“Who said there’s going to be a next wedding?This is forever, pal.The institution of marriage is sacred.”I couldn’t get through the entire statement without laughing.“We’ve all seen marriages based around so-called love that lasted about five minutes, and we’ve all seen couples who live their own lives but make it work in the public eye.”
“That’s a good point.”Still, there was a gleam in Lex’s eye.“Married.Now I’ve seen everything.”
They could have all the fun they wanted.A year ago, if any of them had come to me and announced they were getting married to a complete stranger, I might have laughed until I fell out of my chair.Then, I would’ve made it my personal mission to continue busting their balls over being stuck married to someone they didn’t know or want anything to do with.
It was different on this side of things.
I would play along with whatever Alessandro wanted because playing along meant meeting my goal.If only I were sure Mira would hold up her end of things.She said she would, but showing up for the ceremony and going through with it was another story.
Her love of work would be what made her fall in line.She had earned my respect when I found her in that ballroom, folding napkins like a minimum-wage employee doing grunt work.There was nothing about her that would have given anyone the idea she was important, that it was her devotion that made it possible for the people clocking in and out to get paid.
She was committed.
So was I.
We had that much in common, and marriages had been built on a lot less.
* * *
Once I reached the house,I savored the silence of my living room, knowing it wouldn’t be this way forever.The entire east wing had been prepared for my wife, her belongings sent over yesterday, and boxes distributed under her watchful eye.She would have her own bedroom, full bath, an office, plus extra rooms she could use as she liked.
I went to my office in the west wing, a room adjoining my bedroom and positioned across from my home gym.It had been a long day, mostly spent with my lawyers, hammering out every detail of the marriage contract.A contract that I now reviewed after sitting at my desk and flipping on the lamp beside my MacBook.
No, there was nothing there about requiring a child, only that I had to be open to the idea.I had a feeling Mira would feel the way I did.She wouldn’t have time for kids, working as hard as she did, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to slow down once there was a ring on her finger.I wouldn’t allow it.
When I imagined her here, though, and I pictured those juicy, soft lips of hers—along with the rest of her full body—I couldn’t help but wonder how much fun it would be to try for an heir with her.My dick liked the idea, swelling when I imagined Mira here in my office—under the desk, on her knees, using that mouth of hers for something besides being a smart-ass.
Having a ring on my finger and our signatures on a license would test the strength of my self-control, not to mention my decency.I couldn’t use our whirlwind union as a reason to get naked and christen every room of the house.
My fists clenched while my dick throbbed.Either way, I sliced it, I was going to need a shit ton of self-control.Good thing I’d have ten new hotels to comfort me when the going got tough.
6
MIRA
This was absurd.
Never in my whole life had I imagined anything like this—facing my reflection in a mirror above a sink in a public restroom, touching up my lip gloss, forcing myself through every breath I took.
My wedding day.What a fucking joke.
Papa and Clay would be waiting for me outside the registrar’s office down the hall from the restroom I had ducked into as a last-second refuge.I was doing what I needed to for my future and to protect what Papa had built.
To protect him too.I had spent so much of my life taking care of not only his business but of him as well.It was second nature now.Nobody had to tell me his health wasn’t what it used to be—even today, a day he had been looking forward to for the past week, he seemed tired.Wiped out.Did he know something I didn’t?Was that why he was determined to marry me off?
Or was I seeing what I wanted to because it meant making an excuse for him?
I’d been doing it just about all my life.He didn’t mean to miss my school play, my assembly, or the awards ceremony, where I received no fewer than five certificates for my academic achievements that year.Hell, half of the reason I got started in the family business in the first place was to spend a little time with him.It just so happened I fell in love with the work, the people—all of it.
Now, it was that love pushing me to square my shoulders, to brush a piece of lint off the lapel of my cream, vintage Chanel suit, and march out of the ladies’ room like I was going into battle.It was only a signature on a piece of paper.It didn’t mean anything.
It wasn’t so easy to remind myself of that once I caught sight of Papa’s expectant smile when he saw me approaching.“Cara Mia,” he murmured, extending his hands to clasp mine.“You look so beautiful.”
“Thank you, Papa.”It wasn’t supposed to be like this.We were supposed to be clasping hands and sharing a touching moment in the front vestibule of the church or the hallway outside the ballroom where my wedding would take place.Instead, we were in City Hall, passed in both directions by employees and lost visitors.Somewhere down the hall, a clerk had left a coffee pot on the hot plate for too long, and the acrid odor of burnt coffee hung in the air.What a memorable day this was shaping up to be.
“Oh,cara mia…” He sighed.“I know you are unhappy today.You have always been the finest daughter a man could ask for.You have done everything you possibly could to keep your papa happy and to look after me.Let me look after you now.”
“Papa, is that what you think you need to do?”I squeezed his hands tighter, forgetting my bitterness for a second.“You don’t know by now that I can take care of myself?”
