Brother’s Best Friend

by Kaylee, Katy

  “Something happened at the lake?” I kept working.

  Jake snorted. “Still mad, I see.” He pulled out a few more pans and put them in the box.

  “I’m not mad, Jake.”

  “You sure fooled me.”

  I took my coffee mugs down and thought about how to respond, but couldn’t decide if I wanted to go with snarky, indifferent or the truth.

  “Hey.”

  I turned to his voice and discovered he was standing right next to me. On my step stool, I could look him straight in his eyes. Jeez, they were pretty.

  But not wanting to get ensnared by him, I turned back to my task. “What?”

  “I’m sorry about what happened, Sofia.”

  I closed my eyes as the humiliation washed through me again. “Yeah, I know.” That was the problem.

  “Hey,” he said again, and this time he touched my leg. My hairs stood on end as a shimmer of electricity radiated from his touch. “Yell at me or something.”

  I huffed out a breath. “Okay. No woman likes to hear that a man regrets fucking her, Jake.” I turned back to my cupboard. Crap, it was empty. Still, I stood there staring at it, not wanting to look at him.

  “What? I don’t regret—well I do, but not because I didn’t like it.”

  I shook my head. “Let it go.”

  “No. Sof, you were my best friend’s sister. I betrayed him. That’s what I regret.”

  I hated that his words made sense.

  “And I suspect you were a virgin, so I regret that your first time was so… Well, you should have waited for someone who could take more care.”

  That made sense too.

  “But as far as how it was… Sof, I still think of that day.”

  My gazed jerked to his. “You do?”

  He shrugged. “It’s wrong on so many levels, but yes. So I’m sorry if you got the impression I didn’t like it or you.”

  “Why are we doing this then, Jake? I’m still Tony’s sister.”

  “We agreed he wouldn’t know. And like me, when you want something, you’ll do what you have to do to get it. This is a business deal.” He stepped back and I missed the heat of him. He grinned. “So, no more seducing me.”

  I smirked, and stepped off my stool. “No worries about that.” I found my newspaper and started wrapping my glassware.

  “You say that now,” Jake said, sitting back down and filling the box with my baking sheets. “Not many women can resist me.”

  I snorted. “It’s getting easier all the time.” We continued to pack up until everything was in a box, bag or suitcase ready to go to his place.

  Jake hired some men to come move it to his, and by eight o’clock that night, all my stuff was over there.

  I hadn’t been sure what to expect from Jake’s place. A bachelor pad for sure, but I guessed I’d thought it would be filled with black and chrome. His apartment wasn’t huge, but it was a fair size and the location across from Central Park couldn’t be beat. It had the character of a building built in the early twentieth century. His furniture and décor were masculine but not too much so. There weren’t any pictures of semi-naked women on a nudie calendar like my brother had in his mancave.

  “This is your room,” Jake said as he carried my suitcase into a bedroom. It didn’t have windows, but it did have a bath right next door. “You can get settled and I’ll go order some takeout. Thai food okay?”

  I nodded. For the first time since making our deal, I started having second thoughts about it. I liked that I had a place to stay and that I was getting a bakery. But was it really a good idea to marry Jake? However, not one to back out of a deal, I unpacked my clothes and put my toiletries and make-up in the bathroom.

  When I went to his kitchen, he was moving things in his cupboard around. “I’m trying to make room for your baking stuff.” He’d put my mixer on the largest section of the countertop and emptied the cupboard below it. I had to give him credit for at least wanting to make me feel comfortable.

  I put my baking items away, and just as I finished, there was a knock on the door.

  “That will be dinner. Ready for a break?” he asked, heading to the door.

  His dining area was an extension of the living room, both of which had huge windows overlooking the park.

  Jake put the food on the table, and then got plates and silverware. He also poured us each some wine. As we sat and ate, I looked at the view of the park lit up and the people still walking or exercising even at night.

  “You did alright for yourself, Jake,” I said.

  “I’m getting there.” He took a sip of the wine.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you think you’ll ever be happy with what you have?”

  He frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with having goals, Sof. You know that.”

  “Yes, but I wonder if when you reach yours, they’ll bring you the happiness you’re seeking.”

  He studied me. “You think it won’t?”

  “I don’t know. You have a great place here, but instead of enjoying it, you’re already thinking about the next one.” I took a bite of my Pad Thai.

  “That’s not completely true. Do I want another place someday? Yes. But I like this place just fine.” He took a bite of his food.

  I looked back over the park. “Have you really thought this marriage thing through?”

  “I’ve thought it through enough.” He reached over to where his briefcase sat on the floor and he pulled out a folder.

  “A contract?” It seemed weird to have a marriage contract, but then it was a good idea to make sure I was going to get my bakery out of this deal.

  “Prenup.”

  That I didn’t like, which didn’t make sense. I could understand logically why people got them. After all, fifty percent of marriages failed. But to get a just-in-case-this-marriage-doesn’t-work-out paper was a sign that perhaps the couple shouldn’t get married.

  However, my marriage wasn’t about love ever after, and I supposed Jake had to protect what was his.

