“Or the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “You get to live to see another day. I only need you for a year. And then I’ll take the blame for ending the marriage and you’ll be free, and so will I.”

  “It’ll never work.”

  “Why?” she asks, head tilted.

  “I can’t live here. I need to live by my family, and they’ll never believe we’re a couple. They’ll see right through the entire thing.”

  “You don’t need to lie to your family, and we can live wherever you do. The farther we are from my father, the better. You can be honest with them.”

  She’s fucking delusional if she thinks I can tell my mother or father that we are faking a marriage for me to survive and for her not to be sent to the nunnery. They would both lose their absolute shit, and a war would start between my father and hers.

  “Can we tell your father we’re married but not actually get married?”

  She shakes her head. “My father will know.”

  “How?”

  “He has contacts everywhere. The marriage must be legal and done by a priest.”

  “A priest?”

  She nods. “I have Father Murphy ready and waiting.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “Would it be so awful to be around me?”

  I don’t answer right away. It wouldn’t be a hardship to be around a beautiful woman all the time. But a pregnant beautiful woman? Probably. I know how my cousins were when they were pregnant, and each one was a complete nightmare to deal with on a daily basis.

  “If you’re worried about money, I have a very large trust fund.”

  “Money is the least of my concerns, Ana.”

  “Your biggest concern should be seeing the sun rise tomorrow.” She peers over my shoulder. “My father’s men could find us at any moment. You can risk them finding you, or you can leave with me out the back. Your call, Mr. Caldo.”

  “Trace,” I tell her.

  “Trace?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

  “My father is Mr. Caldo. I’m Trace.”

  “Have you made your decision, Trace?”

  “One year?”

  She nods. “One year.”

  I can do just about anything for a year, right? “I want to live.”

  “I promise to make it as painless as possible.”

  “Do we have to live together, or will you get your own place?”

  “From the outside, we need to do everything a married couple would do, including living together.”

  “I have a one-bedroom,” I tell her.

  “I hope your couch is comfortable.”

  “I promise you’ll be comfortable on it.”

  She laughs. “For you. Not me.”

  “Absolutely not. I’m too tall for the couch.”

  “We’ll figure that out later.” She glances down, checking her watch. “We need to go. We’re running out of time. Are you ready?”

  “No,” I clip out, but I slide out of the booth anyway.

  She stands and peers up at me. “You won’t regret this.”

  “I already do,” I whisper, trying to ignore the intoxicating scent of her perfume.

  The wind picks up as we walk toward the ocean and the waiting priest. The full moon is high in the sky, illuminating the entire landscape.

  “I thought you were shitting me,” I tell her as we approach the crashing waves.

  She turns her face toward me, her blue eyes looking black in the night. “I would never lie about something so serious.”

  I want to argue with her. Remind her of what we’re doing and how we plan to lie to everyone in our lives, pretending to be a happy couple that is madly in love. All of it is fake.

  “This is necessary for both our sakes. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be doing this,” she adds, like she’s reading my mind. She motions to the man in black waiting at the water’s edge.

  I pick up my pace, keeping up with her quick steps in the sand. “I didn’t have marry a stranger on my bingo card for this year.”

  “Did you have getting murdered on that card?” she asks, throwing my cavalier attitude back in my face.

  “Nope. Neither of them was on there.”

  The priest smiles as we get closer. I wonder what he thinks of this entire situation. He must know this is a marriage of convenience and not real love. Does it matter to him? Clearly, it doesn’t since he’s here with his bible in hand, ready to marry us.

  “Father,” Ana says, dipping her head slightly at the tall, thin man. “Thank you for this.”

  “Anything for you, Ana,” he replies with a kind smile. “The church will put your generous donation to good use.”

  “Anonymously,” Ana adds.

  “Of course.” He nods.

  Ana motions to me. “This is Trace Caldo, my fiancé.”

  I swallow, finding that word so foreign and uncomfortable. “Father,” I mutter, not trusting my voice to speak any louder.

  “Shall we get started?” the priest asks me.

  I look at Ana, hoping she’ll tell me this is all part of some hilarious joke, but she doesn’t. “We’re ready,” she tells him. She takes a step closer to the priest and turns her entire body to face me.

  He opens the bible, but he must have the passages memorized. This moment must be what having an out-of-body experience is like. The sound of the waves grows louder, while the voice of the priest drops to a faint whisper. My skin tingles as if every hair is an independent being capturing the wind as it moves across my skin.

  I’m doing this. I’m really doing this.

  What in the hell am I thinking?

  A woman I’ve never met before rescues me from an unknown future and tells me marrying her will save my life, and I just go along with her plan. Am I stupid?

  I stare at Ana, knowing marrying her, even as a ruse, won’t be a hardship. She’s pretty and kind as far as I can tell, at least nice enough to help me escape certain death.

  “Do you, Trace Caldo, take Ana Maria Kelly to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

  “Is this lawful?” I ask, not answering his question.

