Lucy’s feet decided now was a good time to remain stuckin place, as if she wore cement shoes. And the way her insides churned, she may as well have been.
“Cara?” Nico looked at her, confusion marring his bravado.
“I—I’m not going with you,” she managed, wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole. Put her out of this misery and humiliation.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Nico grabbed her arm roughly, tugging her in his direction, and Joel’s hand shot out in a blur, gripping Nico’s wrist with so much force he released her in an instant.
“Last warning,” Joel growled, his natural authority infusing each word. “Get your hands off my wife.”
CHAPTER TWO
Omigodomigodomigod.
Lucy’s mind reeled as Nico’s head swiveled from Joel to her. “You’re married?” Slack jawed and wide eyed, his complete shock left her feeling insulted.
“Of course not. Well, not exactly?—”
“That’s—absurd!” Nico sputtered. “Who even is this?” He fluttered his hand in Joel’s direction.
This could not be happening. How was this happening? And why did Nico not know who Joel was? She thought everyone in her family knew the Morgan Construction successor.
“He’s…” Her gaze darted toward Joel, then back to Nico. Nope, she wasn’t ready to look at Joel. But she sensed his gaze on her now, and her heart responded by thumping wildly behind her breastbone. “He’s a business associate of my father’s.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the jaw twitch again.
“A business associate? How is it possible that I’m unaware of this business associate who you are married to?” Nico’s accent thickened the more upset he got.
“He’s not my husband.”
Jaw tick.
She shut her eyes to block her peripheral vision. “It’s complicated,” she added lamely.
“Complicated. Complicated!?” Nico laughed. “Well,cara, maybe you should uncomplicate it,” he huffed out before he spun on his heel and walked away.
Super. God knew where Nico would go to lick his wounds, or what he would say to whom. If he called her father…
“Luciana.” Her name came off Joel’s lips as it always had. Like a prayer. Like she was his salvation. But she wasn’t his to worship anymore. “Are you alright?”
She hated the way the smooth sound of his voice still hit her everywhere. The hairs on her neck rose in his direction. A shiver of pleasure swirled up her spine to her brain, triggering memories she’d worked years to forget. Memories of his deep timbre breathing her name into her ear as he moved inside her…
“What the hell are you doing here?” Anger had always been easier than confronting uncomfortable feelings, so she whirled on him with hers and glared at him head on.
God, why did he have to be so gorgeous? Entrancing eyes, strong, angular features, light-brown hair, and his long, lean body, built in that athletic way he’d earned from years of cross-training. He looked more fantastic in a suit than ever.
“What amIdoing here? What areyoudoing here?” Joel demanded in return.
“This ismycousin’s wedding,” she exclaimed in a whisper-yell, tossing her hands in the air. She wasn’t sure how much attention the altercation with Nico had drawn, but she didn’t want to risk any more.
Italians made gossip an Olympic sport.
“Well,” Joel said casually, before lifting a shoulder. “I live here now.”
“No, you don’t.” Lucy couldn’t imagine Joel living anywhere other than in his ocean-view penthouse in downtown San Francisco.
He was the new CEO of Morgan Construction, having officially taken over the business after his father had finally retired not long ago. Never in a million years would she have imagined he’d move away from the family empire.
“Yes, I do. Temporarily, at least. There’s a property here I’m developing. I’m expanding the business, and Portland seemed like the natural place to start, seeing as I have family living here now.”
It took a moment for her to catch up, but the lightbulb went off. “Hope.”
