Chapter 28
DEX
“You survived. How was it?” Jett asks, leaning back against the soft leather of the booth and staring at me expectantly.
Zach grins, looking every bit like he already knows the answer. “Yeah, Dex. How was playing house with your new wife?”
I take a slow sip of my drink, measuring my response. “Fine. Just fine.” I’m with my brothers in a bar. It’s my first day back at work, and we’ve come out for some lunch.
Daniela was up and in the study as I had my protein shake. I asked her if she wanted one, but she told me she’d get her own breakfast. I hate the tension between us even more now that I know how things could be, if I let down my guard. If I gave her a chance.
“ Fine? That’s it?” Jett asks, like he doesn’t believe me.
“What else do you want me to say?” I growl. “We went to the resort. Did the obligatory couple’s things. Daniela played her part. I played mine. We’re back now. End of story.”
Zach peers at me. “No honeymoon bliss? No cozy nights by the fire? No candlelit baths?”
I exhale sharply, wondering why I accepted this invite. “You two sound like gossip columnists. Nothing happened.”
Nothing that I’m going to tell them. What am I supposed to say? That I kissed her? That I touched her? That for a few stolen moments, I let myself want her? The way I feel about her scares me. I want her and need her, but it’s dangerous for her to be in this family. Daniela is too kind, pure and big hearted to live among the Knights.
I’ll always protect her, but if the old man discovers she’s my Achilles heel, he’ll use it against me. Somehow he’ll find a way. He always does.
That’s why it’s better for me to shut her out. It’s torture for me, but it’s the right thing to do. “Nothing to report,” I say flatly, tossing back the rest of my drink.
My brothers exchange glances but don’t push. They shouldn’t. Because if they knew the truth, if they knew how dangerously close I was to wanting Daniela beyond this deal, they’d never let me live it down.
This is tough. Harder than I thought, not just because I want to kiss her again, but because I remembered how she felt under my hands. The way my fingers played her like a violin, every movement pulling a reaction, her body responding to my touch like a melody meant for me alone.
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I let my guard down. When I let us go further than I ever intended. Thank God we didn’t go all the way. We can’t cross that line.
“Tell me, what’s been going on here?” I ask, desperate to change the topic. “Did the old man have anything to report when he got back? Anything about AO Eletronica?”
“He’s said nothing,” Jett informs me.
I didn’t expect him to divulge much. “The old man is tight lipped anyway. He only tells us on a need-to-know basis.”
Jett nods, looking pensive. “I’m sure it’s all fine.”
“Is he in?” I haven’t seen him around the office, not that I’d go out looking for him. I haven’t seen the man since we left for our honeymoon, but I thought he might come by and ask me how it was.
“He’s here. I’m sure he’ll come and see you.”
“Lucky me,” I grumble.
***
My father strides into my office. I don’t stand to greet him. Just lean back in my chair and wait for him to get to whatever the hell he wants.
He wastes no time. “The honeymoon?”
I keep my expression unreadable. “It was fine.”
He nods, studying me like he’s dissecting my every move. “We should have dinner, now that you’re both back. A family affair.”
My gut churns at the thought of subjecting Daniela to a Knight family dinner. “Not necessary,” I say immediately.
His gaze sharpens. “It wasn’t a suggestion.” He adjusts his cufflinks and paces slowly around the room, which I find unnerving. I wish he’d just sit the hell down in one place.
“There’s a charity gala coming up—”
“You already told me. Orchestrated by you, no doubt.”
“Yes. This isn’t just a powerful alliance; it’s the first Knight wedding. People are interested in you as a couple, but more intrigued about your new wife.”
“Great. That’s all I need.”
“You just need to survive a year.”
I can feel my nostrils flare and wonder if he thought of marriage to my mom as something to survive ?
“I’ll get Patty to send you all the details. You and Daniela will attend and present a united front. Look deliriously happy and in love.”
“We can do that.” I lean back in my chair, steepling my hands across my chest. “How was the spying? Find anything?”
His expression gives nothing away. “Excuse me?”
“When you went to work with Daniela’s father,” I say. “You know, playing the benevolent businessman while digging for weaknesses?”
His jaw tightens ever so slightly.
Bingo.
“There are things you don’t understand,” he says smoothly. “Things I’ll reveal when the time is right.”
A chill runs down my spine, but I don’t let it show. The old man never mentions things unless he’s already set them in motion.
Some shit is brewing, and when it hits, it won’t be pretty.
***
Later, on my way home, I visit Rio in his apartment. He slouches against the bar, lazy grin in place, his dark eyes flashing with amusement as he watches me. “Welcome back, stranger. How’s married life treating you?”
I grunt. “Don’t start.”
