“Your grandmother wants to meet your wife,” Dad says.
“I’ll check my calendar.”
“Ah, no, Akiko is hosting dinner tonight. Bring her.”
I bite back a groan. “Tonight? But it’s Fiona’s birthday.”
I was going to give her a surprise lunch until Amélie said Bebe was acting up in the office and nothing short of my presence would calm her. If we have dinner with Akiko, we’ll end up starving. Besides, I don’tknow how Fiona’s going to feel about meeting my family so quickly when our marriage is temporary. Although I told her it was for two years, I don’t plan to stick to the timeline. It’s going to end when Mom’s out of the picture…and I no longer feel that weird pinch in my heart every time I think of Fiona and I quit getting erections around her. That shouldn’t take two years, so introducing her to the family seems like a type of fraud. On the other hand, keeping her away from the family would look sketchy as hell to Mom.
“Fine. I’ll tell her to make a cake,” Dad says gruffly.
“It’d be better if you just told her to make bigger portions.”
Dad gives me an expression full of mournful regret. An honest reaction, since he would never show that he’s unhappy with Akiko’s food. “She seems to believe if I have more than three bites, I’m going to get diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and a stroke all at the same time.”
I snort. “At the rate things are going, you’ll outlive us all. Just tell her not to labor so much in the kitchen. Since we’re pressed for time, it’ll be best if she orders a few pizzas instead.”
Longing fleets over his face, but almost as quickly as it appears, he shakes it off, glaring at me. “Stop whining. You’ll eat what she makes.”
* * *
I step inside my office and do a double take. I step back out and glance at Amélie, who gives me an I-did-my-best shrug. Shaking my head, I stride inside and shut the door, then face my brothers.
Ares is propped against the edge of my desk, giving me a dark look that’s all disapproving eyes and an even more disapproving, flat mouth. Josh, on the other hand, paces like a caged panther, clenching and unclenching his hands, face red and looking ready to explode.
I’m not fooled. Ares is the one about to have a volcanic eruption of a temper tantrum, while Josh is managing his fury by pacing.
“How could you?” Ares says as he pushes himself off the desk to stand straight.
I knew it.
“What were you thinking?” he says. “Did she infect you with some kind of brain parasite?”
Josh keeps pacing, nodding in agreement with everything coming out of Ares’s mouth.
I shrug. “I already told you I didn’t want the guilt—”
“The hell with guilt!She didn’t feel guilty when she fucked Jude Morven in your bed!” Tendons stand out in Ares’s neck. He’s barely restraining himself from screaming.
I’d applaud his control, but he’s salting a wound that hasn’t healed yet. I inhale deeply to control the raw pain. “Ares, I know you mean well, but Fiona’s my wife now.”
His face scrunches with disgust.
Josh stops and turns to me. His mouth opens. I know what he’s about to ask before he says the first word. “Can you—”
“An annulment is out of the question. It’s either this or dealing with Mom’s women and drugs.”
“You could marry somebody else,” Ares says.
“I’m not marrying a stranger.” The very idea of a stranger living in my home makes my skin crawl.
“This won’t stop Mom, not really. She’s going to escalate,” Josh says.
“Tag-teaming me, are you?”
“It’s not tag-teaming. It’s just stating the truth,” my twin adds.
I narrow my eyes. “Okay. Do youwantMom to force me to make a baby so she can ingratiate herself with Vincent?”
