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Chapter Ten

JOSHUA

“I think you should consider divorce.” Grady clasps his hands together behind his back as we leave the garden and turn back toward the house.

“I came here to talk about business. I don’t want to talk about my marriage status because that isn’t changing. I love my wife and as great a woman as Emily might be, I won’t be leaving Skyla for her. Not now, not ever.”

He pulls a cigarette from his pocket and lights it, stuffing it between his lips. He holds the box out to me as he shakes his head. “I think you’re making a mistake.”

“I would respectfully disagree with you.”

“You’re young. You don’t know what a good marriage looks like. You don’t even know what a good woman looks like. At your age, I was confused too.”

“I’m thirty-six. I don’t think I’m confused about anything.”

Except whatever the hell Skyla is doing to me. And I might be hiding.

I stuff my hands in my pockets, fighting the desire to grab Grady by the neck and drown him in the pond to our left.

He’s pushing every single boundary I have, and he’s going to find himself on the wrong side of that fight if it comes down to it.

Killing my importer might be a mistake, but it would make me feel better.

I wouldn’t have to listen to him drone on and on about marrying his daughter. I wouldn’t have to pretend I care about Emily. As if I couldn’t live my entire life without ever thinking about her again.

The part I can’t quite figure out is what he stands to gain from this, beyond Emily getting off his back and onto mine.

My nails dig into my hands. “We’re having a wedding reception soon. We weren’t going to bother with one, but Skyla’s sisters were upset that we eloped without them.”

He opens the back door, and we step into the house. “Is that an invitation?”

“Of course. You’re my most important business contact and a good friend. It would be a shame to not see you and Emily there to celebrate with us.”

Grady opens the door to his study, allowing me to enter first before following behind. “Skyla wants to have Emily there, though she knows that you’re going to leave her for my daughter?”

Breathe. You can’t break the asshole’s neck without having another importer lined up.

It’s tempting, though. Far too tempting.

The snap would be loud in the otherwise silent house.

I wouldn’t get to see the fear in his eyes before he hit the ground, though. There wouldn’t be enough time for him to worry about when I was going to strike.

Emily flounces into the room, the puffy pink skirt of her dress flaring out around her. “Joshua!”

She throws herself at me, pulling me into a tight hug. She smells like a cotton candy factory exploded, even though she’s got a rich father who should buy her expensive perfume that doesn’t make everyone around her gag.

“Hi, Emily.” My voice tightens as I back away from her, trying to wriggle out of her grasp.

Her smile is wide as she finally lets go of me and drops down into one of the chairs, one leg crossing over the other.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about our wedding, and I think you would look good in a navy suit. I want to wear a blush dress. We’d have to get you a tie that matched my dress, of course, but I don’t think that would be too hard to do.”

My jaw hardens. “I’m already married, so you’re going to have to find someone else to marry.”

Emily tuts and shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

Grady nods. “You really should reconsider your stance on divorce. I would hate to see this impact our business dealings. I do like you, Joshua. I think it would be a shame to end our working relationship over something as simple as this.”

Emily pats the chair beside her as she smiles up at me.

I remain standing, unsmiling. “I think Emily would be happier with someone closer to her own age.”

Emily shakes her head, batting her eyelashes at me. “I think we would be perfect together, and I like older men. Men my own age aren’t nearly mature enough.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, closing my eyes for a moment and trying to find the strength to continue with this conversation.

“Emily, I’m a married man. I have a wife, and she’s the jealous type.”

Though, I don’t know if that’s true. Part of me thinks that Skyla would be the jealous type, and the other thinks that she’s far more likely to ice me out and pretend she doesn’t care. If she even cares to begin with. It’s hard to tell with her.

Every time I think I know where her head is at, she keeps me guessing.

And then there’s the woman in front of me who is barely out of university and thinks she knows what she wants.

Emily reaches for my hand. “We’re going to be together. You just need to come to your senses.”

I pull it out of the way.

Somebody kill me now and put me out of my misery.

“No, we’re not. I’m in love with my wife and looking forward to a life with her.

” I take a larger step away from them. “I’m with Skyla because I love her.

I’m not going to divorce her, and I’m not going to cheat on her either.

If the cost of that is going to be doing business with you, Grady, then so be it. ”

Grady eyes me as he flicks the ash off the end of the cigarette. “You’re serious.”

He takes another drag of the cigarette before letting out a slow breath.

The smoke curls toward the ceiling as he stares at me.

“Well, if this is the way you feel, I think there are going to be changes in our partnership.”

“If that’s the way you feel, then I have to respect that. The invitation for both of you to come to the reception still stands.” I take another step away from Emily as she reaches for me again.