  “It does say that any business you start, even with my money, will be yours and that I’ll have no rights to any part of it if we divorce.”

  “When we get our marriage annulled,” I corrected him.

  He nodded, but I felt like he was holding something back.

  I looked at the paper. The words were in English but were organized in a way that made no sense.

  “You should have a lawyer look at it,” he said.

  “You’re the only lawyer I know,” I responded. Plus I couldn’t afford one.

  “I can refer you to one.”

  “Isn’t that a conflict or something? How would I know he was looking out for me and not you?”

  Jake’s jaw tensed. “I’m not going to fuck you over, Sofia.”

  I waved the paper at him. “This says you think I will fuck you over, Jake.” See. That’s why prenups don’t make sense. People shouldn’t marry people they don’t trust.

  He scooted his chair next to mine and started going through the prenup paragraph by paragraph, translating what it said. I was able to feel confident that what he was saying was true, which didn’t mean I’d know about some legal loophole, but I had no reason to believe Jake was a liar or a cheat—fake marriage for a job promotion notwithstanding.

  I signed the paper and gave it back to him. “Are you sure all this will be worth it?”

  He sighed. “I’m not a patient man. I want what I earned. Besides, what could go wrong?”

  I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “What if Tony comes to visit?”

  He winced. “That will be something we need to deal with, since he comes to the city at least once a month.”

  “What?” I hadn’t seen Tony in New York City in several months.

  Jake cocked his head to the side. “He doesn’t visit you too?”

  I shook my head. “What sort of trouble do you two get into when he’s here?” A terrible thought came to me. “Is he cheating on Vera?”

  Ja
ke choked. “I don’t think so. Mostly we go to bars or play poker. He just has a day away from the wife and kids.”

  “Men are such pussies.” I pointed my fork at him. “Vera doesn’t get twenty-four hours free every month. She’s lucky if she gets half a day twice a year. But poor men have to go beat their chests and get drunk.”

  Jake laughed as he held his hands up in surrender. “You need to take that up with Tony.”

  “During this marriage, you will not be getting a free pass to sow oats or whatever it is you men do to stroke your egos.”

  “You don’t have a very high opinion of men.”

  I quirked a brow. “Can you blame me?”

  His jovial demeanor dropped. “I said I was sorry, Sofia.” Then his annoyance turned to anger. “What happened five years ago was on you. Granted, I wasn’t strong enough to resist you, but I never coerced you or made you promises.”

  Not wanting to get into that part of our lives again, I said, “So, what will you do about Tony when he comes? He can’t know about this, Jake.”

  “I agree. I’ll just arrange to meet him elsewhere. What about you?”

  I shrugged. “We usually have lunch or something when I see him, but it’s been months since he checked up on me.”

  “That’s a good thing, don’t you think? He could be checking up on you all the time. I know you’d hate that.”

  He was right about that.

  “I just can’t help but think something will go wrong. What if people can tell we’re not in love? What if your bosses say you need to have ten kids? There are limits to what I’m willing to do,” I said.

  “No kids,” Jake said firmly.

  “What do you have against kids?” Not that I wanted any right now, but I’d always thought I’d have one or two, maybe three someday. Back in my fantasy days, Jake was their father.

  “Nothing, but since I’m not ever going to really get married, I won’t be having kids.”

  “Do you not fuck anymore either? Because you don’t need marriage to have kids.”

  He leaned forward, his intense blue eyes staring at me. “Are you asking about my sex life, Sofia?”

  Heat rushed through my body from the way his piercing gaze held mine and the sexy tone of his voice. Shut up, hormones. “No. But I won’t be cheated on, Jake, so while we’re in this marriage, there won’t be any sex with me or anyone else. I hope you know how to deal with blue balls.”

  He surprised me by making a wanking motion with his hand. The image of him pleasuring himself made my body go all hot again. I needed to have a serious talk with my hormones.

  “Same goes with you, Sof. No fucking around behind my back.”

  “That won’t be a problem.”

  He sat back, but his eyes still held that sexy, naughty glimmer. “You take care of your own needs too, Sof? Do you think of me when you do?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Dunne.”

  “Given your opinion of me, you probably wouldn’t want to know what I think of when I’m jacking off.”

  I tried to keep my expression disinterested, even though on the inside, I was surprised by Jake’s blatant words. Was he being for real or just trying to get a rise out of me?

  “You’re right. I have no interest.”

  He smirked. “Suit yourself.” He stood and picked up his plate. “I’ll do the dishes if you want to finish unpacking.”

  I watched as his fine ass made its way to his kitchen. I did wonder what he thought of when he jacked off. His words suggested it was me. I shook my head of that thought. I was a naïve inexperienced girl when he’d fucked me five years ago. There was nothing about our encounter that would help him get off. So he was probably just messing with me.

  I took him up on his offer, and after putting my dishes in the sink, I finished unpacking. When I was done, I checked my Internet baking orders. I had a few, but since it was late, and I was off the next day, I decided I’d bake them the next morning.

  As I went to bed, the ramifications of what I was doing finally started sinking in. Next weekend I’d be officially, legally married to Jake Dunne, even though the whole thing was a farce. Was all this really worth it to get a bakery?