Rio chuckles. “Tell me, how close did you get?”
I say nothing.
Rio’s grin widens. “Oh, shit. Did stuff happen?”
“Fuck no.” I try not to frown. Try not to look irritated. After this my next stop is my apartment where Daniela is. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking of her all day. I can’t get her out of my mind, and now I’m hesitant to go home. It’s not even been a day, and I’m anxious. Worried that I won’t be able to hide what I’m starting to feel for her.
Maybe I don’t walk out in seven months. I can’t see how I’ll last that long, anyway. Maybe I do it sooner, like in two or three months.
“You actually like her,” Rio says, quietly.
I level him with a glare. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” His jaw drops. “You got close. You kissed. And let me guess … you went all cold afterward?”
I hate that this guy is so fucking perceptive. “I had to.”
He lets out a low whistle. “You slept with her?”
“No!”
His brows push together and he peers at me. “Then … what ?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. See me and Daniela in the hot tub. Hear her sighs. Fuck. My eyelids fly open. I’m doomed. She’s always in my mind. “Kissing and … stuff .”
“Man, you’re in trouble.”
I’m relieved he didn’t push for details. “I’ve got this.”
Rio shakes his head, laughing to himself. “Dexter Knight, the one who swore he’d never fall for anyone, out here catching feelings for his fake wife. This is fucking good.”
I scowl. “It’s not good.”
“You care about her, don’t you?”
I twist my neck, trying to ease out the knot. “I feel sorry for her being here away from everything she knows.”
“Sound to me like she was getting to know you.” Rio winks.
“You’re insufferable.”
“She’s … different ,” I say, thinking about our days at the honeymoon resort.
“Define different.”
“She’s not clingy, or needy. Or desperate for me.” I think about how she was so vulnerable in front of me, of how she trusted me enough for me to stroke her clit and make her come, but she doesn’t act like she’s tied to me. It unnerves me slightly, that I am becoming obsessed by her. Maybe it’s because most women fall at my feet. Or get on their knees for me. They do it so easily, but Daniela doesn’t.
“I can’t work her out,” Rio confesses.
I bristle at his words. “Don’t even try, brother.” I don’t want him looking at my wife.
“Dude! It’s not like that, I promise you. I like the chase, remember?” Rio rushes to reassure me.
And then I do remember. “I forgot. You’re chasing her friend.”
“Who?”
“Nice try. You don’t fool me. You weren’t on the flight home with the others. What did you get up to?”
“My lips are sealed. Don’t even waste your time asking about her.”
I stare at him incredulous. “You’re not chasing her?”
“Conquered and ditched.”
This man impressed me. He can so easily put his emotions to the side. I thought I could, too. Except that I’ve now met a woman who seeps into my cells and has left her imprint. A woman I can’t easily forget or discard. The coming months are going to be a test, which is why I need to get out of this sooner than I planned. “I can’t get emotionally involved.”
“Dude, are you?” Rio leans forward, dark eyes wide open, the perfect picture of shock. When I don’t reply, “Damn. You really do have feelings for her. Dude, you’re an idiot.”
I scowl. “You got anything helpful to say?”
“You feel for her. You care. You weren’t supposed to make this complicated.”
“You think I don’t know that? I’m walking away in seven months.”
“ What? ” Rio’s face twists in disbelief. “What the fuck? Why ?” He stands up, his muscles tensing like I’ve dissed him.
“I was always going to. I just didn’t tell anyone.”
“Why are you telling me now?”
“I don’t know.” Maybe a part of me wants him to talk some sense into me.
“Dex?”
“I have to.” But even as I say it, something inside me twists. I’m falling for her, and I don’t know what the hell to do about it.
Rio takes a sip. “You sure about this, walking away?”
The fucker doesn’t even try to talk me out of it. “Yes.” But it doesn’t sound convincing.
“Then I guess you should, because it looks to me like you’re suffering, and you’ve not even been married for long.”
“I’ll get over it.” I have to. One thing I’ve discovered is that this can’t go on for a year. Our living situation is dangerously intimate.
Impossible to handle.
I don’t know how I’ll survive, sleeping across the hall from her. I won’t get much sleep, that’s for sure. Tossing and turning in my bed. All alone and thinking of her, all alone in her bed.
My right hand is going to be working overtime.
I’ll probably need a wrist guard. I’ve been wondering what she wears to bed.
Soon there will come a time when I’ll have to watch her sitting drinking her morning coffee in my kitchen, or freshly showered, with her damp long, luscious locks hanging over her shoulders and trailing down her breasts.
I can’t touch her or kiss her.
I’m not sure I can handle that.
I want my wife, but I can’t have her.