Fixing his hand to the small of my back, he walked with me to the kitchen and helped himself to two glasses. He filled them with some fancy-labeled white wine and pushed one over to me.
The wine was cold, condensing on the outside of the glass almost immediately. I took a sip, moaned at the tangy crispness on my tongue, and went back for more.
Cyrus watched me, lust flashing behind his eyes again before he blinked it away and cleared his throat. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah?” I asked, dropping my head to one side. “What?”
Please don’t let him say this is over. Please don’t let him say this is over. I’m not ready yet.
“A few weeks ago, I invited you to come to Italy with me for a conference. The event I told you I had to attend is this weekend, which means I need an answer. I think you’d enjoy it. Not only is it being held in Venice, but it’s also an acclaimed annual event for entrepreneurs, and it’s a great opportunity to network.”
My heart skipped a beat. Freaking Italy.
“If it’s an event for entrepreneurs, why wasn’t I invited?” I asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. “I own my own floral shop. I should’ve made the cut.”
He set his glass down on the counter and braced himself against it, not even the corners of his mouth twitching in a smile.
“It’s only for the most successful entrepreneurs in the country. I need you to come with me and pretend to be my wife.” He said all of this completely deadpan.
It had to be a joke, but it sure didn’t look like one.
There was tension around his eyes and the muscles in his forearms were corded as he braced his hands against the counter. A tick in his jaw told me how clenched it had to be as he waited for my answer.
My own jaw slackened so much, it nearly hit the floor. “Are you kidding me? No.”
“Why not?” The strong column of his throat moved. “I asked you to come with me almost a month ago, Luna. It’s not like this could be coming as a surprise to you.”
“You never said anything about pretending to be your wife.” There was no way I’d be able to do that and not start believing it myself.
If I opened only a tiny part of myself up for believing it could happen for real, I really wasn’t ready for that. Plus, he was the one adamantly opposed to relationships and marriage, so why was he trying to make this into more than it was?
“Besides,” I added. “I can’t go. I thought you’d have assumed that by now.”
“Why not?” he asked, his voice coated in steel.
Nerves ricocheted through me, but I had to tell him the truth. I’d always been honest with him and I wasn’t about to change that now. Even if I had avoided him partially for weeks because of the answer to this very question.
“The shop’s in trouble. I took out some loans a couple of years ago and the interest is eating my repayments alive. That man who was there when you got there the other day, do you remember?”
“Bad suit and nervous demeanor?” he asked, eyes still laser focused on mine.
I nodded. “That’s the one. He was from the bank. They’re pushing my interest rate up. I can’t leave the shop right now and I can’t afford to get someone in to look after it. I need to be there to make every dollar I can until the bank eventually decides even that’s not good enough.”
The kitchen went so quiet, I’d have been able to hear a pin drop if I’d had one around to test the hypothesis out with.
Cyrus seemed to have frozen in place, and when he finally moved, it was only to fold his thick arms across his chest and lower his chin. If I’d thought he looked less intimidating and scary without the suit when he had that expression on his face, I’d been wrong. So very, very wrong.
Not that I was scared of him. I knew he’d never do anything to hurt me, but he was certainly all alpha businessman again. Bye pretty surfer dude.
“That’s what you’ve been so busy with?” he demanded in a low tone. “That’s what’s been keeping you out of my bed at night? Money problems?”
His jaw was clenched so tightly now, I was worried he was going to crack a few teeth, but I nodded anyway. “Yes. I’ve been trying to figure out strategies to make more money.”
“You know what I do for a living, right? I. Invest. In. Other. Businesses,” he gritted the words out. “Why didn’t you come to me? If not for money, then for help with strategizing?”
“Because it’s not your problem, Cyrus.” My voice was soft but earnest. “Both of us were very clear about what we wanted out of this and you helping me save my business wasn’t part of the deal.”
Cyrus cocked his head, his voice dangerously low. “What about a new deal?”
“What new deal?” I asked warily, not sure if I could live with an amendment of the terms at this stage without throwing the entire fudging agreement in the trash.
“This can be a solution for both our problems. I’ll pay off your debt, every last cent of it, and you will come to Italy and pretend to be my spouse. You will be compensated for doing so. It’d be a business transaction, so think carefully.”
I blinked rapidly, all at once shocked and appalled and awed at how fast his mind worked. What he was offering me felt like a lifeline. Heck, it was a lifeline.
If I took his deal, I got to keep my shop. It was as simple as that.
But at what cost? Going to a different country and pretending to be married to him? Wasn’t that exactly like that movie where the prostitute pretended to be dating the millionaire and ended up falling in love with him?
Only in this scenario, I would be the prostitute. I couldn’t afford to say no, but I also couldn’t afford to take the chance and risk falling in love with Cyrus.
Is there any cost that’s too high for saving your shop? A voice whispered in the back of my mind and I let out a heavy sigh because I knew it was right.
