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  Then I turned my head towards the other compartment that Nico had been holed up in for most of our previous flight and for what looked like maybe all of this one too. But sadly, he nor his voice appeared.

  ‘Bee, do you mind if I catch some sleep?’ I was pleased that Kendall having heard Pearl use my nickname earlier was also using it, it made me feel like we’d known each other for a much longer time than we had.

  ‘Of course, I don’t,’ I replied.

  ‘Now this one’s asleep, I should follow and get some rest as well.’ She tipped her head at her son sleeping curled up next to her.

  ‘I understand completely.’

  I watched as she snuggled further into a blanket and lowered the chair she was sitting in backwards, all the time keeping a hand on her son’s head, while she coiled some of his hair around her index finger.

  In no time at all she was asleep and I was left to my own thoughts.

  The worries inside my head began to take hold.

  I’d hardly seen Nico since our lunch at the IHOP. He’d kissed me, awakening feelings inside of me that I was still struggling to cope with and then he’d abruptly left.

  He’d been as good as his word; Pearl and I had been dropped off at one of the most expensive bridal shops Vegas had to offer. Nico had left us there with Raul, while he went back to work. I remembered seeing Raul escort Barzini’s henchman out of Nico’s casino the night Franco had taken me to see Nico. At first, I’d been intimidated by the enormous black man, as he was as wide as he was tall. But, as I’d tried on dress after dress, he’d become important to the whole operation as he’d given a man’s opinion and slowly, I’d seen the guy’s softer side. Without trying to rush us, he’d helped Pearl and I as we’d narrowed down my choices, until I’d finally settled on the one. Nico’s black credit card had been handed over to pay for my dress and the trousseau the wait staff had insisted I also needed. Then, under Nico’s instructions, Raul had taken us both to a nearby shop, where a helpful lady had shown me exactly what I needed to get started on my new hobby of photography.

  I’d been beyond happy after the retail therapy, having bought myself nothing at all in a long time and laughing at Pearl’s dry sense of humour as we’d clambered back into Nico’s limo. After I’d packed up what I needed from my sparse home and had given Tiger to Pearl to look after, I’d left the run-down area of Sunrise. The limo, with only me inside it, then swept across Vegas to Nico’s home and my excitement had begun to ramp up. Nico’s home was stunning, set high up in the hills above Summerlin, in the Red Rock Canyon, and I’d pressed my nose against the cool glass feeling a lot like Cinderella. The building, his driver informed me, had apparently been designed by him and was built using local stones from Crete. It incorporated huge picture windows situated to overlook the lights of Vegas in the distance.

  As I’d been shown to my room in Nico’s fortress by his housekeeper, I’d realised with a very heavy heart that Nico wasn’t even in the building. I’d wanted to tease him a little about what my wedding dress looked like and I had been looking forward to showing him the camera and accessories he’d paid for.

  But mostly, I’d wanted him to kiss me again.

  The understanding that those things weren’t going to happen, because what we had between us was a pretence and that this wasn’t a real relationship, hit me hard. In truth, if I could have escaped Nico’s home, gotten past his security and stolen one of his cars, I would have. I had a strong compulsion inside of me to find somewhere that could offer me a roll of the dice or the turn of the cards that I so desperately needed. They were risks I understood, unlike the risk of handing over my life to a total stranger for a year.

  So instead, I’d cried myself to sleep.

  The next day a red Cartier box had arrived for me. Initially I’d been thrilled as security had handed it over for me to sign for, but as I’d cracked open the box to peer inside a sense of overwhelming sadness had overcome me. I knew it was stupid. I knew what I was living was merely an arrangement to help us both, but as I pushed the platinum band with its solitaire diamond onto my ring finger, tears had once again started to flow. I was certain the ring had cost Nico an absolute fortune and that most women would have given their second kidney to own it, but it wasn’t me and it showed that really, we knew nothing about each other at all.

  Nico had stayed at an apartment he had at the casino for most of the past week, and when he’d come home it had been a fleeting visit. I’d told him that I was lonely and he’d apologised saying that he had a lot of work to do, so that he could take the time off for our wedding and the couple of weeks afterwards for a honeymoon. Then he’d explained to me that I could be taken anywhere I wanted to go, all I had to do was to inform Franco and he’d make sure I had a car and the security he insisted I needed. The whole conversation had been polite, formal and held like I assumed he would a business meeting.

  I longed for the man I’d seen a glimpse of, who had fallen asleep on my broken recliner. I was unequivocally certain that down deep, behind the brash, uncaring mantle he projected to the world, he really did exist.

  The one light, in an otherwise long week, had been the two meetings we’d had with my new therapist, Mrs. Davison. Nico had introduced himself as my future husband and then had sat patiently beside me as she’d listened and probed into my life. As I’d opened up to her about my childhood with my now famous brother, my parents’ separation and divorce and then finally, through my tears of my mom’s death, he’d reached over and taken hold of my hand. Squeezing it softly, encouraging me to talk to her he had once again convinced me that despite his better judgement he cared for me.

