“I kissed Vivian over Thanksgiving.”Willingly.Of my own accord.
We’d done more than that, but I sure as fuck wasn’t discussing our sex life with Kai.
The engagement photoshoot kiss had been forced. Bali had been…hell, I didn’t know what Bali had been other than a mind fuck.
Vivian had been asleep or pretending to be asleep after I got out of the shower, and we’d avoided discussing what happened in the week since. She probably thought I’d rejected her for whatever reason, and I was too disconcerted to correct her.
Kai gave me a strange look. “You kissed your fiancée. So what?”
Fuck.The kiss had screwed me up so much I’d forgotten he didn’t know I despised her family.
To him, our engagement was business, but most arranged marriages still involved physical intimacy before the wedding. If not sex, then at least something as simple as a kiss.
“It was different this time.”
I shouldn’t have done it. The kiss, opening up about my family, all of it. Yet I did it anyway.
Somehow, someway, Vivian Lau had burrowed under my skin, and I didn’t know how to get her out without losing a piece of myself in the process.
A knowing glint passed through Kai’s eyes. “Mixing business with pleasure. It’s about time.”
“Look who’s talking.” Kai’s idea of fun was translating academic texts into Latin for no reason other than he was a showoff and bored as hell.
“What can I say? I prefer the company of words to people. Except for you, of course.”
“Of course.” He was so full of bullshit.
He laughed. “Cheer up, Russo. Liking your fiancée isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Maybe not in his world. But it was in mine.
My efforts to avoid Vivian disintegrated when I returned home and promptly ran into her in the foyer.
“Oh my God. What happened?” Her horrified expression confirmed what I already knew—I looked like a mess.
And if I had any lingering doubts, the mirror hanging opposite the front door smashed them into smithereens.
Bruised jaw. Blackening eye. A cut over my brow.
Thank fuck I didn’t have a board meeting in the next two weeks.
“Kai.” I removed my coat and hung it on the brass tree. My tone was indifferent, but an unsettling warmth unfurled behind my ribs at her concern.
Vivian’s brows pulled together. “Kai hit you? He doesn’t seem like the type. He’s usually so calm and…nice.”
Just like that, the warmth turned into annoyance.
“I told you, he’s not as nice as he seems,” I said in a clipped voice. “But to clarify, we sometimes blow off steam by boxing. He happened to land more hits today since I was…distracted.”
Thinking about you.
“You box for fun.” Vivian set the vase of flowers in her arms on the marble side table. “That makes so much sense.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you have a temper.” She straightened the stems, oblivious to my scowl. “I’m sure boxing helps, but have you ever thought about anger management classes?” A teasing note ran beneath her voice.
“I don’t need anger management classes,” I growled. First, she was the reason Kai got the upper hand in the ring. Now, she was insulting me? “I’m in full control of—” I broke off at her laugh. Realization dawned. “You’re teasing me.”