“What’s your definition of screwed up?” I asked after a few moments.
Her shoulders slumped, and she rested her forehead against the top of my shoulder. “I heard what your mom said. She thinks you’re marrying me because I’m pregnant.”
“I told her it wasn’t true.”
She lifted her head. Her eyes were glassy like she wanted to cry, but she had some color in her cheeks again, which was better than nothing. “Does she believe you?”
“She will eventually.” I wiped my hand over my lips. “She won’t have any choice when our engagement ends and you’re not showing.”
She stared at me for a second, and then the corner of her lips started twitching.
“What?”
Laughter burst from her lips, her back shaking beneath my fingers. “This is really funny if you think about it.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “How so?”
“She. Thinks. I’m. Pregnant,” she said between bouts of laughter.
“Yeah, so?”
“Of all the secrets we’re hiding, she comes up with a pregnancy to explain my behavior and our sudden engagement. It couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ve never touched me. Hell, you don’t even like me.”
“Oh, Evie, that’s where you’re wrong.” I traced a line from her mid-calf to her upper thigh. Her legs would be the death of me. When she came out of her room wearing this little shift dress that stopped mid-thigh, I wanted to send her back to her room to change. “I like you enough to make this situation dangerous for both of us.”
Her eyes flared. “What? I thought—”
A knock on the door interrupted her, and I fleetingly wondered whether it would be a bad thing to lock the bedroom door and rip that dress over her head. What I wouldn’t give to feel her melt beneath my fingertips and drink in her moans like a glass of Chianti Classico. I climbed off the bed, removing myself from the temptation to do exactly that.
“Come in,” I said, looking at anything other than the beautiful woman sitting on my childhood bed.
Carmela cracked open the door. “I wanted to check on Evie. How are you feeling?”
“Better. Thanks for asking.” Evie stretched out her legs and crossed her ankles. “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t eat much today, and I’ve been training really hard. I’m so embarrassed. Your family probably thinks I’m crazy.”
“Pregnant, not crazy.” Carmela laughed. “You don’t have anything you want to tell me, do you?”
“Oh my God, no.” Evie waved her hands in the air. “Please tell me you don’t believe that.”
Carmela’s lips thinned. “I don’t think you’re pregnant, but I do think you two are hiding something.”
“Carmela, don’t start with that again,” I warned.
Carmela held up her hand. “I have no intention of getting into that right now. I know neither of you will tell me anything. And besides, Dominick is waiting for you. He wants to talk to you before he takes off.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
I exited the room without looking back.
When I got downstairs, I said, “Hey, Dominick. What’s going on?” I patted him on the shoulder with one hand and shook his hand with the other.
“I have some stuff to take care of. I trust everything is okay with your girl?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Yeah. I think she was a little overwhelmed.”
“She seems like a nice girl. But let’s be frank here: she’s not one of us. She’ll never be one of us. If today showed us anything, it’s that she’ll never fit in. She’ll be a liability from today until the day she dies.”
I forced my face to remain a blank mask despite the anger surging through me. Losing my temper or lashing out at Dominick wouldn’t help Evie or me. “When have I ever done anything to jeopardize the family or you? I wouldn’t bring someone into this family who I didn’t trust. Who I didn’t think would be an asset.”
“I know, I know, but have you thought this through? From what I heard, she wants to be an actress on Broadway. With any luck, she’ll reach some level of notoriety. Then you know what happens?” He lifted his hands, his ruby ring glinting off the overhead light of the chandelier. “People will start looking at you. That will inevitability lead people back to the family and me. I know you don’t want that, and I sure as hell don’t need any light shining on us. We’re finally gaining some ground now that the FBI and those jackoffs at the Department of Homeland Security are focused on terrorism instead of us.”