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“Grace Snow,” she concedes.
I know that name, but I don’t see how the nurse from The Quest is significant.
She clears her throat. “Lucy Snow was my best friend. Grace is her sister.”
“What are we protecting Grace from?”
I don’t like the way her eyes glisten with tears, but I ignore the wet shadow.
“Heartbreak.”
My bottom lip tips out. That’s a very Sia way of thinking, protecting a heart that is not hers to claim or give.
“CJ asked me to marry him,” she says, even though I already know this. “Marrying my stepson seemed incredibly unsavory, but Salvatore didn’t care. Nor did CJ.”
I can appreciate her apprehension, but it’s still not enough for her to deny CJ.
“How does Grace fit into this proposal?”
“She’s in love with CJ.”
This whole situation is fucking absurd.
I rub my eyes, working to relieve the steadily growing headache. “Let me get this straight…you denied a proposal from a billionaire bachelor that could have saved you the reality of marrying some decrepit old fuck because your friend Grace has a crush on CJ, and her feelingsmightbe hurt.”
“Wouldbe hurt, and it's not a crush. She’s in love with him.”
Sia’s eyes fall to my computer, and her chin wobbles, but she keeps her head high. “What are you doing, Diego?”
It’s not a simple question. There is no innocent curiosity in her tone. It’s an outright accusation—a panicked rush of words that has me sitting up straighter.
“This is fucking with my head, Sia. I never wanted to be married. Yet here I am, and the stupidest fucking part of the whole situation is that it’s starting to feelright.I miss you when I’m not with you, and not in the fucking obsessive way I used to long to look at you on a screen. I miss making you laugh and seeing you smile. I miss seeing you when I talk to you because I like watching the way your lips move. Hearing your voice isn’t enough for me anymore. I want to touch you before I go to bed at night instead of listening to you yawn and say good night over a fucking phone call. I want to be able to wake you up with my hands on your body, my lips on yours, and my cock buried deep inside you instead of fucking my fist from a memory I have to waitdaysto become a reality again.”
She stares at me blankly.
“Feelings are involved,” I say more simply. “But I need to protect myself against whatever the fuck you’re hiding.”
“I’mprotecting you. Iprotectedyou.”
Silence befalls the house, and Sia stops breathing.
“Me?” I question, shock lacerating up my spine. “I’m the other person you’re protecting? From who?”
“Grace was my best friend Lucy’s sister.” She ignores me. “Her sister died, and that’s enough loss for one person. I won’t take her chance of happiness away.”
I stand, throwing a cushion across the room in frustration. “Another fucking lie.”
“It’s not a lie,” she implores.
“I’m smarter than you seem to think. Is that why you chose me? It had nothing to do withmeorus,but you believed me to be imbecilic enough that I would never ask questions, that I’d never look for answers? I knew enough about you even back then to know that you chose me for a reason. Tell me what that reason is.”
“I’ve never thought you were imbecilic. I told you, Diego, marrying you, pretending I loved you was the only way I could think to protect you.”
“Against what? Against who?”
“I haven’t lied to you. You have to believe me.” She moves closer, pushing her hands against my chest, her eyes wide as she begs me to swallow her lies. “I might not be able to give you the whole truth, but I haven’t lied to you, Diego.”
I hate this part of her. I hate how easy it is for her to lie. Her untruths roll off her tongue without a blink of hesitation.
