Page 69 of Brutal Legacy

“Charlie has had a dress brought to your room; go and try it on.”

“Or what? You’ll make me marry a fucking asshole?” I snapped at him. “Wow, I better be careful or my life will be ruined.”

“Wasn’t it ruined anyway? What were you even living when I found you?”

“A life. Sure, maybe it was shitty by your standards… but it was mine. Now — I’m just leverage for my father. I’m more than just a pawn to be traded back and forth when it suits people.”

A muscle worked in my mercenary’s jaw. “These are concerns you should have brought up with Renato. I can’t help you.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?” I shot out.

“Let me ask you this… why should I help you?” he finally asked.

I stared at him, my chest deflating. He was right. He didn’t owe me anything. He wasn’t on my side just because he’d saved my life a few times. He’d just been doing his job, which he would continue to do, even if it involved marching an unwilling woman down a wedding aisle.

“Whatever. Take me to my room.” I sighed and turned away.

I couldn’t look at that man’s face anymore. It was the similarity to Elio that was doing it. Muddling my mind and making me confused. Why should this stranger show me mercy? A jagged laugh left me when I realized that Elio Santori hadn’t shown me any either, when he’d had the chance.

“Save going insane until after the ceremony,” my mercenary said dryly as we walked toward my room.

I ignored him as much as I could ignore a man like him. He unlocked the door and let me in. On the bed, a beautiful white dress lay spread out. It was so pretty, I gasped, I couldn’t help it.

“Whose dress is this?”

“I believe it’s one of the ones that didn’t make the cut. Renato bought every single garment his wife tried on.”

I approached the simple and beautiful satin gown. It was lovely. Even with my picky eye for design, it was utterly exquisite. I touched the material gently.

“You need to try it on,” my mercenary stated.

I shook my head straight away. “It’ll fit.”

“I can’t leave until you do. It’s the boss’s wife’s orders, and what Charlie wants, she gets.”

“Lucky girl,” I muttered.

“If you knew what she went through before she married Renato, you wouldn’t think so.” He presented his back to me. “Change,” he tossed over his shoulder.

Just wanting to be alone, and knowing that he would stick to his damn orders like glue, I took off the T-shirt I’d been borrowing and then the overly large cargo pants.

The dress was heavy, a many-layered concoction of frothy petticoats and beading. I stepped into it and pulled it up. It needed a strapless bra, that was for sure. I unclipped mine and tossed it on the bed, then raised the dress to cover my bare breasts. It had a strapless neckline and a corset back.

“It fits.”

“You haven’t done it up.” My mercenary’s voice felt like a touch on my back.

I twisted around. He was watching me. Heat flushed over my skin. It was like standing too close to a fire. Like his eyes could burn me.

“Well, I don’t have arms on my back so…” I forgot what I was saying when he approached me.

“Allow me, in that case,” he said in a low murmur. “Don’t be shy. I’ve seen more than your bare back.”

I faced away, clutching the front of the gown to my bare chest as if my life depended on it. I’d never felt so exposed in my life. No, not exposed… seen.

In over ten years of being married to my best friend, I’d forgotten what it felt like to be half-naked around a man who liked women. It was a different feeling altogether. Heat trailed down my back as his fingers brushed my bare skin.

It was like I’d friend-zoned my own body, and now, it was waking up. Very inconvenient timing.

---