She gives a heavy sigh and tips her head back. “Joshua, you’re making this more difficult than it has to be.”

Grady chuckles. “She’s an impatient one. We’ll be coming to the reception, though. I would like to see you with this wife of yours.”

I stare straight at him. “You don’t believe me.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands up as he rises from his chair, his eyes narrowing.

He stubs out the cigarette in the ashtray, tossing the butt in the trash. His gaze rips right through me.

“I do think you’re lying to me. You have no reason to when my daughter is sitting right here and would be more than happy to marry you.”

“I’ve been patient and understanding of whatever this agenda you keep trying to push on me is, but when I tell you that I’m married, I would suggest that you believe me. I have a wife, and I love her. That’s not going to change no matter what your opinion on her is.”

“You do realize that if I find out you’re lying to me, this is going to cost you the entire cocaine business you’re dealing in.

” Grady’s words are chosen carefully, his tone slow and deliberate.

“I think you should reconsider everything we’ve talked about.

Take some time to truly think through every angle of this and see if lying to me is worth it. ”

“I’m not lying.” I pull out my phone and bring up a picture of Skyla I took while we were unpacking. “It’s taken the better part of a year to convince her that she should move in with me, and she’s still insisting on keeping her brownstone.”

“That sounds like a marriage on the rocks.” Grady looks down at the picture before looking back up at me. “If that’s the case, then maybe you should think more about a divorce.”

I tuck the phone back into my pocket. “I married a fiercely independent woman who handles her business. She’s got a wicked mind.

She wasn’t going to settle for anything less than what she deserved, and I had to work to be that.

With all due respect, that’s the foundation of a good marriage. Not one that’s on the rocks.”

Emily crosses her arms. “She’s not pretty.”

“You’re right. She’s fucking stunning, and her mind only makes her that much more attractive.” I’m surprised when I realize none of what I said is a lie.

Emily stands and walks over to me, trailing her hand along my chest even as I try to step back.

There’s nowhere else to go, though. A bookshelf digs into my hips as Emily presses herself closer.

“Your little wife could be a problem that we get rid of together.”

I arch an eyebrow, stepping to the side. “It’s not going to happen. You need to give this up. It looks desperate, and you deserve more than chasing after a happily married man. You should have more self-respect than that.”

Grady eyes me. “You’re still going to stand here and say that you have a wife?”

“Because I do have a wife.”

Emily giggles and smooths down her skirt as she turns to face me. “Not yet, but I think an end of summer wedding sounds nice for us. The colors would look stunning with your skin tone, and it would be cool enough to have a wedding outside. We could even have Central Park shut down.”

This is insanity. These people can’t take a fucking hint.

One of these days, I’m going to have to find a way to get out of this deal. I don’t care that it’s going to cost me a lot of money. Putting up with Grady and his daughter isn’t worth it. There are other importers who won’t try to force me to marry their daughters.

Grady pulls out another cigarette and lights it. “I’m getting tired of this story you keep trying to tell us.”

“Like I said, you’re welcome to come to the reception and meet Skyla yourself. I’m sure she would love to have you there.” I sit down across from him, trying to look relaxed even though sweat is rolling down the back of my neck.

He takes a long drag. “You’ll send us an invitation to this reception.”

“I will.”

“And if we show up, your wife is going to be there? The woman you showed me in the picture. If I dig into the marriage, I’m not going to find a problem, am I?”

The marriage license.

Though, I never told him where we ran off to. I could tell him that we eloped in another country and that the paperwork is taking a long time to complete.

“No, you won’t.” I cross my arms over my chest, stretching my legs out in front of me. “The entire family is going to be there. You can meet the rest of the Lynde family as well. They’ll all tell you that the marriage is real.”

Emily snorts. “They could lie.”

“What reason would they have to lie? They’re the biggest crime family on the East Coast. They have more money than they know what to do with, and they’re more powerful than most people could imagine. They have no reason to lie.”

Grady’s lips press together in a thin line. “Fine. We will go. Now, Emily, I need to have a word with Joshua.”

She nods and leaves the room, the door shutting behind her.

The second she’s gone, I let out a deep breath and scrub a hand over my face.

The disgusting stench of her cloying perfume still lingers.

A headache forms in my temples, and I can’t wait to go home and scrub her touch from my skin.

Grady’s attention turns to me as soon as we’re alone. “If I find out you’re lying to me about anything, I’m going to kill you.”

“I’m not.”

“Then you should still consider divorce. This could only strengthen our working relationship.”

“I won’t.” I stand and look down at him. “The only way I’m going to be leaving my wife is over my dead body.”

He gives me a chilling smile. “That can be arranged.”