Aiden O’Malley and Dmitri Romanov were two sides of the same coin. Aiden wasn’t some white knight charging in to deliver justice to her out of the goodness of his heart. She hadn’t been able to find out much about the O’Malleys, but they had a reputation for being ruthless and they’d ruled one-third of Boston’s underground for a few generations, which was impressive when considering how often power changed hands in other cities. She studied his button-down shirt, taking in the cuff links glinting at his wrists.Cuff links, for God’s sake.“I’m still missing the part where you need me.”
He met her gaze directly. “You’ll be my fiancée.”
“Are you out of your goddamn mind? Gettingmarriedis your brilliant plan? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Calm down. I’m not actually marrying you, so you can get that look off your face. The only way you can move freely—relatively speaking—in my world is if you’re mine. A girlfriend won’t cut it—an engagement is required.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She made an effort to smooth out her tone. They’d been talking a grand total of ten minutes, and the fact that he’d had every emotion and reaction locked down only made her feel more unrestrained. “I don’t want to move in your world.”
He didn’t seem too bothered by her shock and denial. “If people think that it’s a whirlwind romance, they’ll believe that I’m thinking with my cock instead of my brain. The frenzy at the beginning of a relationship distracts even the most focused person, and Romanov will know it—and underestimate the situation as a result. You’ll have to be convincing, of course. Not even my family can know your true purpose there.”
It was an effort to pick her jaw up off the floor. She’d known he was desperate—he’d have to be to come to her twice—but she hadn’t reckoned on him being this reckless. “No one is going to believe for a second that you fell head over heels for acop—”
“Dirty cop, according to your record, and that’s if anyone digs deeply enough to figure out that you aren’t Charlie Moreaux.”
She ignored that. “Even if they did believe that, there’s still the complete fiction that we’re in love. No. Absolutely not. There has to be another way.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking hard. “Your bodyguard. I can be your bodyguard.”
“Out of the question. My family would be less likely to believe that I replaced Liam than they would be that I fell for a former dirty cop—and Romanov certainly wouldn’t buy it. Not to mention, bringing in outside security is a giant red flag that would have him watching memoreclosely instead of less.”
“I don’t care. Figure out something else.”
Aiden studied her. “What is it about being my fiancée that bothers you so much?”
She didn’t even know where to start, so she went with the first thing to pop into her head. “How about the fact that I’m not going to sleep with you?”
He barked out a laugh. “You don’t have to sleep with me, Charlie. You just have to pretend.” Just like that, all amusement was gone from his face, the intensity of his eyes leaving her breathless. He reached across the meager distance between them and captured her chin. Her heart tried to beat out of her chest as he leaned forward until his breath ghosted across her lips. “No one would believe for a second that I’d wait for marriage to have you in my bed, and so you’ll be in my bed. But I won’t touch you without permission.”
She licked her lips, her skin too tight, her nipples pebbling until they almost hurt. If he’d looked down, he would have seen them pressing against the thin fabric of her shirt. But Aiden didn’t look down, didn’t drag his gaze away from her lips. His voice dropped to something akin to a growl. “It’s just pretend, Charlie. You can pretend to want me, can’t you?”
She squeezed her thighs together, but the move did nothing to alleviate the ache growing between them.Oh God.She tried counting to ten, but lost her place halfwaythrough. There was only Aiden and his clear mountain scent filling the back of the town car.
He won’t touch me without permission. Donotgive him permission. Some things you can’t come back from.
She held perfectly still, a rabbit in a trap, and when she spoke, she was pathetically grateful that she sounded mostly unaffected. “I think I’ll manage.”
“Good.” His lips curved a little. “Then we can begin.”
Chapter Two
The next day, the first order of business was getting Charlie clothed appropriately. Aiden had dispatched Liam to take her shopping, which was a chore on multiple levels. He’d seen the hesitance in her face at the thought of spending his money, but he’d argued that she had to present a particular look if she was going to play in his world. Liam would ensure that she spent enough and didn’t try to take the easy way out. Aiden would have asked for his sister Carrigan’s assistance, but they were barely on speaking terms at this point. He couldn’t quite forgive her for being the reason the family was in this precarious position with Romanov in the first place, even if he was happy she’d found love.
A family of traitors. That’s all we are.
Cillian caught him as he walked through the front door. His youngest brother was dressed in his usual three-piece suit, tattoos peeking out at his neck and wrists. “Where have you been? You were supposed to be back last night—”
“I got caught up.” Aiden nodded to the man at Cillian’s back—Mark Neale, one of their hired men. “Bring Keira to the office immediately.”
Cillian stopped short, horror suffusing his face. “No. Aiden, you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”
It stung that his brother had immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario, even if that was exactly what Aiden wanted him to believe.Always so willing to cast me as a knockoff version of our father.He couldn’t let the opinion of his siblings affect his plans, though. They’d see the truth when the time came—and not a second before.
“Office. Now.” He injected a bit of the forbidding tone their father had always used to get immediate obedience. He’d be damned before he let Cillian contradict him in the middle of the foyer. His brother didn’t mean it as a way of undermining Aiden’s tenuous hold on power, but there were men who worked for them who might interpret it that way. A unified front was the only thing that would see them through this until the threats of Romanov and the Eldridges were removed.
Cillian barely waited for the office door to close before he was in Aiden’s face. “I have done everything you asked of me and more, and never once did we agree on giving Keira to that monster. Christ, Aiden, she’s a kid. He’ll eat her alive.”
He won’t have her.
He couldn’t say it, couldn’t tip his hand in the least. Cillian was as trustworthy as they came, but he was well on his way to being married to Dmitri Romanov’s half sister. Olivia claimed she wanted nothing to do with Dmitri, but she still allowed him access to her two-year-old daughter, Hadley, on a regular basis. Aiden didn’t think his brotheror future sister-in-law would betray him…but he couldn’t risk it.
