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I tried to pull my feet away, but he gripped them tight.

“We can’t pretend the last four months didn’t happen.”

“I can’t change the past, Sami. It’s time to focus on our future.”

I pushed out of his hold and sat up. “I’m not doing this again. I’m not going to sweep it under the rug. I want it all, Devin James Camden, or nothing. I’ll never be your dirty little secret again.”

“I’ve never thought of you that way.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Your parents don’t know anything about me, except that I am your sister’s best friend from law school. I get that they wanted you to marry someone from their social circle in Louisiana but did you ever think it was the same for me?”

I stood and paced, then paused to watch the flames of the fire.

My father expected me to pick someone out of an approved list of men who had an impeccable pedigree and affluent family. A man who came from the same culture and background. I’d accepted the traditional plan for my life until the day I’d met my roommate’s brother. Devin rocked my acceptance of family rules and traditions to the core. For him, I turned my back on everything I ever knew.

“I told them.”

I whirled around to face him, not believing what he said.

“What did you tell them? Do they know we’re married? Or am I some girl you’re seeing?”

“They know you’re my wife. Dad said they knew before I ever decided to tell them.”

There was only one person I could think of who would get pleasure from revealing our secret.

“Papa told them.”

Devin nodded. “Apparently they’ve known since right after our honeymoon.”

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t your parents say anything?”

“Because our fathers thought we were going through a phase and would break up. They were hoping we’d get an annulment so everyone could pretend we didn’t exist.” There was a tinge of anger in his words.

“I don’t believe either of our mothers was involved. My mom has been my buffer since Papa found out we were dating. And yours has been kind to me from the beginning when Jacinta and I were roommates in law school. To this day, she calls me every week to check up on me and hear about the escapades of my clients.”

“I didn’t know she did that.”

“Dev. We’ve barely spent any time together in the last year and a half. And when we are together, we’re arguing, or we’re…” I trailed off and faced the fire.

He finished my statement. “Fucking.”

I nodded.

The need for him lingered constantly.

“Why did you decide now was the time to tell your parents?”

“After you kicked me off the property last week I did a lot of thinking. I know you moved to Seattle and retook the bar for me. You did a lot for me over the years. Sami, I never wanted you to feel you were second to what I wanted.”

Devin stood, moving behind me, and then gripped my shoulders, pulling me back against his chest.

I wanted to relax into his hold, but I held myself stiff.

“I was second. I’ve never been a priority for you. If I were important, you would never have let me go to functions and parties with someone else or have taken another woman out for the image of it, and most of all you would have had me standing next to you when you were sworn in.”

“That’s not fair. I never did anything with any of them. You’re the one I’d come and lose myself in.”

I shoved out of his arms.