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Except now I’m holding Georgia’s hand, entering the luxury suite we all co-own as her husband, and I don’t want to be here. The rational part of me knows I shouldn’t feel guilty. I stepped in when Georgia needed me. I married her, and now I’m not only thrust into a media circus as a headlining performer—something I hate being—but I’m also about to embark on a dangerous hacking game.
I will protect her. I will keep her safe.
So I shouldn’t feel guilty. Not at all.
But after spending the night inside Georgia’s body, and the day touching and teasing and tormenting each other, I’m once again realizing I don’t want to stare into Zax’s eyes and have him see beneath my facade of emotional indifference.
Fallon had the brilliant idea of letting the world see us out in the open in public. Fallon is an heiress herself and dodged her own arranged marriage before running off with Grey, so this isn’t unfamiliar territory to her. And while I agree with it on principle, how the fuck am I supposed to kiss her and hold her and touch her for the cameras under the guise of it all being one hundred percent fake, and not have Zax see right through me?
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. and Mrs. Georgia Monroe.” Asher, wearing his game gear including pads and cleats, grabs me and hauls me in for a big hug, and then does the same with Georgia.
Fucking Asher.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on the field?” The game is set to start in about thirty minutes.
He gives me an incredulous look. “And miss the chance to be the first to congratulate you and officially welcome you to the Our Women Own Our Balls Club? Pfshaw. Never. But now that I got my moment, I do have to go.” He smacks my shoulder. “You know, I didn’t think you’d take my trying to set you up to the next level so fast, but I suppose it’s fate that you became a Monroe.”
I roll my eyes, but I’ll never be able to stop myself from smiling. “I hope you get sacked on your first play.”
“Thanks, Thor. You know we could use an offensive lineman since Bruno got hurt, but now that I know you’d let the defensive end through to tackle me, I won’t present the offer.”
I extend my fist for him to pound. “Kill Miami.”
He grins at me, his gray eyes sparkling as he pounds my fist. “I plan to. See you after, brother.”
He grabs his girlfriend Wynter’s hand, and they walk out of the suite since she’s the team orthopedic surgeon. It’s actually how they reconnected after a bad one-night stand nearly two years prior that left Wynter with their son, Mason, and no clue who Asher was or how to contact him.
Zax steps right in front of me and pulls me in for a bro hug, and the sinking weight of I’m an asshole hits me. When he first wanted to start dating Suzie, he asked my permission and promised to never hurt her. He kept that promise as well as being respectful as fuck to our friendship.
I, in turn, did not extend the same courtesy or promise when I fucked his cousin behind his back and then broke her heart. The night this all began, Aurelia mentioned Georgia’s name when everyone was teasing me about setting me up with someone. Both of them said no, and I don’t have to guess why. I promised to stay away from her. Hell, I promised I’d never see her again, and now here I am.
Both before her and after her, I haven’t had relationships. I never sleep with a woman more than once. The hacker in me doesn’t trust anyone. I do heavy, hard, illegal shit and live a mostly isolated life. And frankly, I’ve had no desire to open myself or my life up to anyone.
She’s the only one who has ever managed to break through, and she didn’t just crack my shell, she shattered it. Georgia is sunshine, and I am the darkness that creeps in before the storm.
Georgia launches herself at Zax, jumping up into his arms and giving him a death squeeze that makes him laugh. “You’re heavy,” he lies teasingly, and she leans back and smacks his shoulders.
“Or more like old age is finally starting to creep in and you’re weak,” she counters, planting a ruby-red kiss on his cheek before hopping down and doing the same thing to Greyson and then hugging Callan, Aurelia, Fallon, and Layla. Fallon is Grey’s woman, and Layla is Callan’s.
“When do you go home?” Grey questions once we’re all seated watching the game. Georgia is sitting beside me, my hand on her knee, simply resting there. She’s busy chatting with the rest of the women.
By home, Grey means Maine, and we can’t get into too many specifics here in the booth. There are cameras sporadically trained on us, not to mention the suite attendants who come and go with regular frequency.
“Tomorrow or the next day,” I answer, sipping a beer and watching the field as the Rebels defense tries to keep Miami out of the red zone.
He’s smiling. Grey hasn’t stopped smiling once. “You know you’re officially something like my brother now.”
“Like he hasn’t always been?” Callan quips, devouring a huge plate of dip and chips, mini lobster rolls, buffalo wings, and pretzel bites. “Like when Zax was with Suzie, that didn’t seal the deal?”
“I know, but… he’s actually married to Georgia. Fake or not, that does make us family beyond us already being family. It’s next level.”
Zax makes a noise, and Grey shrugs at him. “What? Don’t give me that look. I know what you’re thinking, but tell me any other situation you would have been happy with.”
Zax takes a sip of his bourbon and looks directly at me. “None. I wouldn’t have been happy with anyone else doing this.”
“But?” I challenge, and he angles his head as if to say, do I need to go there? He doesn’t. I got the message loud and clear when I first told him what was going on, and he has every right to call me out on it now. I would if I were him. If it had been Suzie, you better fucking believe I’d call him out on it.
“What am I missing?” Callan asks.
