Page 27 of The One Night Match
“That doesn’t mean we’re cretins.” She shakes her head, but there’s a small smile tugging up her lips.
Mom doesn’t look like she’s aged in the last decade, her long black hair the same shade as mine, and her light green eyes stilllight up her whole face, while Lexi is the spitting image of our dad, something that she loathes with a passion.
She has his thick brown hair and the same dark eyes I inherited from the man we both hate with every fiber of our being.
“I’m Lexi!” She throws her arms around Riley, almost bowling her over. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for a sister! If you ever need to vent about how annoying Cruz is to live with, I’m down.”
“Lexi,” Mom and I both groan.
“What? She should know you’re as messy as a hoard of raccoons after a dumpster dive.”
Riley’s laugh fills the space between us, sweet and unencumbered, and I can’t help but smile down at her.
I’m doing a terrible job of not showing the room the softness I feel for her, but it’s our wedding day, perhaps the only time I can get away with not being the hard man I’ve shown the world for the last five years.
“I know you’re about to go, but do you want to get a drink with me? I’ll give you all the juicy info about my brother!”
“Lexi, we’re getting ready to?—”
Riley cuts me off with a squeeze of the hand. “I’ll just be right over there.” She nods toward the bar, taking Lexi’s outstretched elbow.
I watch every step she takes away from me and feel it in my fucking soul.
Goddamn it.
I saw today going a lot of different ways, from a war breaking out, to ending up married to the snootiest bitch you can imagine.
What I didn’t consider? Liking my new wife so much that I can’t stand any distance between us.
“You like her,” Mom says quietly.
I nod. “Too much.”
“No such thing.” She steps in front of me, blocking my view of my new wife giggling at something my sister just said. I’m sure a string of lies about me that I’ll have to correct.
“I wasn’t meant to care for her. She was meant to be a means to an end.” I scrub my hand down my face. “She’ll be seen as my weakness, used against me.” Just the thought has panic clawing in my chest, desperate to escape the confines of my ribcage.
“Cruz, I hate to break this to you, but your sister and I have been your weakness since your father died. You killed him for us,” she reminds me.
“I know.”
“Having a wife that you actually like, that you look forward to coming home to, will make you a stronger leader, because it means you have something to live for other than being a mob boss.”
I sigh. “If I let myself fall for her, it’ll kill me if something happens.” It’s a reality I haven’t allowed myself to think through, but I need to if I’m going to go into this marriage with my eyes wide open.
Mom nods, her eyes filled with hope and sadness as she stares up at me. “You’re right, it will. But do you know what’s worse? Living in a loveless marriage. Coming home every day to someone you hate with everything you are. Someone you dread being stuck in the same room with. Someone who treats you as a responsibility, like a burden.” She looks over her shoulder at Riley talking to Lexi animatedly. “Loving someone and losing them is far better than never loving at all.”
I roll my eyes at the quote that she’s said to us kids since we were little, but I pull her in for another hug. “Thanks, Mom.”
She’s right. Of course she is, but that doesn’t stop my chest from tightening at the thought that someone could use Riley against me. That they could hurt her to hurt me.
Part of me wonders if Riley’s right about ending things at the end of the ninety days, but I already know without a shadow of a doubt that I won’t be able to let her go.
She’s mine.
My wife.
My kitten.
