“Like I could just walk out of here and slip into the New York crowd without you sinking my brother.”
Bronx takes a sip of liquor and holds my gaze. As he swallows, his pupils flare and my pulse goes nuts.
“Then you understand how this works, Mrs Viacava,” he says in a deep rumble. “We don’t have to go head to head every second we’re together. If you’re not happy with the decor, change it to whatever puts a smile on that pretty face of yours.”
“Adding new furniture won’t make me happy,” I laugh. “This place is my prison no matter how it looks, and you’re still the man who screwed with my future.”
“I didn’t have a choice either, Tierney.” His voice drops an octave.
Bronx sighs and rakes a hand through his thick, darkhair. For a moment, I almost believed that he’s the same as me in this nightmare. Then I pull myself together and snap out of it.
“Yeah, poor little Viacava, forced to marry a woman like me.”
“You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Neither do you, Bronx.” I clink the glass on the coffee table. “I had a life in Ireland. A guy who actually loved me… who wanted to have a real future with me that involved genuine vows and kids.”
His expression changes, and a darkness slips over the charm. Nevertheless, I don’t back down because this has to be said, and he needs to know that I’ll never stop fighting.
“I had plans to go travelling…” I say. “I wish I’d never downloaded your family’s files or given them to my da.”
Bronx sits there, staring at me as I finish my rant.
“Stealing your intel wasn’t personal. But marrying you is my biggest regret.”
I sit next to him, coiled tight with so much anger and frustration, while he just watches my every quick breath.
“I understand,” he says after a beat, without his signature hot smirk.
“You don’t understand shit.” I bite back.
“Out of all the women in the world, Tierney, you are the one sitting on my couch, drinking my favorite merlot and wearing my ring.” He reaches for my hand, and I pull it away. “We’ve both sacrificed for this marriage, princess. You don’t hear me listing the women I could’ve chosen instead, do you?”
When I frown, he smiles, and somehow it lightsup the darkness inside me.
“I get this is hard for you,” he says. “But one of these days, you’ll smile for me.”
I roll my eyes and scoot further away, grabbing my drink on the way past. “You’d have to give me something to smile about.”
“Want me to buy you a pony, princess?” he grins.
“I don’t want you to buy me anything, and that right there is your problem,” I say. “You think cracks can be smoothed over with money.”
The smile on his face doesn’t fade; rather, it deepens as if I’ve challenged him. “How about a pair of knuckle dusters with our wedding date engraved on them?”
A small smile tugs at my lips despite myself. “You’d buy me something I could use to hurt you with?”
“Would they make you smile?”
I shrug, hating that he already knows the answer.
“Then, yeah, princess, I’d buy them for you,” he says. “And you’d never hurt your husband when he’s the one protecting you.”
The ice in my chest thaws a little more, and the knots in my belly ease. I refuse to let my guard down around this man, but the way he looks at me…it makes the heat coil low in my core.
I don’t like that my body responds before I have time to keep my reaction in check.
“Stop being... whatever this is.” I wave a hand in his direction, then take a sip of wine.