  “It will be. I made sure of it,” she says, and I have no doubt she’s being truthful. I assume she has connections everywhere in this city because of her family. “We’re safe.”

  Safe? Are we? Her father could just make her a widow. A widowed single mother is better than a never-married single mother in the mind of a religious man. I could very easily wake up in another dark room in a few days, taking my last breath.

  “Mr. Caldo,” the priest prompts me when I stand silent.

  “I do,” I whisper.

  This isn’t how I thought I’d get married. Hell, I never thought I’d get married, and if I did, it would be when I was old and not because I was forced into the commitment to save my life. But here we are…

  “Do you, Ana Maria Kelly, take Trace Caldo to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  “I do,” she says without a smile, but with a face of indifference.

  The priest asks a few more questions, says a prayer, and then mutters, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  Ana’s eyes are on me, and I don’t move. I can’t. Does our fake marriage include touching or even kissing? We didn’t set many boundaries or rules before I followed her out of the hotel and straight to the beach.

  She doesn’t wait for me. She steps forward, grabs the collar of my shirt, and hauls me toward her until our lips collide. A shock of electricity moves from my mouth and down my body to my toes, which are curling in my shoes.

  “Fuck,” I murmur as she backs away from me.

  The priest coughs, and I squeeze my eyes shut. “Sorry, Father.”

  “You’re forgiven,” he says with a hint of laughter in his voice.

  “Thank you, Father,” Ana says to him.

  He dips his chin. “I’ll get the paperwork filed for you as soon as possible.”

  She smiles at him before looking to me. “Ready to go, husband?”

  My heart is pounding faster than before. Maybe faster than when I was locked up in the room earlier tonight. “Yep. Never more ready,” I lie.

  “Take me home.”

  “Which one?”

  “Yours. I think we should put a little distance between my father and you for a while.”

  Oh boy. This is about to get interesting.

  3

  TRACE

  “Mom, I’m fine.”

  “You disappeared for a solid day. What was I supposed to think?” my mom asks over the phone as I drive down the highway with my new bride by my side. “Of course, I thought you were dead.”

  “You didn’t need to send out a search party.” I glance at Ana, but she’s not looking at me. She’s staring out the window with her hand on her stomach. “This is the first time you haven’t been able to get in touch with me.”

  “Your father was worried about Kelly. He thought you were taken.”

  “You know about Kelly?”

  Ana turns her gaze my way, perking up when hearing her last name.

  “Your father and I don’t have secrets, Trace, especially when it comes to the safety of our children. You and I are going to have a little talk when you get back.”

  “Ma, I’m not a child.”

  “You’re my child.”

  I grunt, hating that she’s right, but that doesn’t mean she can treat me like a little kid my entire life. “You can’t sit me down, scold me for my behavior, and send me to my room. I’m in my twenties and beyond that type of parenting.”

  “I may not be able to send you to your room, but I sure as hell can give you a piece of my mind and have a discussion about good decision-making.”

  Ana laughs, covering her mouth with her hand when I glare at her. “What?” she whispers through her fingers. “Your mom may be as tough as my dad.”

  She has no idea. Izzy Caldo may be small, but the woman has a bigger personality and balls than almost every man I know. The exception is my father, but it takes someone as strong-willed as him to deal with her shit too.

  “Who’s that?” my mom asks, having had supersonic hearing since the day I was born.

  Fuck.

  Ana shrugs but doesn’t offer any help, leaving it entirely on my shoulders.

  “It’s Ana,” I say, as if my mom should know who that is.

  “Ana who?”

  “I told you about Ana,” I lie, cringing because I know my mom is going to lay into me.

  She forgets nothing. I know it. She knows it. Everyone knows it. But that doesn’t stop me from trying to pretend like I told her all about Ana before now.

  “No. No, you didn’t.”

  “Maybe you forgot.”

  “James, did he tell you about Ana?”

  “Ana?” Dad says in the background. “No.”

  “Didn’t think so,” she says. “The list of questions is growing, Trace. Be prepared. Come straight here when you get back. I want to talk about Mr. Kelly, Ana, and what the hell you’re doing with your life. It’s about time to grow up and become a responsible adult. You can’t party forever.”

  She has no clue that my party life is already dead. The moment I said I do to Ana, fake or real, everything changed. I can no longer go out and bag a chick for the night. If we are going to make the marriage appear legitimate, I have to become a doting husband who’s completely in love with his new bride.

  “Mom, I’m exhausted. We’re in the Everglades with hours of road in front of us. I’ll come over tomorrow after I get some sleep.”

  “Be here at noon. I’ll make us lunch.”

  “Fine, Ma. I’ll be there at noon.”

  “Bring Ana,” she tells me.

  Although I hate the idea of bringing Ana with me, I also know that having someone else there will soften my mother’s attitude. But when she finds out we got married, she’ll go nuclear.

  “We’ll be there at noon. I got to go. I need to concentrate on the road. It’s dark and I’m tired.”

  “There are hotels, Trace. If you’re too tired to drive…”

  “We’ll pull off and get some shut-eye for a few hours if we get too tired,” I reassure her.

