Page 79 of Married With Malice

The longer I stare, the more my feelings for her collide and blend together.

Deeper than desire, more complicated than affection.

On the nights she spent at Daisy’s, I kept rolling to her side of the bed. I dreamed of her.

Annalisa glances back at me. Our eyes don’t meet for more than a second before she quickly turns her head away.

Since I seem to be making everyone uncomfortable, I flip my laptop back open and fail at trying to work for another hour until I feel the plane begin its slow descent.

A general sense of uneasiness prevails as I realize I’ll be seeing my brother very soon.

17

ANNALISA

Sadie Wingate Connelly wins the title of most lovable human I’ve ever seen. Short and apple-cheeked with a lioness mane of curly red hair, she’s a very pregnant little dynamo of energy in corduroy overalls.

I’m an instant fan.

My first glimpse of Sadie comes when she drags her husband outside the instant our rented midsized SUV crunches through the open gates of Bright Hearts Ranch. Luca was annoyed when the rugged pickup truck he’d reserved wasn’t available but as long as the car gets us up the mountain it shouldn’t matter.

Sadie is waving with ecstatic joy while jumping up and down and I don’t mean that figuratively. It’s an impressive feat for a girl who looks like she’s five minutes away from going into labor.

Cale is more composed. He’s trying to drape a warm coat over his wife’s shoulders but she won’t stand still for long enough so he gives up and watches us approach.

Though there’s a nearly ten year age gap between them, Cale and Luca are obviously brothers. Both are over six feet tall with the same black hair, green eyes, and broad-shouldered powerful build.

I haven’t seen Cale in years. From what I remember, he simmered with danger. Tattoo-covered and as silently menacing as a panther, his intimidating vigilance could be chilling if you caught his attention. But the similarities between the Connelly brothers always ended with their physical traits.

In high school terms, Luca should be classed as the super popular football captain/prom king while Cale would have been the hellraiser cutting class and starting a fire under the bleachers.

Yet look at them now.

Cale is downright domesticated in his thick flannel and weathered jeans. He’s relaxed and at home here on a rural animal sanctuary with his cute little pregnant wife at his side.

As for Luca…

He wears a suit and his shoulders are hunched with tension as he applies the brakes, slowly rolling toward his brother.

Cale wears a broad grin while Luca peers through the windshield with a flat expression.

He scared the daylights out of some harmless social media influencer on the plane. The guy was just trying to be friendly but Luca snarled back with the energy of a rabid wolf.

I’ve never seen him do that before, not ever.

We’re both exhausted and stressed and here under ominous orders to make our marriage work.

I could learn to play along. I could swallow my pride and find ways to fill the empty days while avoiding the man I’m married to.

But that’s not what I want.

I don’t want for us to be strangers. Or enemies. We could have something far better and I’d love to try. I’m just waiting for a signal that he’s willing to do the same.

While we were apart for a few days, I slept on my sister’s uncomfortable sofa and stared up at the dark ceiling for hours. Eventually, I arrived at some conclusions.

Falling for Luca never my intention. I’ve actively fought against the possibility.

That makes no difference now.

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