Page 41 of An Inconvenient Marriage
I wanted to ask “Why what?” when Natalie spoke.
“Because alcohol makes people do stupid things, and I’d rather make the wrong decisions while I am still of sound mind than have alcohol make those decisions for me.”
Of course! This was about her mother. There wasn’t much to find on Victoria Stevens. Her father was a well-known businessman in the financial industry which was how she’d come to meet Trent—almost twenty years her senior. After they’d gotten married, she’d stayed out of the public eye until the car accident.
Reports had shown that her blood alcohol had been way above the legal limit. I guess it was only natural for Natalie to stay away from the one thing she probably blamed for her mother’s death.
The only problem was, this revelation left me with way more questions than answers. And a sneaky suspicion that the woman I’d married had about as many secrets as her father.
“Well, okay, then,” Javier said in Spanish. He took two big gulps of his drink, then sat back. Lips curved in a half-cocked smile, he shifted his focus from me to Natalie.
Naturally, I followed his line of sight. And when I set eyes on my wife, irritation gnawed at me like blades scraping over my damn bones.
Back straight, eyes focused on her soda, she didn’t move. Hell, she was so quiet, I wondered if she was even breathing.
Grinding my molars, I eased back against the seat and threw my arm around Natalie’s shoulders.
As I knew it would, her blue gaze immediately shot to mine. And because I couldn’t tell her what I wanted to with my brother keeping such a close eye on us, I leaned in. Way in. Our lips were less than an inch apart. So damn close, my mouth brushed hers when I spoke.
“Relax.”
She sucked in another one of those deep breaths but did the exact opposite of what I’d told her. Still feeling my brother’s gaze on us, I pushed my fingers into her hair and tilted her head to the side.
To anyone looking it would have seemed like I was kissing her neck. A tempting thought, no doubt. But I needed to talk to her without my brother knowing what I was doing. “He’s watching us, and I need him to believe this is real. So whatever is going on inside your head, make it stop. Right. The. Hell. Now.”
Her breathing picked up. So did mine. I just did a better job at hiding it. My grip tightened as I moved my lips to the shell of her ear.
“Close your eyes and pretend whatever I just did got your panties wet.”
A small gasp pushed up her throat just as I lifted my head. Gaze not leaving hers, I slipped my hand from her hair and squeezed the back of her neck. I leaned in. All the way in and pressed my mouth against hers. It was nothing more than a quick, chaste kiss. One she didn’t even have to react to, but so help me, I wanted more.
The feel of her soft lips against mine lit up my body and exploded my senses. I wanted nothing more than to go back and kiss her properly. To plunge my tongue into her hot little mouth just so I could find out what she tasted like.
One tiny sample.
Surely it wouldn’t hurt.
I inched forward. Natalie’s lips parted.
Yes, that’s right.
Another inch.
I was almost there when someone cleared their throat.
“I’m afraid to inform you this isn’t one of those clubs.” Javier chuckled and leaned forward, eyes sparkling with mirth. “But I’ll happily point you in the direction of one.”
I gave him a look that saidFuck you, and he returned it with one that said,Fuck you right back.
Javier was the one to break our staring contest when he shook his head and leaned back again. I did the same but kept my arm wrapped around Natalie’s shoulders. And thank fuck,my display must have done something, because instead of sitting like a lifeless doll, she scooted even closer.
So close, she was almost on top of me. Leg touching leg. Side touching side. It was torture, excruciating torture, but I had no doubts we were convincing Javier we were happy newlyweds.
“How has the tour been?” I asked and hoped like hell my brother would jump on the opportunity to talk about himself. It was where he shined. And not in a bad way. When our mother died, my first reaction had been to pull back. I didn’t want to be around people. I didn’t even want to talk. I was perfectly happy holding on to my anger, nurturing it.
Javier was the exact opposite.
He threw himself into everything. He went to therapy. Made friends. Joined clubs. It was in one of these clubs where he realized he had a knack for singing and made a career out of it.