  I twisted the ring around my finger as I tried to erase the thoughts from my head.

  The door to the cockpit opening caught my eye and I looked up from my hand and offered the tall figure of Trip a smile. He smiled back, closed the door behind him and walked towards where I was sitting with his family.

  ‘Hi,’ he offered, and then seeing Pearl shift in her sleep as his voice disturbed her, he lowered his voice, ‘all okay, Bee?’ I nodded back my answer and offered him a weak smile. Then as he came alongside where we were sitting, he bent down to place a quick kiss on top of his wife and son’s heads.

  ‘Is he still locked up in there?’

  Trip used his thumb to gesticulate towards the separate compartment that held Nico.

  ‘Yes,’ I whispered back. ‘He’s working.’

  ‘He’s crazy and this won’t be the first or last time I’m about to let him know just that.’ He smiled his reassurance at me. ‘Why the hell is he locked up in there and you’re out here?’

  I shrugged in answer, unable to say anything as emotion tightened its grip around my voice box.

  ‘Well, no more. Leave it with me, the asshat is about to get my boot up his ass.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Nico

  The door opened without even being knocked in the first place and I looked up ready to lay into whichever of my staff it was who had broken my peace and contemplation.

  ‘Nico.’ I heard Trip’s voice as the door closed behind him and I slowly raised my eyes to his.

  ‘Don’t you have a plane to fly?’ I asked rudely, not wanting to get into a conversation with even him.

  ‘It’s my rest period.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you be sleeping then?’ I looked up at him with total disdain, hoping my friend would forgive my downright rudeness that was driven by fear.

  I watched as he sat on the end of the bed in the compartment I’d been locked away in and I knew without a doubt he could see right through me.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be out there with your fiancée? Instead of locked away in here.’

  ‘I’m working.’ I stared at him again, hoping he’d leave it.

  ‘Woah. Now this isn’t a face I recognise… something is going on here that I haven’t been made party to… so spill it.’

  I looked at him square in the eyes with every thought and fear a
bout my impending nuptials gathered there for him to read. Then I sighed out loud as his face showed absolutely no evidence of understanding.

  After staring at me for a few seconds, he opened up his arms and showed me his upturned palms ‘What?’

  ‘My up and coming marriage to Barbara, well… It’s an arrangement,’ I spat out. I hoped that by voicing the truth to him I would be in a better place to deal with it.

  His eyes stared just that bit harder at me as he tried to take in what I was saying.

  ‘An arrangement?’

  ‘Yes, you know… a deal, an agreement, a business…’

  ‘STOP!... Stop right there. You’ve managed to get that gorgeous, intelligent woman out there to agree to marry you for a deal?’

  ‘Yes,’ I answered him and at the same time I pushed my back further into the seat behind me, while I watched as he jumped up and began to pace around the small room.

  ‘You know, I gotta say I could have seen this coming after that last dinner with your grandmother, and if Barbara had been some wannabe celebrity I’d have known straight away, but…’

  ‘But, what?’ I asked, just slightly amused as I watched him still pacing around the small area in disbelief.

  ‘Morello, you’re unbelievable… She’s… well, she’s so normal.’

  ‘Of course, she’s normal.’ I took hold of the signet ring that bore my families crest and began to turn it around my finger as I waited for him to speak again. I may not be, but she is. ‘Do you think anything other than normal would have placated Nonna?’

  ‘No, you’re right it wouldn’t have. But… If she’s so normal, why the hell did she agree to marry you for a business deal?’

  ‘Because she needs help with something.’ I wasn’t prepared to share what demons Barbara was fighting, because, well because it felt wrong. The fact I wasn’t prepared to share her problems in itself was completely baffling.

  Why do I care? This is a business deal and nothing more.

  Needing to break eye contact with Trip, I stood up. Then I rolled my head around my shoulders as I tried to release the tension in my neck that this conversation was causing and walked around the side of the built-in desk. Picking up the bottle I had my eyes on, I unscrewed the top of the Bourbon and poured myself a large measure, then knocked it back, relishing the burn as it hit the back of my throat.

  I’d been like this since I’d allowed myself to kiss the damn woman at the IHOP. I had never in my life needed anything from a woman before. I could see two or three different women a week, happily take them to bed and then walk away in the morning. But that simple brush of my mouth on hers had meant that I’d spent the last few days holed up at the casino with my head buried in work, shouting just a bit more than usual at any of my staff who even dared to look at me sideways. But it had done little to erase what was going on inside of me. The two meetings with her new therapist had proven the most difficult and had nearly been my downfall. When she’d started to open up about her life, her heartache at being left behind by everyone she had once thought loved her, it had taken every single ounce of my self-control not to wrap her up tightly into my arms.

  So, I was keeping my distance, until I could get my head straightened out.

  ‘Drinking?’ he accused.

  ‘Yes, and so?’

  ‘So, let me get this straight, whatever is going on, it’s bad enough for you to drink in the day?’

