, feeling the bands as they pressed into the back of my neck where she was holding me. When she pulled back, her eyes were shining, and she laughed and went to fix me when she saw the smear of lipstick on my mouth.
“You look cute in this color,” she teased and ran her thumb over my chin for a moment, staring at me. I felt this swell again, something I could never quite put into words, and I turned for the door. For now, we had somewhere to be.
“The limo’s waiting downstairs,” I reminded her, and she followed me out of the apartment, shaking her head.
“I still can’t believe you went and got us a limo,” she remarked, tucking her arm through mine and leaning into me.
I can’t believe I got you as a wife, I replied in my head, but I didn’t say it out loud. I didn’t want to freak her out. The rings had been a lot, and now I had to play it nice and cool for just a little while, no matter how hard that was.
“I’ve never been in one of these before,” she remarked as we climbed in, me holding the door for her.
“You’ll get used to them,” I replied, and she grinned.
“Oh, will I?”
“Only the best,” I teased, and she looked down at her rings again and shook her head.
“These are incredible, Kristo,” she sighed. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” I replied, and before she could stop herself, she leaned over to kiss me once again. In the dim light in the back of this limo, she looked amazing, like she had walked out of a dream and into the real world.
“Okay, that’s the last time I’m kissing you before we get there,” she warned me, and she pulled a lipstick out of her purse and began to apply it again. I found myself staring at her as she did so. Fuck. I had never seen a woman put it on so sensually before, and I felt that surge of desire for her, but with Amaya, it felt as though she could have done anything in the world and I would have been into it. I couldn’t help but imagine what it might have been like if I had been the one doing it instead.
43
I had never known how powerful it was before to have the most handsome man in the room on your arm, but the way everyone turned to watch us as we walked in told me everything I needed to know.
I squeezed his hand and bit my lip and then glanced down at the rings weighing down my finger. They were gorgeous and no doubt cost more than my entire condo, and I felt sad that I wouldn’t be able to hold onto them after … well, after this was over. But for now, I was going to focus on having a good night and showing off my gorgeous husband to all these stuffy patrons of the library.
“Amaya.” Tatania, one of my colleagues, emerged from the crowd to greet me. She glanced over at Kristo, her gaze lingering on him for a moment too long. I didn’t mind. He did look amazing in that tuxedo.
“Good to see you.” I smiled at her. “So, where’s the bar?”
With that, the night took off, and to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it with him by my side. I felt like a movie star, knowing that the most handsome man in the room was the one who had come here with me. I couldn’t stop smiling when I saw the way they were looking at him, shooting desirous glances in his direction like he was a first-edition copy they couldn’t wait to put up on the shelves.
And of course, Kristo was beyond charming the entire night. I had seen him sweet-talk people before, but this was something else entirely. He was so smooth, so cool, so in-control, that practically everyone we ended up chatting with was hanging on his every word by the time he was done. He made them laugh the loudest, lean in the closest. He was the life of the party, and I couldn’t have been prouder to have him as my date. I felt so in love with him, my head hurt a little, even as I tried to remind myself this was all a game to him. But that was hard to do when I saw the way people looked at us as husband and wife. It left me wanting things I shouldn’t have wanted.
What struck me more than anything else was the way that every time I drifted away from him, he would find me again and not because he was nervous about being left all alone in this place. No, he just seemed to want me by his side. He was constantly touching me, his hand around my waist, his fingers locking with mine, that constant connection as though he wanted me to know he was here and he wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t sure if it was possessive or comforting, but I found I liked it, that his presence here was a good thing for me.
For the next nine months, at least. I ignored that nagging little tho
ught at the back of my mind and focused on this, on having fun for the rest of the evening. How many times would I get to come to an event like this with the sexiest guy in the room on my arm, and the most charming one to boot? I was going to enjoy it while I still had the chance.
Eventually, the night drew to a close. There had been a silent auction, and it seemed as though we had made a decent amount, even if I had to hold Kristo back from bidding on anything too insane.
“Hey, maybe I want a yacht,” he protested as I tugged him away from the auction.
“Like you don’t have one already,” I pointed out, and he grinned.
“Fair point.”
I’d had a couple of glasses of champagne by the time the night finished up, and I could feel the bubbles racing around my head and those matched with the way that he was looking at me right then were enough to get me overheated all of a sudden. His hand on my waist wasn’t enough. I needed more, all of it, everything, and I had every intention of making it happen.
The limo driver came back around to pick us up, and Kristo held the door open for me.
“What a gentleman.” I giggled as I tumbled into the back seat.
“Is it gentlemanly if I’m just doing it so I can stare at your ass?” he wondered aloud, and my heart flipped in my chest. He always seemed in such careful, considered control of himself that it would never fail to catch me off-guard when he spoke so crudely and so sharply to me. I flushed.
“I guess I’ll have to teach you exactly how you need to treat your wife,” I murmured as he closed the door behind us, and he turned his attention to me once again.
“I guess you will,” he agreed, and just like that, he was on me. My heart was pounding in my chest as I pulled him toward me, running my fingers through his hair, parting my lips so I could coax his tongue into my mouth. How could he feel this good, even after all this time? The warm, soft leather of the seats matched with the hungry urgency of his hands, and it took everything I had in me not to swoon over on the spot right there and then. This was so good. I’d always wondered what it would be like to get hot and heavy in the back of a limo, and now I knew. If it was with Kristo, it was about the sexiest thing in the world.
