Page 47 of Married With Malice

“Hey you.” He doesn’t await an invitation as he pulls me close. His mouth is warm and tastes like peppermint. Without even thinking, I lean in and give him my tongue.

The heart really is a strange instrument. It can crack with pain and light up with pleasure at the same time.

Luca presses into me and threads his fingers through my hair. “I’ve waited all day for this,” he whispers and moves his hips to show off how hard he is. “Let’s go upstairs.”

I twist out of his grip. “I’ve got my period,” I snap and turn away.

He tries again, resting his hands on my shoulders. “Then I’ll give you a back rub.”

Even under these circumstances he’s tough to resist. How I’d love to forget all this new turmoil and just enjoy feeling good.

“Forget it. I’m not in the mood.” I move away from him and cross my arms, giving my final answer.

There’s confusion on his face, even a passing glimpse of hurt.

Or maybe he was just committed to getting his dick sucked before bed.

In any case, he’s over it in a flash and opening the fridge. “I smell food. Were you actually cooking?”

I shrug my shoulders. “The girls were over with Big Man Bowie and they were messing around in the kitchen. Were you doing something in the garage?”

He glances up. “What do you mean?”

I regret blurting out the question. But a small, pathetic hope insists that I might be wrong about what I overhead. If so, he has nothing to hide. “I just heard the garage door open a while before you came into the house.”

The change in his face is so slight it’s easy to miss. His eyes shift for a split second and then return with new vigilance. “Just a quick call with my brother.”

“How is Cale? And how’s his wife? She’s due in a couple of months, isn’t she?”

Luca rarely allows his brother to come up in conversation. It’s not as if they’re estranged. Obviously, they are still close. Yet any mention of Cale causes him to clam up and change the subject. Luca is capable of talking a blue streak but he won’t share anything that matters. At least not with me.

“They’re fine.” He clears his throat, sticks his head in the fridge, and points to the foil-covered plate. “What’s that?”

“A hamburger. Feel free to eat it if you want.”

Luca pulls a beer out of the fridge instead. “Nah, I just ate an hour ago.” He pops the cap of the beer bottle. “Your father called today.”

My father hasn’t spoken to me since the night of the wedding. The memory of that conversation stirs a queasy feeling in my gut as I watch Luca take a big swallow.

“What did he want?”

Luca offers the beer bottle to me and I shake my head. He takes one more drink and pours the rest of the contents down the sink. “He’s concerned about your safety.”

Hilarious. It’s more accurate to say that he’s concerned about his investment but I keep my mouth shut.

Luca fires the bottle into the trash can. He has excellent aim. “Anyway, he wants to send one of his guys around to look out for you when I’m not home.”

“NO!”

Completely unplanned, the way that word shot out like a scream.

Luca is startled. “What’s wrong?” He’s already reaching for me.

I back away from him so quickly that my hip smacks into the counter. “We don’t need any of my father’s men around here.”

Because I know how my father’s mind works and I knowexactlywho he’ll send.

But now Luca is perplexed and a new suspicion is starting to dawn on him. “Anni, why are you afraid?”

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