“But you don’t cook.”
Dammit. “Gio, I was helping Milly. I’m going to be a married woman, after all. Maybe I want to learn some things.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You let this happen to her?”
Kai drew an arm around my waist.
“I would never let anything happen to her.” Obviously, he was appeasing my brother and following through on his end of our deal, but his words rippled through me like a fuse, nonetheless.
Kai was far from a righteous man. His heart was as black and tainted as his brother’s. He had no loyalties or ties to me other than the proverbial ball and chain I’d placed around his neck.
Not the type to care about those outside of his circle, he sure as hell wouldn’t give a damn about the woman forcing him into an unwanted marriage and uprooting his life. Thinking back, not that I’d expected differently, but when our vehicle began to flip, Kai had reached for Eva and the baby. Call me irrational becausewhile we were still practical strangers, I couldn’t deny that the memory stung.
Residual annoyance had me wriggling from his grasp, but Kai lifted my hand to his lips, and the urge to slap him was suddenly stronger than the need to continue our charade for Gio’s sake.
He was fucking with me.
“I’ll keep her out of the kitchen from now on,” he said with a chuckle.
Bastard.
Gio nodded in agreement, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Amalia,” Kai called my name as I climbed the steps to my home’s front entrance. Gentle fingers held my elbow, and while my initial instinct was to pull away from his touch, I stilled, waiting for him to say whatever was on his mind.
“He seems like a good kid.”
“He is.”
Kai tugged me until I was facing him. “You’re different with him.”
“Of course I am.”
I didn’t know why I was annoyed that my brother seemed to like Kai more than anyone I’d ever introduced him to. Once those first fifteen minutes of awkward small talk were behind them, he and Kai fell into an easy companionship. Gio talked his ear off about robotics and everything else he was into while my soon-to-be fake husband pretended to be interested, even though he seemed genuinely entertained.
That son of a bitch. I knew what he was doing, trying to get under my skin, using my brother.
“Amalia.” He placed his forefinger under my chin. “We don’t have to be like this.”
“Oh, thank God,” I said, with blatant sarcasm.
“Exactly.”
Without warning, Kai tightened his grip. “If we’re going to spend the next three years tolerating each other, can we at least make it bearable?”
I offered him a grin and shoved him back.
“Don’t be a pussy, Cain. This is me being nice. Because men who dare to lay their hands on me without permission lose their fingers, dicks, or their lives if I’m in a particularly good mood. And seeing as you still have all three, consider yourself myfuckingbestie.”
As I pivoted toward the door, he yanked me back until I collided with his hard chest. His fist was wrapped into my hair, lips at my ear. Caught off guard, I was momentarily stunned…but worst of all, I was wet.
“We can be friends, vicious. The best goddamn friends with benefits.” His other arm snaked around my belly, pulling me flush to him, his cock hard at my back. When my eyes fluttered closed, I didn’t know whether I wanted to slap him or slap myself for letting him get to me. I hated the way he made me feel like I could lose control.
The thought was terrifying.
“Kai, you bastard.” My nails dug into his forearm, and he hissed over the shell of my ear, causing yet another flush of wetness between my thighs.
The vibration of his chuckle against my skin forced me to clamp my lips together. I’d be damned if he knew how much he affected me. I wasn’t sure what this game was between us. Worst of all, I didn’t know that I entirely hated it.
