Page 8
It’s my time to take over. Which means I’ll need a bride.
With Brioni across the counter from me, I do my best to hide my disappointment. I take a long sip from my mug.
I’ll need a wife who can handle the mafia side of me. A woman who isn’t an innocent seamstress and church youth group instructor who’s too good for me and my world. I stare at her gorgeous face, the one I know so well that it’s all I see when I lie in bed, unable to sleep. There’s a speck of glitter on her cheekbone this morning, highlighting her angelic features. She is perfect in every way.
An idea lurches through me.
Hot coffee spills down my fingers, and I realize I’ve jerked my hand in my excitement. Brioni reaches for the paper towels, but I stop her.
“Marry me,” I say. Her lips part in surprise, revealing her bottom row of beautifully crooked teeth. She stares at me, no emotion other than shock on her face.
“What?”
“Marry me. Not for real,” I hurry to add. The fact that she lets out a breath of relief hurts my soul. But I push through it. “Just for show. Just to keep Harrison from bothering you.”
“Liam…” Brioni shakes her head. “We both know you need a— A certain kind of wife who isn’t me.”
“I know. Which is why I’ll look for one, but it’ll take time. You and me being together will buy me that time.”
A temporary arrangement. As much as it pains me, I know I can’t have Brioni forever. But us being together—even for a short time, and even if it isn’t real—will be something I can carry with me into my eventual loveless marriage.
She frowns. Like she doesn’t quite believe this arrangement would also be to my benefit.
“Let’s say a year.” I’m desperate now. “It’ll be a Catholic marriage, so we’ll be able to get an annulment.” As long as we don’t consummate anything.
I watch Brioni swallow. I know she’s thinking the same unspoken thing. We’re both Catholic enough to know that particular stipulation about marriage.
“It won’t be for real.” There’s a pang in my chest when I say it again. But it seemed to ease her mind last time.
It can’t be for real. She’s my best friend. I can’t betray her trust like that, not after all she’s been through. Between her da dying and her mam leaving, Brioni’s reluctance to trust in people is what makes her inclusion in our family all the more special.
We’re the stability her life had been missing. I can’t threaten that by letting feelings get in the way. I’m mafia. I don’t do feelings. All I want is for her to feel safe and secure.
And so it can’t be for real.
Chapter 5
Brioni
“So it’d be a lie,” I say. “You’re asking me to lie to everyone we know.”
At least, that’s what I think Liam’s asking. Between my headache and my absolute shock, my brain is so muddled I’m not sure I’m following correctly.
“I’m asking you to pretend,” he clarifies. He knows how I feel about lying. “If you don’t want to pretend to be my wife, what about my fiancée?”
My wife. My fiancée.
Hearing those words from my best friend’s lips makes me feel so strange. I want to believe it’s wrong, because it should be wrong.
“I can’t pretend to be your fiancée.”
“Why not?” he asks, and I struggle to settle on one reason. I imagine an engaged couple, walking along the Lakefront Trail hand in hand. I try to imagine us as that engaged couple, but the picture doesn’t work.
“We’d have to…” I begin. “At least in public, we’d have to… act affectionate. Or even kiss.” I blow out a breath and stand up from my stool, needing to feel my feet under me, the solidity of the floor. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”
“A kiss wouldn’t ruin our friendship.” Liam chuckles as he rounds the counter to stand in front of me. “We’ve kissed before. It didn’t mean anything.”
“Playing spin the bottle when we were seventeen hardly counts.”
