Page 31 of Fast-Track Fiancé

‘There won’t be much sleeping if I’m in bed with you.’ She laughed, then gasped as his lips slid down to the most sensitive part of her neck.

‘Get into bed, let me debauch you a little. Then you can sleep.’

And so she did, ignoring the alarm bells going off in her mind as she imagined this was a real love affair and her real fiancé was making love to her in his childhood bedroom while they tried to keep quiet. She let Tristan’s touch still her overactive mind as his attempt at letting her sleep turned into slow, languorous lovemaking that carried on well into the night.

Tristan walked his mother down the aisle to marry the man she loved so dearly, who had made her so happy, and was proud to say that only the smallest tear slid down his cheek as he placed his mother’s hands into the shaking one of his stepfather. Agustin leaned across and placed a kiss upon his stepson’s cheek, whispering words of thanks into his ear. As Tristan sat down beside Nina, she quickly gripped his hand in hers and he realised that she too was feeling the emotion as his mother gave an impassioned speech about the longevity of love and how short people’s time together in this world was.

The celebration that followed was one of the grandest that their home had ever seen and Tristan revelled in having all of his relations together under one roof. They feasted like kings, with a famous local chef having been hired to create a unique twist on the traditional wedding buffet of carne asada, roasted pigs and freshly prepared fish. Empanadas, provoleta and chimichurri were also in abundance, along with copious bottles of the famous Falco reserve Malbec, some of which Nina sampled with gusto despite technically still being deep in her training regime as a reserve for the race the following weekend.

After Dulce and Agustin completed a beautiful first dance, they urged Tristan and Nina to join them and what followed was possibly the most hilarious attempt at instructing his fiancée in the Argentine tango. She begged him to stop, but eventually devolved into laughter as he careened her around the dance floor to the tune of the band’s dramatic music. Their guests laughed heartily at the display, and as he looked down into Nina’s sparkling eyes, he was helpless to do anything except capture her lips in a deep kiss. She kissed him back, despite the loud tutting from his grandmother, and his mother whooped loudly with delight.

When his stepfather asked to take Nina for a dance, Tristan took his mother to sit down and rest her weary feet. He guided her to the side of the open-air dance floor, where they sat together and Tristan watched as Nina bravely attempted a simple waltz.

‘Good thing her driving isn’t impeded by her two left feet.’ His mother laughed good-naturedly.

Tristan smiled. ‘She’s making a great attempt though, to her credit. She’s a perfectionist, so admitting her faults is hard for her. I’m not sure she knows she doesn’t have many of them, though.’

He turned to find his mother looking at him with a strange smile on her face.

‘I was going to wait until my wedding festivities were over to have this conversation with you, but I see now that I should probably just get it out of the way.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Tristan asked.

‘Nothing, at least I hope not. When you told me you were engaged to a woman I’d never heard you mention to me, or even seen you photographed with, naturally I was a little suspicious. So I did some digging... And I discovered your little PR dilemma and realised what you’d done in coming up with this little deception.’

Tristan frowned. ‘You did, did you?’

‘I know you better than anyone. I know when something is off...so, you see, I was preparing myself for your acting skills—and hers too. I’d already written my speech, about why lying to your mother in her old age is a despicable act, even if I knew you’d have some kind of ridiculously guilt-ridden good intentions at heart.’

‘Mama.’ Tristan turned in his seat, wanting to explain himself.

She raised her hand to stop him, then placed it firmly upon his knee, meeting his eyes. ‘My son, I was waiting to see how far you would go with this ruse just to please me. But now that I’ve seen you together, I can see that you’ve dug yourself into a much deeper hole than you had intended.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

She smiled knowingly, looking up as her new husband twirled Nina in a circle and her laugh rang out across the dance floor. ‘I think you know exactly what I mean, darling. She’s perfect for you. You are both so madly in love with each other. I think perhaps we should have saved today’s wedding for you.’

Tristan thought about the idea of walking Nina down the aisle today, while his entire family looked on. The sensation in his chest was one of absolute primal possession and the need to see that happen. Was it true? Had he fallen in love with his fake fiancée? He, the wildest playboy, a man utterly allergic to commitment... But then again that wasn’t quite true, was it? He had never openly courted the idea of settling down, but he hadn’t been averse to it, once upon a time.

It was only since watching his beloved uncle deteriorate into a man he didn’t recognise, and seeing the utter devastation that came with losing the one you loved, that Tristan had made some kind of subconscious decision not to forge any more connections of his own in case he got just as badly hurt. Not even Gabriela had touched his heart that deeply. He realised now that it had been only his pride that was stung by her and Victor’s betrayal.

‘Tristan... I want you to be happy. You deserve a great love just like the one that I once had with your father. And like the one I have now, since I finally let myself be loved again. I’ve watched you hide yourself away over the past decade since your uncle’s death, blaming yourself for not being able to reach him through his depression, and trying to put yourself in a glass cage of sorts, where your heart could be seen but not touched by anyone.’

‘Mama, please let’s not talk about this today.’

‘If not today, then when?’ she asked firmly. ‘I lost my brother that day, just as you lost your father figure, but ever since then I’ve felt like I’ve only had half of you too. Then Gabriela and Victor dented your smile even more, and I could have killed them. I didn’t invite them here today because I thought it would be painful for you. I want you to know that you matter most to me and even though you keep telling me you’re fine, I know you. But now, this beautiful girl...she’s reawakened something within you that’s been lost for a long time, my love. She’s brought you back to life.’

His mother’s words rang in his ears long after the dancing had come to an end and their guests had begun to filter out. Soon, the only ones left were him and Nina, all alone in the dim lighting as the servers moved to clear away the chairs and tables.

‘We should go up too,’ Nina said, her cheeks still pink from the exertion of her night’s dancing attempts. She wore a spectacular gown in deep red, a gown made for tango, and so when the low strains of music filtered up from a speaker in the main house, he pulled her close for one last dance of his own.

‘You look beautiful,’ he whispered against her cheek, sliding them into an easy movement.

‘You’re not so bad yourself.’ She laughed, sighing when he dipped her back in the lamplight in a classic tango pose. ‘I wish I were better at this. I wish I could do it for real.’

She was talking about the dance, of course, but something in Tristan’s chest tightened at her words and what they evoked within him. ‘You can...if you take a chance.’

‘I think it has more to do with practice and skill.’ She raised a brow.

---