Page 16 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Ten minutes later, she was patting together ground beef for burgers and unwrapping a package of Coney Island’s best dogs. Outside, Kade was heating the grill, keeping an eye on Rosa, who threw ball after ball for Smoke to retrieve. Laia could only imagine how sticky and wet with dog slobber her daughter’s hands were.

Using a long-handled wire brush, Kade scraped the grill plates, and as he did, the gray T-shirt he’d changed into put his rippling biceps on full display. The man looked as good in jeans and a plain T-shirt as he did in a tuxedo. Still scraping, he pulled the phone clipped to his belt and held it to his ear.

If only she wasn’t still attracted to him this strongly. Or better yet, not at all. Sure, when she’d seen him standing in front of that elevator it had been impossible not to notice how tall he was, or how he filled out his suit jacket, and when he’d turned around…wow. But it wasn’t just his handsome face or his physique.

When the elevator had broken down between floors, he’d made her laugh, a tough thing to do, given the situation. Then it turned out they had so much in common, and she’d loved talking with him so much that she wished they could have been stuck there together for days. But she’d made a commitment, a promise she’d sworn to honor. She still remembered the emotional turmoil of her wedding day. When she’d nearly faltered.

“Do you, Laia Maria Velez, take this man, Joshua Christopher Sampson, to be your husband? To love, honor, and cherish him for the rest of your days?” the officiant had asked.

First, Laia had glanced at her mother sitting in the first row. Her mom strongly supported the marriage, and when Laia had expressed her reluctance, her mother wouldn’t hear of it. Given the secret she’d been keeping, marrying Josh was the financially prudent and Catholic thing to do, she’d said.

After Millie Velez had sent her a firmly encouraging nod, Laia had looked up and locked gazes with Kade’s beautiful, pain-filled hazel eyes and in that split second imagined things differently.

A future with Kade, not Josh.

All she’d had to do was give in to the truth in her aching heart and walk off the altar, but that wouldn’t have changed anything. There was no way she and Kade could ever have the future she’d dreamed about every night since they met right up to her wedding day.

So she’d said the words everyone expected her to say: I do.

As if that hadn’t been difficult enough, later, Kade had taken her aside during the reception. He’d known something wasn’t right, and he’d asked if he’d done something wrong.

“Don’t ever think that,” she’d said, making the fatal mistake of clasping his hand. Touching him again was like being connected to a wire that lit up her body so intensely she felt it right down to the very marrow of her bones.

When she didn’t—no, couldn’t—respond, not honestly, anyway, to Kade’s question about feeling something for him, the tone of the conversation had changed. Drastically. Then Kade had warned her not to hurt his brother. Whatever emotions were whipping back and forth between them must have shown on their faces when Josh had caught them talking. When Kade stalked off, Josh glared at his receding back.

“Kade’s just jealous because I have you.” Josh’s eyes softened as he faced her. “To love, honor, and cherish for the rest of our days.” He took her into his arms, and she squeezed back the tears.

Laia stared at the hamburger patty in her hand, blinking back the unexpected sting behind her eyes. She had honored Josh. Since marrying him, she hadn’t been with another man. In fact, she’d rarely been intimate with Josh after Rosa was born. But had she ever cherished him? Perhaps, but not in the way he needed or wanted her to. Had she ever loved him?

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Josh had been so incredibly in love with her, and she ought to have felt lucky. She’d tried, really tried, to love him back with the same passion and fervor. Eventually, she’d come to love him as the father of her child. That, at least, had been genuine, but the guilt haunted her.

Laia hung her head, wishing she’d been stronger back then, more independent. But there was no going back. On their wedding day, she’d done them both a disservice because she’d been unfaithful in her heart.

She lifted her head to see Kade, Rosa, and Smoke at the fence, talking to a very tall, very pretty woman with blond hair so long it grazed the top of her ass. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the woman’s body language spoke loudly enough for Laia to understand every word.

She wants him.

The woman touched Kade’s forearm and laughed at something he said. He picked Rosa up and sat her on his shoulders. The woman had legs a mile long and wore a pair of red shorts that barely concealed the high, tight globes of her perfect backside. Again, she reached over the fence, this time dragging a finger down the center of Kade’s chest.

Irrational jealousy speared her gut as she watched that finger go lower and lower… She picked up the plate of burgers and dogs, then went onto the deck, setting the plate down with more force than necessary. All heads turned in her direction.

“Laia.” Kade waved her over.

Did she want to meet the woman Kade was sleeping with? Probably not. Not really. Make that an emphatic never. She had no illusions that he’d been celibate all these years, but meeting one of his harem was so not at the top of her list.

“Laia,” Kade repeated, waving more emphatically.

“Mommy, come say hi.” Rosa’s face beamed. Already, her daughter was a social butterfly and not just with dogs.

Laia had lost count of how many times she’d caught Rosa answering her cell phone. Or how many times she’d tried calling Pizza Man herself to order pineapple pizza.

Here goes. Smoothing down her wrinkled shirt and shorts, she walked to the fence.

“This is my neighbor, Ashley,” Kade said. “Ashley, this is my sister-in-law, Laia.”

Good manners prevailed, and Laia extended her hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you.” Ashley had to be pushing six feet tall, and Laia had to look up to meet the woman’s perfect complexion, perfect eyebrows, and perfect nose. Norse princess, was all Laia could think. Along with how dowdy she must look in her filthy beach shorts and tank.

“Nice to meet you, as well.” Ashley’s smile broadened, revealing exceptionally straight white teeth. God, wasn’t there anything imperfect about her? Not that Laia could see. The more she gawked, the more familiar the woman looked.