My eyes flare wide. “You’re an asshole.”
“What?” Ari waves at my general state of undress. “It’s glaringly obvious.”
“Only to those here. Which is supposed to be just one. Your brother, not you.”
“I consider myself lucky, then.” Ari smirks, earning himself another poke in the chest.
“Mypoint,” I say, getting the conversation back on track, “is that if anyone in this relationship has the right to be distrustful, it’s me. But, despite how Rem and I met, he has proven himself trustworthy over and over. So, yes, I trust him. With my safety, my life. My?—”
“Pussy.”
“Seriously. Stop with the sex shaming. And stop being gross. What we do together is none of your business, so stop fixating on it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lena. It absolutelyismy business. Because we still haven’t addressed the giant fuckingelephant in the room—the one that wants to know if you’re going to sell my brother to our enemies once you two are done playing house.”
I feel a vein start to throb in my forehead.Stay calm, Lena. Stay calm. He’s doing what any big brother would do. A big brother who thinks his new sister-in-law is a scheming bitch who manipulates men through sex…I shake the thought out of my head before it makes me even angrier.
“We’re not playing house, Ari. We’re married.” I shove my left hand in his face, wiggling my ring finger for effect. “I can’t make you trust me in a matter of minutes. I can’t force you to believe what I’m saying. But I want you to listen to me and give me the chance to prove that I’m telling the truth.”
Ari watches me, unmoved.
“My relationship with Rem started in a wild, unconventional way. We haven’t known each other long. We haven’t even been on a date. But he’s helped me through hell more times than I can count, and I’ve come to trust him. Deeply.”
“Trust? Is that all you feel?”
I love Rem. I know that. It would be so easy to let the little word slip off my tongue. But Ari isn’t going to be the first Cosenza brother to find out I’m in love with my husband.
“I care about Rem very much. I hate when he’s gone. I worry when I don’t hear from him. I want to kill anyone who hurts him.”
“How blood-thirsty of you. Appropriate.”
I ignore Ari’s dismissive tone. “I’minthis relationship for the long-haul, Ari. I’m a member of this family. And I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him. With one exception.”
Ari raises one dark eyebrow. “And that is?”
“You.” I poke his chest one more time. “If you continue to question my loyalty to or feelings for Rem, I might just hurtyou. And that will hurt Rem by extension. So don’t make me. Rem means too much to both of us for that, agreed?”
Ari looks down at me. His expression gives nothing away. He doesn’t say a word. No sign of protest, no sign of agreement either. I think—hope—I see a glint of respect in his eye, but before I’m able to prod him again we’re interrupted.
“Fratello? What are you doing here?” Rem stands in the hallway leading from his office. My heart races when I see him. Partly because he’s shirtless, his brutally honed chest on display above a low-slung pair of sweatpants. Partly because he’s giving Ari an aggressive look, erasing the distance between us in a few long strides.
He finds one of my hands, locks our fingers together, his palm swallowing mine. I drop my chin to hide a smile from Ari.
“Good morning to you too,fratellino.” Ari flicks his gaze at Rem’s chest. “Looks like you picked pleasure over business for today’s agenda.”
Rem says something in Italian. It doesn’t sound nice. Ari smirks.
“What do you want, Ari?”
“To meet your beautiful bride. It’s been, what?—almost a week since the wedding? I was starting to worry that you were never going to introduce us.”
I expect Rem to make a joke. To brush it off as oversight. To tell Ari that, of course, he always planned for us to meet. We’re family now, after all, and nothing is more important to Rem than family.
He doesn’t do any of those things.
Instead, he wraps his arm around me, pulling me snug to his side. Effectively keeping me out of Ari’s reach. “Ari, this is my wife. Lena, this is my brother.” Rem keeps his eyes on the other man, tension locking his whole frame. “Happy?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Ari goes back to spinning the spoon.It dances in his hand, and I instinctively know he could turn it into a weapon effortlessly. “Lena and I have been getting to know each other. The wedding. The proposal. The way you two met...”
