Page 26 of Deal with the Devil

I start from the beginning. “Antonio cheated on me.” Mama gasps, calling him something ungodly under her breath. “With Kate.”

“No…” I think I hear Mama’s heart break for me. “Baby.”

“I’ve cut her out of my life. I don’t forgive her now and I’ll never forgive her. I know you and Aunt Mallory are close, but—I’ll never feel the way I felt about her. I’ll never get that image out of my mind.”

“Say no more. A friend does not make those mistakes.” Her voice rattles with emotion. “My relationship with Aunt Mallory will survive or it won’t. But that’s not for you to shoulder.” She sighs a sad sound. “My girl, I’m so sorry.”

“I started seeing someone shortly after I broke off the engagement,” I admit. It’s not entirely a lie. “I’m living with him now. Things are—serious.”

Another prayer. I think she’s begging God to take mercy on my soul. I give her a moment to gather herself. “Is this man a nice man?”

“He’s the best thing I’ve ever had, Mama.” God, I need to upsell this hard if I’m going to convince my parent’s that this marriage sham we’re going to enter soon is real. “I love him. I didn’t know what love was before him. He makes me feel alive and safe and…” I pause, closing my eyes as I lean back on the couch, lifting my feet to the edge of the coffee table. “Mama, he’s good—the kind of good daddy would want for me. When he holds me, I think the world could come crashing down and I’d still be standing untouched in the aftermath. He smells like a winter forest—and when he kisses me, I forget how to breathe.”

There’s a beat of silence and then, “Well.” I think she’s fanning her face. I smile. “When do we meet him?”

“I’ll talk to him when he comes home from work.”

“Oh, what does he do?”

I sit up at her question, ready to pace. I tend to pace when I’m nervous, and I’m nervous because I’ve just realized that I don’t know what Kane does for a living.

My body jolts and heat floods me. Every inch of me. My ears are so red, so hot, I feel like they are moments from bursting under the flame of embarrassment. Because leaning against the wall is Kane, and the cocky grin he’s wearing says he heard everything I said about him.

Floor, swallow me whole.

“Nevaeh?” Mama calls.

I croak, “Mama, I’ll call you back.”

I don’t wait for her to answer before I disconnect.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I shift awkwardly in place. “I was just—selling you to my mom.”

“I heard.” He’s still grinning that cocky grin.

“Because I need her to believe I’m hopelessly in love when I break the news I’m marrying you.”

“Of course.”

I scowl at him. At the way he says that, because it makes me feel like he’s trying to placate me. I don’t like it. “I’m serious, Kane.”

“Oh, I know.” He pushes off the wall, prowling closer to me. Nerves jitter inside my belly, humming in my chest. “Tell me more about this winter forest I smell like.”

All I can do is glare at him. My ears couldn’t be hotter than they are right now.

His voice pitches impossibly low when he says seriously, “You’re so fucking cute right now, Sunshine. I’d kiss you if I didn’t think you’d forget how to breathe.”

I smack at his chest, horrified he heard all that. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Sounds like I’m the one who’s got to your head.”

I make a noise that makes him laugh before I roll my eyes. “Why are you even here? I thought you were supposed to be working late?”

“Finished early.”

I’m still glaring at him, incensed by his teasing. “What do you do? Mama asked, and I realized I don’t even know. How do I not know what the man I’m going to marry does for a living?”

“Rock band.”

---