  “Hardheaded just like his father,” my mother mutters. “Love you, baby.”

  I growl at her choice of nicknames. “Love you too,” I tell her before the line dies.

  “That’s cute,” Ana says from the passenger seat of her car. “I like her.”

  “She’s not sweet. Be prepared to be interrogated.”

  “Are you forgetting who my father is? Your mother will be a walk in the park.”

  “What about your mom? What’s she like?”

  Ana shifts her weight, drawing my attention from the road for a second. She turns her head back toward the side of the road as the trees pass by. “She died fifteen years ago.”

  “Damn. I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. There was a lot going on when I told you,” she whispers. “She was the best, and my life hasn’t been the same since the day I lost her.”

  “That has to be hard.”

  “The worst.”

  I don’t push any further. It doesn’t feel right to complain about my mother being too overprotective when Ana hasn’t had a mother for most of her life. It’s also not my place to push her to talk about missing someone who’s supposed to be a big part of who you are.

  “Well, I had my father, and when I was younger, his five sisters would spend more time in Miami.”

  “Five?” I ask, thinking about the hell that must’ve been for the guy growing up. “That’s…”

  “They’re great, though. My dad adores them and they’re the glue of our family. In all honesty, they’re the only people in the world my father fears.”

  The women are the glue in my family too. If it were up to the guys, we wouldn’t do shit together. We wouldn’t have Sunday dinners or parties because we’re far too lazy to pull it together once a week.

  “Couldn’t you have gone to one of them for help with your problem?” I ask her.

  “I went to my oldest aunt. She’s the most trustworthy and can keep a secret, unlike the others. She’s the one who gave me the idea.”

  “She told you to marry me?” I look over at her.

  She shakes her head. “Not you. She doesn’t know who you are. She told me to find someone to marry, even for a short time, to avoid my father’s anger and save face.”

  “I’m sure marrying someone he’s already pissed at will go over real big when he finds out.”

  “I’m not worried about that.”

  “It’s not your neck on the line,” I tell her, tightening my grip on the steering wheel of her sports car. “He can still kill me.”

  Ana reaches across the front seat and places her hand on my arm, which is resting on the center console. “I promise to keep you safe. No harm will come to you from someone in my family.”

  The thought is sweet, but totally out of her control. “You can’t make that promise.”

  She tightens her fingers against my skin. “I can and did. You saved me, and I’ll save you.”

  “And your brother?”

  “He’s a spoiled brat. He’s all bark and no bite. He doesn’t have the power or the smarts like my father. Sean will be on to being mad at someone else, and you’ll be totally forgotten.”

  “Don’t take offense to me not entirely believing that to be the case.”

  “My brother’s a moron. If people weren’t afraid of my father or his men, my brother would have his ass kicked every day of his life.”

  “I can’t argue with most of that statement.”

  “Tell me everything about how you met my brother and what happened. If we’re going to make this as believable as possible, I need to know every detail.”

  “There’s not much to tell. We were playing in an illegal card game in an abandoned warehouse. We both got down to the final table. He thought I was cheating, and I know for a fact that he was cheating. We shared words. A few punches were thrown, and when we were finally pulled apart, he told me who his father was and that I needed to watch my back because I wasn’t going to be breathing for long.”

  “Ridiculous,” Ana mutters. “I can’t believe my father was going to hurt you over a stupid card game.”

  That makes two of us.

  “It was probably more about the black eye I know your brother went home with that night.”

  “It wouldn’t be his first. He’s quick to throw hands but can’t duck worth shit.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “So, I was in Tampa when he was at that game. I was there that night, but I didn’t stick around because the rounds are far too long for me.”

  “You were there?” I ask, not remembering seeing her, and she has the type of face I’d never forget.

  “I was. Not for long, though. I stayed a few days to enjoy the slower pace and visit some old friends from college in the area. Maybe I met you the next day and we hit it off. We hooked up and talked every day after, but you had no idea who I was and that I was connected to the Kellys.”

  “I guess it’s possible—except for one thing.”

  “What’s that?” she asks.

  “I’m not the type of guy who talks on the phone to a chick, and I’m certainly not the type who wants to keep things going for more than a night or two.”

  “Your old self no longer existed after you met me. You wanted to talk to me. A love-at-first-sight type of thing.”

  “My mom is going to be a hard one to fool.”

  Ana sinks down in the seat, getting comfortable. “Well, we have about twelve hours to learn everything we can about each other and avoid her poking around too much right away.”

  “You make it sound easy, but we have to worry about my dad too. He’s a private investigator and used to work for the DEA. He knows what happened between your brother and me. He’s not going to believe that I married you after finding out who your father was. And if he does believe it, he’s going to beat the ever-loving shit out of me for the decision.”

  “We’ll figure out what to do about him when the time comes,” she says like it’s no big deal.

  It’s a very big deal. My mom will yell at me if she figures it out. But Pop, he’ll go ballistic. I’ve done some dumb shit in my life, but this must be the most stupid.