Forbidden Forget-Me-Not (California Made Men #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

GORAN

Isucked in a deep breath and regretted it immediately.

What the fuck?

My head felt like someone was squeezing it in a vise. There was a distinct ringing in my ears, like I’d spent all night in a club standing next to a subwoofer.

Pressing a palm to my temple, I blinked, but even the dim light hurt.

The room swam like an out-of-control merry-go-round that wasn’t so merry.

My eyes fluttered open, and I could just make out a nightstand with a lamp and a clock.

The numbers glowed, letting me know it was eleven-thirty in the morning.

“Oh shit,” I growled, sitting up too quickly. That was a mistake.

The sudden upward movement had me lunging across the room. I dropped to my knees and grabbed the small wastepaper basket. My stomach turned inside out, and I retched until there was nothing left, leaving me dry heaving with tears running down my face.

Fuck my life.

My mind was completely blank. The last thing I remembered was attending a swanky dinner with Lani. She’d planned to rub shoulders with the coaches and other important people who chose the Pan Am jumping team. I’d drunk one glass of whiskey and then…nothing.

Glancing around the room, I spotted an open door that I assumed was a bathroom. There was no chance of standing. So, I crawled across the floor, then used the counter to haul my sorry ass up. The mirror was not kind. I looked like a bag of shit.

And where the fuck are my clothes?

Scrubbing my hand across my chest, it came away with glitter. But that wasn’t what caught my attention. There, on my ring finger, was a black band with a thin gold strip running through the middle.

Holy shit!

This is not happening.

There was no way that I was living in some fucked up version of The Hangover. To be safe, I spun around and pulled open the shower curtain, sighing when there was no tiger.

Lani, what the hell did you do?

Swiping the toothpaste off the counter, I brushed my teeth three times before stumbling back into the bedroom. Holding my still pounding head, I searched for anything useful. Anything that might help me piece together recent events.

My phone mocked me from the nightstand. Very slowly, I made it across the room. It felt like walking the length of a football field before I sat down. Reaching for my cell, I paused and picked up the pen beside it instead.

Does that say…Las Vegas?

Jesus H. Christ. How did I get to Vegas when I was in Phoenix, Arizona, last night?

Dropping the pen, I grabbed my phone. The bedroom door burst open just as the home screen appeared.

Lani swept in, all sunshine and smiles. Her energy followed her around like an entourage.

Her blue eyes danced with their usual mischief as she practically twirled over in her skin-tight jeans and silky white blouse.

Lani cupped my cheeks, kissing one then the other.

“Oh, thank God you’re awake. I was getting really worried.”

“Lani, what’s happening?”

Ignoring my question, she wheeled away and marched over to the curtains. She flung them open, and I winced as the bright sunlight poured into the room. Grabbing the pillow, I covered my face like I was some fucking vampire.

“I had all your favorites brought up, including a fresh pot of French-pressed coffee. So, hurry up and shower, then come join me.”

“Lani,” I growled.

“Oh, and I also got you a new suit, yours was totally ruined after the foam club and the pool. You just jumped in fully dressed.”

“Lani, enough.”

“What?”

Dropping the pillow, I slowly stood and stared at Kaylani Mikhailov. She was so fucking beautiful. Even when I was pissed at her, I was completely mesmerized by her beauty. My heart beat for no one else.

Her golden-blonde hair was styled and falling around her shoulders in soft curls. The sun glistened off her like she had been born an angel, but Kaylani had a devilish soul. That was why I loved her so damn much.

“Where are we?”

She shook her head at me, then pointed at the window.

“Vegas, silly, that’s obvious.”

Lani held out her hand and looked at her perfectly manicured nails that were no longer the pale blue I remembered from last night.

“How did we get here?”

“We flew.”

Frustration set in as I approached her while swaying back and forth. There was no way I looked half as angry as I felt. Gripping her arms, I gazed into her blue eyes.

“No more games. What is going on? The last thing I remember was accompanying you to a horse show and dinner in Phoenix, then nothing. Don’t try to lie to me. Just out with it. What happened?”

Lani sighed. “Can’t we have a nice breakfast first, and then I’ll answer all of your questions?”

I knew that line and shook my head. “No. Tell me, now.”

“Fine, I knew you’d never ask me to marry you…so I took matters into my own hands,” she said.

Bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed it down. Not because I didn’t want to marry her. I fucking loved her, but I was her brother’s head of security. Nothing more than a soldier.

Kaylani was the Mikhailov princess. She was…untouchable. The first time she kissed me, I was shocked and frozen to the spot, unable to form words. I’d known in that moment that the rest of my life belonged to her, even if we could never be together.

Then I did the unthinkable…I slept with her. That was three months ago, and I just couldn’t stop.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” I whispered.

She crossed her arms. “Why? Is the idea of being married to me so horrible?”

I backed up until my legs found the bed and my ass hit the mattress.

“No, Lani, you know that I love you, but you’ve just signed my death certificate.”

She waved a hand at me. “Goran, it’s not that bad. You’re being dramatic.”

“No, I’m not. I’m a bodyguard, a soldier. I have no influential backing, no political ties, no family name. I have nothing to offer your father.”

I burst up from the bed and began to pace, ignoring the chisel and hammer going to work behind my eyes.

“I have abused your father’s trust, but worse, Nathaniel’s.

I was standing right there at the family dinner when Dimitri said he was assembling potential marriages for you.

I’ve betrayed the Mikhailov family. What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out that his baby girl…

no, his only daughter, ran off to Vegas and married a bodyguard?

