Page 38 of The One Night Match
“It looks like the sun threw up in here,” Colten chuckles from my other side.
Part of me wants to smack him for insulting my wife, but the other part knows he’s right. When Riley asked if she could add some color to the place, this was not what I expected.
But then, I didn’t know yellow dining tables existed, nor did I expect a lavender couch with a lime green coffee table to appear in the middle of my house.
And yet here we are.
“It’s…bright,” is all I manage. The last thing I want to do is insult her. Riley is already a flight risk where our marriage is concerned. She was under the misguided impression that I would let her walk away at the end of the ninety days, and in fairness, that had been my intention.
But then I met her, and the whole plan went down the drain.
Riley bends over and scoops Asshole into her arms, and my mouth drops open in surprise. If I did that, he’d tear my face off.I wish I were exaggerating, but I have the scars to prove the fluffy little sociopath would absolutely do exactly that. “Mr. Whiskers has a new cat tree as well. It’s just around the corner, and he loves it so much.” She grins down at the cat. “Don’t you, buddy? You love it so much.”
Colten looks over at me, his brows in his hairline before looking back to my wife and homicidal cat. My best friend of the last…forever, isn’t known for his tact. In fact, the guy is socially awkward as hell and prefers the company of his computer than that of other humans, but his deep green eyes are full of questions.
Which makes sense because I told him last week that my temporary wife would not have any say in anything in my life, and that the sooner these three months were over, the better.
All of which would still be the case if the little ball of sunshine standing in front of me in a hot pink workout set hadn’t been the one under the veil.
“I should go,” he says, looking around the room again. “Thanks again for coming in today. I know you wanted a few days to spend with Riley, but you know those guys don’t take a word I say seriously.”
As our inside technology guy, Colten spends his days coming by information in less-than-legal ways, manipulating video footage to remove anyone in our organization from suspicion, and stalking my sister. The last part, he thinks I don’t know about, but he’s not exactly subtle about it, and if I had to pick someone for Lexi, I could choose a hell of a lot worse than my best friend.
The man’s been obsessed with her since we were kids, and I always thought he’d make a move in due time, but so far, not so good.
“No worries, man,” I reply, my eyes locked on the entertainment unit beneath the TV, which I now realize is ashade of orange I don’t have a name for. “Let me know if Dennis causes any more trouble in my absence.”
He nods and turns on his heel, disappearing out the front door with a quick wave to Riley. I think he was worried about offending her if he stuck around for much longer.
A valid concern that I currently share.
“Do you like it?” Riley asks, carefully placing Asshole down before he starts weaving around her ankles. The cat is fucking obsessed with her, but I guess I can’t blame him. I’m right there with the little fucker.
“It’s…” I grapple for the right word that’s not a lie, but also not the truth. Because the truth is, it’s a mismatched hellscape straight from the pits of my nightmares, and no matter how much I want to make Riley happy, I don’t think I can lie to her and say I like it.
“I know it’s really different from how things were before.” She nibbles on her bottom lip, and it’s then that I notice how hard she’s trying not to laugh. I must have been temporarily blinded by the hideous furniture to miss it, because my wife may be a lot of things, but a good liar is not one of them.
Without hesitation, I prowl toward her, reveling in the way her eyes widen with every step closer I take.
She must sense the danger she’s in, because her feet carry her backward, unable to take her eyes off me until her back hits the wall with a soft gasp.
“Kitten, did you replace all my furniture to try to get me to agree to end our marriage?” I murmur, trapping her between me and the hard surface at her back.
“Of course not.” She shakes her head with a frown.
“Hmm.” I look around again. “Because you know, we read each other’s files last night, and throughout you were very clear about your style, and I don’t think yellow or orange made the cut. If I remember your words correctly, you prefer brightneutrals when it comes to furniture and save things like pink and yellow for your clothing.”
“Usually that is the case, but when I saw this stuff on the website, I couldn’t help myself! They’re beautiful and bring such a new life to the place.”
I shake my head slowly, dipping down until our faces are just a breath apart. “Riley, I think we should get something very clear right here and right now. You can replace everything I own with the most hideous things you can find, you can push me away, push me to my limits, but at the end of the day, none of it is going to have me signing on that dotted line, so it’s going to be a waste of your time.”
She scowls up at me, the frustration evident in her eyes. “You know any other Mafia boss would lose his shit if he walked in on this, right?”
“Yep. But every other Mafia boss doesn’t have a wife as hot as you.” I shrug, drop a kiss to the corner of her mouth, and then push myself off the wall before I can devour her whole, something I’ve been itching to do since she ran out on me in the club.
That will come in time, but for now, I need to show her that no matter how hard she pushes, I’m not going anywhere.
I start toward my office before pausing, throwing her a look over my shoulder. “Oh, and Kitten? Tell Lexi I’m going to marry her off to the ugliest guy I can find if she keeps helping you try to leave me.”