Broken hearts could be mended. Failed shops with heaps of outstanding debts couldn’t be reopened. With my shoulders slumping, I lifted my eyes to his and nodded. “Okay, you’ve got yourself a new deal. I’ll come with you.”
Chapter 28
Cyrus
Loud rock music flowed from the speakers in the bar where I was meeting up with Peter. The Wednesday afternoon after-work crowd sipped on drinks, ties loosened and heels having been traded out for flats.
Peter was already waiting when I got there, a pitcher of beer and a bucket of wings on the table in front of him. He licked barbecue sauce off his fingers before wiping his hand with a towelette, then picked up the beer and poured a glass for me.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” he greeted when I slid into the booth across from him. “Where are you off to this time? Your text only said you’re going out of town again.”
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m going to that annual entrepreneurship thing. It’s being held in Venice this year.”
He nodded slowly. “Italy, huh? You’re one lucky son of a bitch. Any chance you want some company?”
“Jenny would kick your ass if you took time off to come with me when you should be saving your vacation days for the honeymoon.”
“True.” He grinned. “But come on, dude. It’s Italy. If we take Jenny with us, it could be an early honeymoon.”
I knew he was only joking, but I took a sip of my beer and wondered if I could somehow convince him to come anyway. “We’d have a great time. That’s for sure. Luna’s coming with me and I know she’d love to have some company around when I have to go do the schmoozing.”
His green eyes grew wide. “Luna’s going with you?”
“Yeah. I invited her a couple of weeks ago, but she didn’t give me an answer until yesterday.”
“I’m surprised she took you up on the invitation.” He lifted his glass but didn’t take a sip from it. Brow furrowed, he looked at me like he was trying to solve some kind of puzzle. “I didn’t think she’d be the type to go jet-setting to an exotic location with someone she hadn’t known
all that long.”
“She wasn’t exactly agreeable at first.” Understatement of the fucking century. “It took some convincing, but eventually, she said yes.”
“I can see why you’d want to take her. We really enjoyed having her over for dinner the other night. She’s a great girl. Good sense of humor, fun, gorgeous. I bet you two are going to have a ball of a time in Italy.”
“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.” I rubbed my palms over the stubble on my jaw. “Samantha and her husband are going to be there.”
Peter’s expression fell, his shoulders coming up and his eyes narrowing. “What?”
“You heard me. It’s an entrepreneurship conference and Landon is one of the big boys, remember? He may not have made as much money as I did when he sold his first company, but he did make bank, and he loves talking about it. They gave him a slot as a speaker this year.”
His lips curled in disgust. “Asshole. You really think Sam will go with him?”
“It’s not his fault she set her sights on him, but yeah, he is an asshole. As for Sam, I’m willing to bet she’s going to be there. I don’t think she’d miss the chance to go gallivanting in Venice and prancing around at the social events with that giant fucking rock on her finger.”
“Unfortunately, I think you’re right. It’s somewhere she can be seen and she lives for that shit.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe she turned out like that. I really didn’t see it coming.”
“I didn’t, either. Obviously.” At the time, she’d had me wrapped around her little finger. She fed me so many lies and so much bullshit and I’d lapped it all up like an obedient fucking puppy. “At least she’s not my problem anymore. Dodged a bullet when she left me, if you really think about it.”
“Amen to that.” He raised his glass to me and took a long pull of his beer. “Have you warned Luna that your ex is going to be there?”
“Not yet. I didn’t think it would be a great selling point when I was trying to convince her to come along. I asked her to pretend to be my wife while we’re there, so I think she knows something is up. She just doesn’t know what.”
My brother’s jaw dropped and disapproval hardened his gaze. “You asked her to do what now?”
“I told her to pretend to be married to me. You know Samantha. If I showed up single again, what do you think she would have done?”
“So instead, you thought it was a good idea to ask Luna to pretend to be your wife?”
I frowned at his tone. “Yes. What about it?”
“Well, that’ll certainly show Sam,” he said sarcastically, shaking his head as he drained the rest of the beer. “I hope you know what you’re doing, man.”
“Of course, I do. I’m taking a friend to Italy, all expenses paid and more, and am asking her to do me a favor to keep my fucking ex off my back. Where’s the harm in that?”
“You’re playing with fire, bro.” He ripped a piece of chicken off a wing and chewed before filling his glass again. “You’ve been the saving grace for our wedding, and I know I owe you for that, but I just can’t get behind this.”
“Luna has been the real saving grace.”
“Exactly.” He nodded and pointed at me with his glass. “Don’t fuck it up, man.”
“I’m not fucking anything up because there’s nothing to fuck up,” I said. “We’ve been over this. She’s a friend who’s helping me out. When I first invited her, she wasn’t going to say yes. Since I couldn’t have her saying no after I found out Sam was going, I added a little incentive. That’s all there is to it.”
“You really are dick, you know that?” With another shake of his head, he finished the wing he was busy with and grabbed another one. “She’s a nice girl and you can bet your fucking ass she’s not going to like it when she finds out why you’re taking her.”
