Meanwhile, I have brothers who want to protect me yet don’t really know me. A fake boyfriend, who will soon become my fake fiancé and then my fake husband. And thanks to Kane, starting a family is out of the question.
He thinks I’m going to give him an heir once we’re married, but little does he know that I’m on the pill, and I have no intention of getting off it. I considered getting the shot or something more permanent, like an IUD, but the pill is what I was prescribed when my gynecologist found cysts forming on my ovaries, and she recommended that I stay on it since it seems to be working.
We finish our session, and then Dani and I head out to grab a coffee at Lattes and Words—the coffee shop and bookstore Nicole owns.
“There she is!” Nicole exclaims when we walk inside. “I was beginning to think you’d dropped off the face of the earth.”
“Dramatic much?” I mutter, walking up to the counter.
“Not when we hang out almost every Friday night and I don’t hear from you.”
“She had a date,” Dani chimes in.
“Oh!” Nicole’s eyes light up. “Not with Theo, I hope?”
“No.” I clear my throat, preparing to drop the bomb. “With Kane Morgan.”
Nicole’s eyes go as wide as saucers. “The one-night stand?”
Dani whips her head around to look at me in shock.
“Don’t repeat that to my brothers,” I warn.
I might be close with my sisters-in-law, but their loyalty lies with their husbands.
Dani shakes her head. “You hooked up with Kane? When?”
“The night before your baby shower.”
She curses under her breath, and Nicole says, “What am I missing?”
I glance around to make sure no one is eavesdropping. Daniil and Dani’s guard, Ian, are standing by the door, and there are a few customers drinking coffee in the corner.
“It turns out that Kane’s family has history with mine, and he’s blackmailing my brothers into working with him and … forcing me to marry him.”
I don’t get into him being related to Anthony since that would lead to questions from her that I don’t want to answer.
Nicole gasps. “That asshole. Why do all the good-looking ones have to be so horrible? What are you going to do?” she asks.
“Marry him.” I sigh. “And since I can’t choose between my sisters-in-law, you’ll be my maid of honor.”
Nicole smiles sadly. “I would be honored to. When’s the wedding?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “He said within the month. He wants to publicly court me and propose, and then we’ll get married. You can’t say anything,” I say to Nicole. “Especially to your dad.”
The last thing I need getting out is that our marriage is a sham, which will make Kane look bad and lead to him possibly screwing my family over in retaliation. Powerful men like my brothers and Kane take their reputation seriously.
“I would never.” Nicole shakes her head. “But I hate this for you. I know how important finding love is to you. Do you think there’s any chance he could possibly love you?”
I think back to the night we spent together. The way he took control, yet gave me the control I needed. It was only sex, but it felt like so much more.
And then he ruined it by showing up the next day and snatching every ounce of control he had given me away.
“A man like Kane isn’t capable of love,” I say. “He cares about one thing—business.”
Nicole nods in understanding. “He’d get along great with my dad,” she mutters.
“Let’s hope not,” Dani interjects. “Working with the mayor is the number one way to piss off Matteo and Dominick.”
