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“Except we have to pretend to bemorethan friends.”
I might not have any idea how to appear in love—fact is, I’ve never seen it in the flesh. Not with my parents. Not with any relationship I’ve ever been involved in. I thought, for a moment, that Imighthave seen it with Marc and Lily.
Pretending to be head over heels inlusthowever... Now that I can do. And isn’t that a mark of the newly engaged? They can’t keep their hands off one another.
Given Ava’s plush lips, unusual eyes and wicked curves, she may as well have been made precisely to trigger my desires. Which is a good thing for our act, and troublesome for my sanity behind closed doors. Perhaps burying myself in this new CEO role to the exclusion of literally everything else for the past twelve months wasn’t as smart as I’d thought. Because now it’s hard to look at Ava without my mind wandering to what’s hiding under that wispy little dress.
“Only while people are watching,” I reply, as much for my own benefit as for hers.
“So what’s the plan for today?” she asks.
“We’ve got the afternoon to ourselves, so you can settle in and I’ll get some work done. Then it’s dinner with my family.”
“Thewholefamily?” she asks. “I thought we only needed to convince your brother.”
It would have been easier if it was just Marc. But no, my mother has gone into full mama-bear mode. Formidable as she is, her sons are her whole world. Our fighting must be killing her inside, because she instilled in us both from a young age how important it was that we take care of one another. But Marc won’t let go of the rumours unlesshebelieves nothing happened.
No amount of matriarchal interference will change his mind.
“My mother will be there, as will Lily. It’ll be better with a bit of a buffer between me and Marc, anyway.”
It’s sad that our relationship has come to this—we were so close as kids. Now everything is splintered. Fractured.
“No time like the present, I guess,” Ava says, clapping her hands together. “Rip it off like a Band-Aid.”
“Do you normally spout colloquialisms when you’re nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.” Her tone is indignant.
“Do you normally lie when you’re nervous?” I shoot her a sidelong glance and she frowns, her brows furrowing above an adorably pert nose.
“I feel like you’re going to talk circles around me,” she mutters, turning her face to the window as the world rushes by. “What if your family hates me?”
“It doesn’t matter if they hate you. They only need to believe you.”
“Don’t you care?” She turns and tilts her head, her warm eyes assessing with laser-like focus. She’s a woman who could see too much. Get too close.
But my desire to keep people at arm’s length has had years to set down roots, to grow strong. Watching my mother fall apart at the seams while my father stomped on their vows by fucking his way around the world solidified my need to protect myself. Watching her cry and beg him to come back after all he’d done... Well, that showed me one important thing.
Love makes you weak.
“If my own brother can accuse me of having an affair with his wife, then why should I care about his opinion? Clearly, he knows nothing about me.” I force myself to pause and take a breath. My head might be swirling but I need to keep my focus. I have a job to do and I want it done as quickly as possible. “I need to fix this before it does any more damage to my company.”
“To your company.” Ava bobs her head. “Interesting choice of words.”
Her comment rankles, because I havealwayscared about my family. I spent my whole bloody childhood shielding Marc from the demise of our parents’ relationship—distracting him with endless games of soccer in our street while my parents screamed at one another inside. It’s the reasonhestill believes in marriage and love...at least, until recently.
The thought of having to face my brother after his accusation makes me feel hollowed out. What happened to the happy-go-lucky guy who was my sidekick from the day he was born?
Maybe Marc is sick of being your sidekick.
I thought we had a good thing going. I took care of the broader company strategy and set the new direction and he applied his brilliant mind to the numbers. We need both sets of skills—my big-picture approach and Marc’s intense eye for detail.
And without him, our acquisition of Livingstone Spas is on shaky ground. The small boutique spa company has properties scattered along desirable portions of Australia’s east coast, and it’s a core part of my strategy to get Moretti Enterprises a foothold in the luxury wellness market.
But Marc is close with Henry Livingstone. If he decides to get in Henry’s ear about the “affair,” then... I can kiss this acquisition goodbye.
Ava stares at me, clearly waiting for a response while my mind is still spinning.
