Page 20 of The Devious Husband

He looks between the two of us, confusion written all over his face. “I— yeah. Sure. Of course.” He stares at me for a few moments, and I throw him an apologetic look, unsure how to explain. Graham sighs before walking out reluctantly, and my shoulders sag in relief when the door falls closed behind him.

“What was that?” Xavier asks.

I turn my back to him, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me onto his lap. I gasp and straighten in his embrace, but my protests die on the tip of my tongue when I see the look in his eyes. “What did I walk in on, Sierra? Why the fuck was he touching your face like that?”

I place my hand against his chest, his heart beating wildly against my palm. “It was nothing,” I promise him, my voice not as confident as I’d have liked it to be.

He cups my face, his thumb swiping over the part Graham touched, almost like he believes it’ll brush away any remnant of his touch. “Maybe I haven’t been clear enough,” he says, his voice soft. “You’re mine, Sierra Windsor. You can avoid me all you want, but there’s no avoiding this marriage. I’m being as patient as I can be, Kitten, but you crossed a line today. You never should’ve let him touch you at all.”

He forces me to face him, and I’m captivated by his tumultuous dark eyes. “Maybe keeping up this act for our families won’t be that hard after all. You almost had me fooled, Xavier.”

“You were born to frustrate the fuck out of me, weren’t you?” he asks, his voice pained.

I smirk and slide my hand up his chest, around the back of his neck. “Yes,” I whisper. “You really should think twice before making me your wife. I won’t mind if you leave me at the altar.”

He chuckles, the sound husky. “You have no idea just how many times I’ve thought about it,” he whispers, his gaze roaming over my face. “No clue at all.”

Nineteen

Sierra

“You look stunning,” Raven says as she analyses the emerald evening gown she designed, her smile bittersweet. None of us have managed a real smile since we learned about grandma’s illness. Not even work and my sudden engagement to Xavier have been able to distract me from it.

I’m acutely aware that I only have a few more months left with my sweet grandmother, and I don’t want to spend them fighting with her. It’s clear he’s not willing to walk away, and if marrying Xavier is what’ll make her happy, then I’ll play my part. I just hope he does too. I’m not sure what it’ll do to her if she finds out what kind of person he is behind his charming smiles.

“Since you’re both going, you should’ve just attended together,” Raven says carefully. She’s tried to talk to me about Xavier and our engagement a few times, and each time, I’ve shut her down. For so long, I’d imagined what it’d be like to find out who I’d marry. Raven and I would cyber stalk him first, and then we’d tail him the way we did to Celeste, to make sure he’s a good person and not some kind of whacko, and it’d be this whole experience.

But since it’s Xavier, I don’t need to do any of those things. I know he’s not meant for me. I know he’s not a good match, not in any shape or form. Raven knows it too, and she’s the one person I don’t want to lie to. I can’t keep up a pretense when I’m facing my best friend, who knows about all my romantic dreams that’ll never come true.

“It’d just start rumors, and I don’t want anyone to know. I plan to keep our marriage a secret, and the second I can, I’ll divorce him.”

Raven looks at me with twinkling, knowing eyes. “We’ll see.”

I huff and mess with the fabric of my dress. “I will.”

“Windsors don’t divorce, Sierra,” she says, smirking. “Not because it isn’t possible, but because the matches are always right — even if grandma has to scheme and trick us into thinking we were making our own choices.”

“There’s an exception to every rule,” I tell her, shrugging.

She laughs. “Perhaps, but you won’t be it.”

I glare at her. “Honestly, what’s gotten into you? I thought you’d be on my side, and you just haven’t been.”

She reaches for me and gently pushes my hair out of my face. “I’m always on your side, babe,” she says, sincerity oozing off her. “But what I won’t do is pretend I don’t see what grandma sees. He’s a perfect match for you, and deep down, you know it too. You’re just too scared to admit it, to put your heart on the line.”

I stare at my best friend, my heart aching. “Forget it,” I mutter, defeated. “There’s no talking to you when you’re like this.”

She knows how hard it is for me to let someone in. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been too scared of the eventual pain that comes with loving someone, the inevitable abandonment. Raven has always been my only real friend, the only one I’ve let in that wasn’t already essentially family. Even Celeste was already Zane’s girlfriend when I first befriended her.

Every other friendship I’ve ever had has been shallow, never growing beyond pleasantries. I can’t even imagine opening myself up to Xavier — he’d just use every single thing he learns about me as ammunition to eventually tear me down. Surely Raven sees that too?

“Sierra?” Raven says as she walks me to the door. “It takes time to learn how to communicate with your partner, especially if you have history. Give him the benefit of the doubt, okay?”

I purse my lips and nod, but I can’t help the tinge of vulnerability I feel. The thought of trusting him, only to have him betray my trust… I’m not sure I’d be able to take that.

My sense of foreboding follows me all the way into the annual real estate charity auction, and just as I’ve decided that coming tonight was a mistake, I spot Xavier across the room. He looks incredible in that tuxedo, and for a few moments, I just stare at him, struggling to comprehend that Xavier Kingston is about to become my husband — in no less than three weeks, if my grandmother gets her way.

He looks up, and then he takes a second look at me, his eyes lighting up with equal parts surprise and appreciation. He smiles when he notices I’m wearing one of the Laurier pieces he sent me, and I hesitantly take a step toward him, only for Valeria to appear by his side.

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