“She knows I’m taking her so she can pretend to be my wife. Does the reason why I need a wife make any difference? No.”
“I don’t think she’s going to see it that way. It’s one thing knowing your friend needs a wacky favor like this. It’s another thing entirely to know they’re using you against their ex.” He tore another piece of meat off the bone, chewing as he narrowed his eyes in thought. “That’s if she even sees you as a friend. You two looked mighty cozy the other night.”
“Whatever. Both of us know the deal between us. We’re friends, we fuck sometimes, and that’s it. Nothing cozy about that.”
“Maybe not to you,” he muttered into his beer.
If only he knew that it wasn’t what was going on in her head I was worried about. I’d decided to stop thinking about what was going on in mine, sure, but it was easier said than done. “Look, Peter, I know you guys like her, but she’s not the girl for me, okay? She loves love. She wants hearts and flowers and a white poofy dress. I can’t give that to her.”
“Big difference between can’t and won’t, brother.” Disapproval crept back into his tone. “What Sam did to you was fucked up, but I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Jenny isn’t Samantha. Luna isn’t Samantha. There’s something going on between the two of you. It’s like you’re doing this dance where neither of you want to admit it, and you keep going to and fro, but eventually, it’s going to blow up in your faces.”
“How very prophetic of you.”
He rolled his eyes and shoved his hands through his hair, agitation coming off him in waves. “I know you think you’ve got this shit figured out, but you don’t. You just can’t see it yet.”
“So, what? You don’t think I should have invited Luna to Italy?” I crossed my arms to keep from slamming my fists down on the table. “Tough fucking luck because it’s already done. I can’t uninvite her now, and even if I could, I wouldn’t. We’re already sleeping together, and we really are friends. What difference does it make if I ask her to wear a bogus ring while we go away together?”
He ground his teeth together. “I’m not saying you should uninvite her. I’m just saying taking her with you to make your ex jealous is wrong.”
“I’m not taking her to make Sam jealous. For God’s sake. I don’t give a fuck what Samantha feels when she sees us together. I only care that she doesn’t spend the entire conference talking shit about what I supposedly feel. I also don’t want that smug asshole husband of hers looking at me like he pities me for losing the gold-digging whore. It’s been years of the same thing and I’m fucking over it.”
Peter held up his palms in surrender, dragging in a deep breath. “I get that you’re over it, dude. Again, I’m not saying you shouldn’t take Luna. I’m saying you should take her because you want to, not to use her in front of a woman who was shit to you. Mark my words, this is not going to end well.”
Chapter 29
Luna
“Sorry for making you drive with me to pick Adi up,” April said as she flicked her indicator on. “I really didn’t realize it was this late already and I’m dying to know your great news.”
“I’ve found a solution for my money problems.” I grinned at her. “Like, all of them, even the ones you don’t know about.”
She turned her head to look at me and slid her sunglasses down her nose. Thankfully, we were stopped at a traffic light, so her brief glare didn’t put us in any danger.
“You have financial problems I don’t know about?”
“I did. I mean, who doesn’t, right? I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to worry you, but I was afraid I was going to lose the shop.”
“What?” The pitch of her voice nearly pierced my eardrums. “How did I not know about this?”
“Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you.” I shrugged and inclined my head at the green light. “Stop looking at me and pay attention to the road. We do want to get to the school alive, right?”
A car honked behind us and April flipped the driver off in the rearview mirror as she shifted her car into gear. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were in such deep trouble. I knew you owed some m
oney and stuff. I kind of figured it was a problem when you started talking about extending the shop’s hours and all that, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“It was.” I swallowed the lump that appeared in my throat when I even thought about the visit from that banker. “But it’s all over now.”
“How?” She frowned and took her sunglasses off this time, obviously deeming it important for me to see her expressions properly while we were having this conversation. “Please tell me you didn’t go to a loan shark or something.”
“Nothing like that,” I assured her as I waved my hand. “Cyrus is helping me out actually. He’s going to pay off all my debt and in return, all I have to do is to go to Italy with him this weekend and pretend to be his wife.”
“What? Why?” Her frown deepened. “I thought you guys weren’t anything more than friends with benefits. You said you were happy with that.”
“We are and I am.” Although I didn’t know for how much longer. Not wanting to think about the inevitable end, though, I focused on explaining Cyrus’s plan to April. “He invited me and I said no because of the shop. Then he offered to pay off my debts if I went with him.”
“Is he that desperate to get fucked on foreign soil? Are you guys even exclusive with this little arrangement you’ve got going on? I mean, surely it would have been cheaper for him to just find a girl over there to get off with while he was there.”
Something dark twisted in my stomach as my mind conjured up an image of Cyrus with some faceless Italian supermodel. Because of course the woman he picked up in my imagination would be a supermodel but one with big boobs and a brain between her ears.
Stop it, I chided myself. He has every right to pick up a supermodel whether I go with him or not.
At that thought, the dark twisted thing knotted and left me feeling a little sick. I shoved the feeling down with as much strength as I could muster and refused to pay any attention to it.
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