Our Little Secret by Rachael Stewart (free ebook novel txt) 📕

And focus, Rafael.

‘Her bed?’ I prompt.

She chews the corner of her lip again, her eyes working hard to steer clear of me now. ‘Well, I don’t think it’s the size of her bed as such, more the fact that she seems quite put out at having to sleep there alone...you know...’ She gives me a quick look. ‘No plus one?’

‘Her and me both.’ I smile slightly. ‘I’m sure she can survive.’

‘Well, yes... I don’t feel the need to parade a man around with me this week either, but she’s the mother of the bride. Maybe she feels like she ought to have someone.’

‘She’ll have her mother and her sister, our cousins, the family.’

‘Yes, the family.’ She pulls the slightest face. ‘Only, I thought...’

‘You thought?’

She lifts her chin a little. ‘I get the impression that she doesn’t get along with them...not all that well, anyway.’

‘And that is her own fault,’ I say. She’ll hear no sympathy from me. ‘If she made an effort once in a while, actually cared about someone other than herself, then maybe things would be different.’

Faye’s eyebrows almost touch the ceiling. I know how I sound: hard, unyielding.

And, again, I’ve revealed far too much.

‘What I mean is...’ I try again. ‘She will be surrounded by family, and isn’t that what weddings are supposed to be about?’

‘Family and loved ones aren’t necessarily the same thing.’ Her eyes are hooked on mine, probing deep, exposing. ‘I just think that maybe it would help her relax if she was able to have a friend, perhaps. Dani just wants her guests to be happy. She’s no bridezilla, but she does have an ideal in her head, which surely includes her mother being happy. And I know she wouldn’t mind if your mother were to have someone; in fact, she expected her to bring—’

‘I rejected him.’

Her brows are up at the ceiling again. ‘You rejected him?’

‘He’s younger than Dani, Faye, so yes, I refused to let him join us.’

‘He...what?’ Her eyes almost pop out of their sockets but then she shakes her head and swiftly recovers. ‘Right, well, perhaps if she was to invite someone less...contentious...surely that—?’

‘No,’ I snap, my anger quick to fire in the face of Marianna. ‘My mother doesn’t get to bring someone. She doesn’t get to have everyone running around making her happy. This week isn’t about her and her petty antics. This is Dani’s week and, as much as I think the whole wedding a foolish stunt, I—’

‘Foolish?’ she interjects, her frown severe in the face of my sudden anger. ‘You mean to say you still don’t approve?’

Her crystal-blue eyes narrow further and I can see her concern, see her love for my sister and her desperate desire for this week to go well, all in that one look. I can also see her concern that I’m not the wedding’s greatest fan. I put that look there.

I press away from the table and close the distance between us. I don’t think about my intention until my fingers are beneath her chin, tilting her face up.

Her eyes widen onto mine, the move surprising her just as much as it does me.

‘Scusi, bella.’ It comes out so much softer than I intended, but this close I can’t draw a full breath. Everything seems to catch and ignite—the air around us, between us, inside me. ‘My family brings out the worst in me.’

Her lashes flutter as she inhales softly. ‘But it also brings out the best.’

Her reassurance is a whisper and I know she’s speaking of my grand gesture, my purchase of the venue itself. I fight the urge to run my thumb over her lower lip, to feel her appreciation in the warmth of a kiss, to caress her cheek, to comb my fingers back through her hair that flows so freely around her. And then I realise that she’s freed it from the ponytail it was in outside. Is it a sign? Is it a physical move for what she wants deep down? To let go and give this desire between us free rein...?

‘I think Dani’s hoping this week will go some way to healing your fractured family, Rafael.’

Rafael. I love my name on her English tongue. It’s enough to ease the burden of her words.

‘And if I can help to smooth the way a little, please use me, please tell me what I can do.’

I want her to do so much, but none of it revolves around making the wedding a success, healing my family or the greater good. None at all.

‘Our priorities are the same, Faye.’ I feel the connection pulse in the air between us, holding us captive, but I need the first move to be hers. She has to drive this. We’re in my room, my domain, because I asked her to come here. The rest has to be driven by her.

‘Are they?’ She doesn’t look as though she believes me, and it goads me, regardless of how close to the truth she is.

‘Si.’ I nod. She has to understand that I love my sister, regardless of my mother and the anger that exists. Regardless of how much I loathe marriage. I want Dani and Tyler to be happy. ‘We both want this week to be about Dani and Tyler; we want it to be perfect for them. How I feel towards my mother and weddings in general doesn’t come into it. I want them to be happy.’

She gives a relieved sigh—or is it more wistful, dream-like? ‘Yes, that’s exactly what I want too.’

‘No blunders, no disruption, no family fallouts.’

‘Yes.’

‘You clearly know my family well enough to realise it won’t be easy, that they’ll need constant watching over...taming, even.’

She gives a sympathetic smile, her shrug small. ‘Families are never easy; even the strongest ones have their moments.’

‘Be that as it may, it will take effort on our part. We can’t afford to be...distracted.’

She frowns. ‘Distracted?’

‘Si, by this...’ I gesture between us, my eyes resting a beat too long on the nervous pulse