He’s going to have me dropped in the middle of the ocean. ”

I started to pull the ring off.

Lani jumped at me and gripped my hand.

“Don’t. Don’t you dare take that off. You’re my husband. I’m sick of all the men around me telling me what I can and cannot have. Who I can and cannot be with. What is and isn’t proper. Screw all of that. I love you, and I choose you.”

“What you chose is my watery grave. I followed my heart and cock instead of staying loyal to your family. You knew we could never be together when this affair of ours started. You said…”

“I know what I said!” She fumed, her blue eyes blazing. “I lied. Okay, I lied. I conned you and took you off the market. Finally, a woman’s prerogative for a change.” She tapped over her heart. “What about loyalty to me? Don’t I deserve it?”

“Lani…you know I would die for you.”

“Then choose me. I don’t want your death. I want your heart. I want us to have a life outside of shadows. Be loyal to me.”

I looked down at my feet, totally lost.

“How did you even do all of this? What day is it?”

“I used a cocktail of drugs, flew you here, and got us hitched. Then, we drank a ton, partied really hard, and now, it’s Sunday.”

Shock filled me first, followed by pride at her resourcefulness, and then the anger settled back into place.

“You drugged me for three days?”

“Oh, please, it was really only one and a half. If you want to get technical…less than thirty-six hours, considering I slipped the first round to you Friday at the banquet.”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could’ve killed me. Never mind the fact that we’ve been in Vegas for a whole ass day. Anything could’ve happened to you while you were supposed to be under my watch.”

“You’re worrying about things that never happened. Besides, I had a doctor help me create the perfect dose for your weight,” she said, with an impish grin.

“Don’t look so damned pleased with yourself. What kind of psycho doctor is willing to drug someone he doesn’t even know?”

How the fuck was I going to get out of this?

Lani and I would never be allowed to stay together.

Not only would Dimitri kill me, but she was best friend’s baby sister.

That alone would get my fingers chopped off, along with my cock, and then my tongue.

After that was done, Nathaniel would skin the blubbering remains of whatever was left of me.

I’d been to the Triangle with Nathaniel. I’d watched him torture and dispose of those who had been sent there. I knew exactly what was waiting for me back home.

My fear for Lani was tenfold. What would Dimitri do when he discovered that she had disobeyed him? How would I protect her from his wrath if I were…gone?

My stomach roiled again, and my eyes snapped up to hers.

“Wait…a marriage isn’t binding unless it was consensual and without the influence of substances. That means our nuptials can be undone.”

“I’m not undoing anything,” Lani scoffed.

“You may not, but I will. Where did we get married?”

Lani cocked a hip and glared at me.

“This is not funny. Where did we get married?”

“I’m not telling you, and even if I do, it won’t matter.”

“Yes, it will, I can—”

“No.”

“Lani, oh my fucking God. Why are you trying to get me killed? Let alone whatever your father chooses to do to you as punishment.”

“I’m not. I’m forcing my father to give me what I want for a change. And what I want is you. But I guess you have decided that I’m not worth fighting for.”

She crossed her arms, her eyes hard.

“It has nothing to do with fighting for you. If I thought that was what it would take for you to be my wife forever, then I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Don’t you get it? That is never going to work.

It doesn’t matter that we’re married. He will just get rid of me to free you up again.

I know your father. I’ve witnessed his brutality firsthand.

Buried the bodies for him. Lani…please, we need to fix this. ”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m not a mistake that needs to be fixed.”

“No, you’re not. Nothing about you is a mistake. But I’ll never be worthy enough to call you my wife. Now, please, can we end this madness? Where did we get married? I’ll go talk to them.”

Lani just stared, making me squirm. She’d always had that effect on me, like she had the power to hijack my ability to think properly.

“Goran, if you try to undo our marriage, I will personally tell my father you fucked me in the stables.”

Kaylani took a step toward me, and I swallowed hard.

“On the floor behind the bar in the den,” she said, moving closer.

I stood taller, but it felt like she was lifting a gun to my head.

“On the counter in the kitchen. In the shower. In my bed…and yours. In my office at Mikhailov Industries, and in my horse trailer like a common whore, and every other place I can think of.”

“You wouldn’t,” I whispered.

“Oh, I would, and in extreme detail.”

We stood face-to-face, her chin held high.

“Father doesn’t get to choose who I marry.

” She poked me in the chest. “And neither do you. I won’t let men dictate the rest of my life.

That includes who I fuck, who I marry, where I live, what I do for work…

all of it. So, instead of trying to weasel out of this marriage to save your neck, start thinking of ways to get Nathaniel, Titus, and even Ronan on our side.

If you can do that, then Father will have no choice but to agree as well. ”

“That is like asking me to climb Mount Everest with no limbs and no rope.” I sighed.

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for. Do you love me?”

Oh, she was good. Rock, meet hard place.

“Yes, with everything in me.”

“Then fight for us, Goran. Stop looking for the exit and help me figure out how we can ensure my father can never rip us apart.”

Lani spun around, her hips swaying as she marched for the door.

“And for the record, I know I’m worth fighting for,” she shot over her shoulder. “Now hurry up before the food gets cold. I hate soggy waffles,” she said, before disappearing out of the bedroom.

Of course, I had to fall in love with the one girl who would drug me in order to marry me. That sounded about right for my taste in women. Now, I was officially married to the most cunning of them all.

I glanced down at the ring on my finger and hated how right it felt. I was truly in love with a psycho, and the worst part? I wasn’t any better, because no matter what I said out loud, I was never letting her go.