Page 73 of Married With Lies

He jerks his head. “Your whole fucking family.”

“Right. Yeah, for the most part that’s true.”

“You’re worth more than all of them put together,” he says. “Don’t forget that. And don’t take any of their shit.”

“I won’t.” With every fiber of my being I’m aching for a kiss.

Cale nods with approval. “Good girl,” he whispers.

Is he trying to kill me? I can’t take much more of this. Any second now I’ll spontaneously combust from the sexual tension.

But I don’t get a chance to combust, spontaneously or otherwise. The door swings open and my stepmother, Arlena, stands on the other side.

“Oh, you’re here!” she squeals. Then she turns and shouts, “The maid of honor is here!”

No one comes running. Arlena doesn’t care. I’m pretty sure she’s drunk.

After giving my face two enthusiastic air kisses, she turns her dizzy gaze to Cale. “Who are you?”

“I’m Cale,” he says. “I’m Sadie’s husband.”

Her eyes widen and she grabs Cale’s hand. “That’s right. Sadie has a husband now. And here you are. How funny!”

I feel like it’s my civic duty to rescue Cale before my stepmother slobbers all over him. “Cale was just leaving. I’ll see you at the wedding tomorrow?”

He nods. “I’ll be on time.”

Arlena claps her hands. “Now kiss her goodbye so we can get the party started.”

Bless her. She’s my favorite stepmother ever. Good thing I’m shameless enough to take a kiss from Cale any way I can get one.

Cale really follows instructions when he wants to. Immediately, his arms slide around my waist. My arms loop around his neck and I arch closer, beyond eager for his mouth. He gives it to me. His mouth. His tongue. And the way he presses against my body is no accident. He wants me to feel him. All of him.

If Arlena wasn’t here to drag me into the house I’d be begging Cale to carry me off and do dirty things. After all, I can think of far better ways to spend the night than getting verbally abused by Bridezilla Hadley.

Once Cale is gone and we’re closed inside the mansion, Arlena hangs on my arm and exhales a cloud of wine breath.

“That husband of yours.” She fans herself with her free hand. “WOW. Hotter than lava.”

Sometimes Arlena comes across as a joke.

But other times she proves that she is literally a genius.

“Yes, he is,” I say, leaning against the nearest wall for support. “Hotter than lava.”

20

CALE

Luca agrees to go for a late lunch, just the two of us, before I drive out to the wedding. No matter how I tried to persuade him to stay overnight in the city at my place, he preferred to stay at Richie’s house. Since he’s flying out again early tomorrow, I don’t want to miss one last chance to hang out with him.

“You’ve been here before?” Luca says after we place our orders at the deli counter.

I take a seat at a table by the window. “Not in years. Our folks used to bring us here. It’s only five miles from the old house.”

Luca takes a new interest in the surroundings as he drops into a chair. “I guess there are a ton of things I don’t remember.”

“You were really small.” When I look at my fully grown brother sitting across from me it’s tough not to see the little boy who howled with grief the morning our mother died. I picked him up and we stayed in the backyard while our mother’s body was removed. My mind was still echoing with our final conversation.

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