Chapter One
Cal
“Will you marry me?”
I swerved.
She clutched my thigh as I got the truck back into my lane.
Thank God no one was beside us.
She looked at me expectantly.
My heart beat out of my chest.
I had to pull over or we were going to wreck.
Marry Beau? Marry? Beau?
I sped a few blocks before finding an open spot on the curb.
“Beau . . .” I took off my seat belt to get some relief from the pressure in my chest, but it didn’t help.
Her fingers dug into my leg like my answer was the most important thing in the world.
I didn’t want her to marry that woman beater, Alex Davenport, but she was desperate.
“Why did you stop? We need to go to Connecticut.”
I scrubbed my forehead. “Why are we going to Connecticut?”
“There’s no waiting period after we get our marriage license. We can do this today.”
What? Today?
“Um . . . that seems impulsive.”
If she took a step back, she’d realize being shackled to me wasn’t the solution.
“I’ll pay off your debt.”
“The hell you will,” I said, my voice rising. The shock was quickly overpowered by anger. “I don’t need your money.”
“I have so much it doesn’t matter,” she said insistently.
Must be nice to never worry about where each dollar went.
“I. Don’t. Need. Your. Money.”
The truth was, I could use it. But I wouldn’t. I’d made financial choices that I had to live with. Ones that I’d take care of. Not her.
“I just wanted to give you something too. So this deal isn’t one-sided,” she said quietly.
Stab. Stab. Stab.
Deal. Like a business deal.
“So what’s the grand plan here? Other than you wouldn’t have to marry that other son of a bitch.”
“I think if we get married, maybe I can keep my father from doing something to you.”
“You just said a second ago we can’t stop him.” I yanked on my hair.
“I have to try.”
Something about the smallness of her voice caused a fissure in my anger.
“You don’t even live in this country.”
“All the better, right? You can do what you want.”
She hadn’t grown up with an example of what marriage should be. And in her world, marriages were obviously used as transactions.
But in mine, marriage was sacred.
Ma was still devoted to Dad even though he’d been gone six years. My brothers loved their wives. My grandparents had been devoted, no matter that they bickered like they had been born to argue.
Your brother’s wife cheated on him with his best friend and got knocked up.
Well, it was supposed to be sacred.
“I don’t want to be married to someone who lives on the other side of the world.”
Her face brightened. “If that’s a deal breaker, I’ll move back. Now can we go to Connecticut?”
“I didn’t say yes.”
In my wildest imagination, I never pictured a woman asking me to marry her. And I sure as hell didn’t think that woman would be Beau.
“If you’ll just drive, by the time we get there, you’ll agree.”
In the old days, she was right. No wasn’t a word I said to her. Ever.
Replacing one groom with another wasn’t a solution. I wasn’t even sure it was a temporary fix.
Beau was handing me everything I’d ever wanted.
Except she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with me. I was just an easy target.
“I’m sorry, baby sister. But I can’t do it.”
Her shoulders drooped. I couldn’t stand the defeat in her posture, but she’d realize I was right.
“I can’t marry him,” she whispered.
“But that’s not a good enough reason for you to marry me.”
She dropped her chin to her chest and fiddled with her gold chain. Then she pulled down the visor and flipped open the mirror.
She used her phone as a light to rub the makeup off her jaw.
Every bruise revealed was like a gut punch.
She glared at her reflection, as if she were furious with herself for ever letting that happen.
“It’s not your fault.”
I hoped she heard me. Believed me.
“But if I walk down that aisle, when it happens again, it will be.”
Damn it.
No. It would be mine. Because she’d asked me to help her. She wouldn’t do that again. And next time, it could be broken bones. Violence impossible to hide, given he’d left bruises before they married. And if he raped her?
A marriage license wasn’t a right to her body, but I doubted Alex Davenport cared about that.
The image of her screaming, trying to fight him off, clawed at me.
You can stop it. You can make sure he never touches her again. And not just by breaking every bone in his hand.
“How long does it take to get to Connecticut?”
Chapter Two
Beau
My hand shook as I signed the marriage license.
Cal saw it.
And I couldn’t stand that he’d seen yet another moment of my weakness. As much as I wanted to claim it was anger that shuddered through my body because I was forced to get married, even if wasn’t to my father’s pick, I couldn’t. I was mad. But these were straight-up nerves.
The jolt of pain through my arm was a reminder of why I had to do this. I didn’t want to marry Cal, and he didn’t want to marry me. At least this way, I wasn’t losing control of my life. I was choosing Cal.
He may have caused me emotional hurt many years ago, but he’d never hurt me physically. I hoped we could find a way to cohabitate where we were nothing more than roommates until we could untangle ourselves.
Damn it. We had no prenup. And there wasn’t time. But between spending one second with Alex as his wife or giving up at least half of what I had to Cal to keep that from happening . . . I’d gladly give it all to Cal. Gladly might be a bit strong, but the alternative was far worse.
When I passed the paper to Cal, I hadn’t regained control of my physical reaction. To make matters worse, he felt my fingers tremble when he took the pen. He signed his name confidently. Because nothing rattled him. Nothing.
He was meant to be a fireman. Not many people could face danger without blinking.
And I didn’t know anyone who could run on as little sleep and still look devastating.
I hated I noticed how his muscles stretched his long-sleeved T-shirt. How his jeans hung low on his hips in just the right way. How he probably hadn’t brushed his dark hair in a day and it looked perfectly mussed.
I hated how I pressed my legs together, knowing just how that stubble felt against my thighs. How after everything we’d been through, I couldn’t turn off the physical desire I had for him.
“Congratulations.” The official gave Cal the completed marriage license. “May you have a lifetime of happiness.”
I just wanted to survive.
And that made me angry all over again. Maybe my life hadn’t been my own, but I’d made the most of it. This was like trying to be shoved into a box that was welded shut.