  Hell yeah.

  8

  Jake

  For the last week, this marriage seemed like a good idea. I’d get my partnership. Sofia would get her bakery. I’d had some concerns about living with her as she was an opination woman who clearly had some baggage around me, but even that was going alright.

  But now, as I stood looking at myself in the mirror in a guest bedroom in Val’s house, I wasn’t so sure. We’d both agreed to this sham marriage, but as I stood in my wedding suit minutes away from getting married, I was having the proverbial cold feet. Was I really the type of man to resort to such antics to get a promotion? What really bothered me was that I’d roped Sofia into it. For the next six months or so, she’d be my wife. Was it fair to ask her to do that?

  Then again, she was going to get a bakery out of it. I just hoped we could find a place that was affordable and would be a viable location to build a successful business. There was no doubt she could bake, and she seemed to have some business knowledge, but when it came to running a business, nothing was guaranteed.

  There was a light knock on the door.

  “Come in.” I checked my tie and ran my hands down the front of my suit.

  “Ah, Sofia is going to swoon when she sees you, Jake,” Val said as she entered the room.

  I smirked at her. As it turned out, she knew full well what I was up to, but had gone along with the charade. I appreciated having a mentor and a colleague as dedicated to my success as she was, but it was another notch in my belt of guilt. At least the prenup protected my assets and assured Sofia that she’d get her bakery.

  “She’s still going through with this?” I asked Val, knowing she’d checked in on Sofia.

  “Yes. She’s a determined woman. She also looks beautiful. Two young beautiful people getting married…perhaps there will be more than a business deal out of this.”

  I smirked at her. “Since when do you believe in love and fairytales?”

  “We don’t have to be cynics all the time.” She picked up the boutonniere and pinned it on my lapel. I would have been much more comfortable taking Sofia to the courthouse and getting married there. All this pomp and circumstance made me feel like a fraud. I didn’t like going through it and I didn’t like putting Sofia through it. Too many things could go wrong. We had to spend the whole day acting like we were in love in front of my colleagues. I didn’t mind play acting a little bit, but an entire day? Having a ceremony where I had to declare my everlasting love to her? Nausea rolled in my belly.

  Val laughed. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

  “I think I am.”

  “Just think about when you’re a partner.” She patted my chest. “Your bride is waiting.”

  I followed Val down the stairs and out the back of the house to the beach, where she’d arranged an arbor, chairs and a whole lot of other wedding shit that only added to my discomfort. I stood at the arbor with the ocean behind me as I looked up to the house. A string quartet started to play, and inwardly I rolled my eyes. Val had to have spent a fortune on this.

  On the deck at the top of the steps, Sofia appeared, and holy shit, she took my breath away. Her dark hair was up, but soft tendrils blew around her face. Her white dress hugged her tightly above the waist, accentuating her perfect breasts. It flowed from her waist down and when the wind blew, a slit opened revealing her toned legs. She looked like a fucking goddess.

  She made her way down the steps, her gaze on me as she crossed the sand toward me. I held out my hand, partly to know if she was real, and partly for ceremony. I leaned over to her.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  She grinned up at me. “You clean up nice too, Jake.”

  I hooked her arm around mine and turned us toward the minister. We didn’t write our own vows because we
both agreed that it would be too disingenuous. We were both raised in the Catholic faith, although neither of us was active anymore, so we were both okay with a nondenominational minister and generic vows.

  “Jake, repeat after me,” the minister said after his introduction. “I, Jake Michael Dunne, take you, Sofia Annabella Bellini for my lawful wife.”

  Good God, this shit was getting real. I swallowed hard as I held Sofia’s small hands in mine and looked down at her.

  “I, Jake Michael Dunne, take you, Sofia Annabella Bellini for my lawful wife.” I didn’t know what the hell was happening to me, but looking into her dark eyes, her flushed cheeks, her tentative smile, a strange sensation rolled through my chest.

  “To have and to hold from this day forward,” the minister said.

  “To have and to hold from this day forward.”

  “For better, for worse,” he prompted.

  “For better, for worse.” What the fuck was I doing?

  “For richer, for poorer.”

  “For richer, for poorer.” I was going to hell for this for sure.

  “In sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

  Oh god, oh god. “In sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

  “And you, Sofia, repeat after me. I, Sofia Annabella Bellini, take you, Jake Michael Dunne for my lawful husband.”

  “I, Sofia Annabella Bellini, take you, Jake Michael Dunne for my lawful husband.” Her voice was soft and her expression appeared a little off-kilter, like I felt.

  I smiled and squeezed her hands, wanting to reassure her that we’d be alright, even though I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing anymore.

  I focused less on the words she was repeating and simply looked into her beautiful face. I reminded myself that we were childhood friends. And while I had some regret around it, we’d shared an intimate moment years ago. This wouldn’t be a hardship because we knew each other. We both had goals and understood the need for the other to strive to achieve them. With this marriage, we were helping each other get what we each wanted.

  “In sickness and in health, until death do us part.” When she finished, she bit her lip, like the magnitude of what we were doing was hitting her too.