  ‘It’s just one drink… It’s not…’

  ‘Wait a minute, let me get my head around what you’re saying,’ he interrupted.

  ‘You’ve come to an arrangement with that beautiful, normal looking woman to get you the wife you need to fool Nonna?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And in return you’ll help her with whatever she’s facing?’ I truly loved the pain in my ass like a brother, for not questioning me any further on just what Barbara’s problem was. I had no idea how an utter bastard like myself had been lucky enough to find him, because he truly was a decent guy.

  ‘Yes,’ I replied again.

  ‘Where did you find her?’

  ‘I didn’t really find her, so to speak. Our paths crossed again. She’s Barbara Daniels, sister of Brody who’s in the same band as Cade. I’ve known of her for years.’

  ‘Default Distraction.’ He wasn’t asking a question, just stating the facts as he attempted to wrap his head around what I was saying.

  ‘Yeah,’ I replied, trying to change it up.

  ‘So, you’re marrying that woman out there, who is the sister of one of Cade’s band mates to fool your grandmother?’

  ‘Again, yes!’ I put the tumbler down that I’d been clutching and pushed my hands deep down into my pockets, turned around and placed my backside on the edge of the unit behind me. Then I cast my eyes downwards as I tried to get my head around just why the hell he was asking me so many questions, when normally no one questioned what I did, ever.

  ‘Who else knows?’

  ‘No one, just me, Barbara and now, you.’

  ‘Well, Jesus… you’re fucked.’

  My head snapped back up to face him as I got ready to shout down his words.

  ‘Why?’ I asked the question knowing the answer already.

  ‘How long do you think you’re going to be able to keep up the pretence when we’re in Crete and your grandmother is watching you?’

  ‘I can pretend… she’s easy on the eye and easy to be around.’

  ‘Yeah, you can. But, answer me this, if it’s so easy, why the hell have you been avoiding her since the moment we started travelling?’

  If only you knew I’ve been avoiding her for far longer than that.

  ‘I’ve had work to do.’ It wasn’t a complete lie.

  ‘Mmmm.’ he replied. ‘I won’t lie to Perky.’ Trip shook his head as he spoke about Kendall.

  ‘I’m not asking you to,’ I assured him.

  He walked back towards the door.

  ‘I think you need to know… She’s feeling lonely and vulnerable out there by herself. If you don’t act quickly to support her in your lie, she might well pull out before we even make Crete.’

  ‘She wouldn’t do that.’ Would she? Fear unravelled itself in my gut, that I might just lose her before our year together had even begun.

  I knew I hadn’t been fair to her over the last week, by avoiding her and leaving her by herself.

  ‘I’m not so sure, and can you afford to take that chance?’

  ‘No,’ I reluctantly admitted.

  ‘Then I’ll leave you with this. You might be able to lie and pretend enough to fool Nonna and that pink haired woman outside.’ He tilted his head towards where we both knew Pearl was situated sleeping. ‘You might be able to persuade them into believing that this is a real marriage… but how much longer are you going to be able to lie to yourself that she doesn’t affect you?’

  I shook my head at him in disgust and turned back to the Bourbon. As my hand grabbed around the neck of the bottle, I heard him speak again.

  ‘You’re avoiding her already; I can see it. How are you going to be able to touch her, to kiss her, when all eyes are looking at the happy couple? And how long will it be, Nic, before you’re ready to admit that you might actually like Barbara? Oh, and just for the record, for this life changing moment I can hear, Ticket To Ride by, of course, The Beatles.’

  Saying nothing in reply I shook my head at his questions and his song choice, and having nothing to say I closed my eyes, shutting him out until the door clicked shut behind him.

  Without pouring a measure into a glass, I swigged a mouthful from the bottle and drank it down, hoping to repress the emotions inside me.

  You can do this, I thought resolutely.

  Having listened to what Trip had to say and then washing it down with the swig of Bourbon, I was even more determined. I slammed the bottle back down onto the unit.

  Hell, I was even going to enjoy being married to the woman who had trusted me with her life for the year
we had, and then at the end of our time together I would let her go.

  It was simple, it was a deal after all and nothing more.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Barbara

  About an hour after Trip had come back out into the main compartment, Nico finally appeared.

  From my peripheral view, I looked on mesmerised as the captivatingly beautiful man shrugged himself out of his suit jacket then loosened and removed his tie. It was as if he was trying to convince himself, or maybe me, that he really could relax. My eyes widened in disbelief after he dismissed the cabin staff when they automatically began to circulate around him trying to predict his every need, and he set about making a coffee. I looked up at him in surprise when he also placed a coffee down in front of me, and he offered me a perceptive smile. Then he lowered his tall frame down in the seat beside me and took my hand in his.

  Already stunned at his actions so far, I watched even more surprised as he pulled out some heavy framed, rectangular glasses from his shirt pocket and put them on. Right up until that minute I hadn’t even realised he wore glasses. My hand was now being securely held on his lap and trying to ignore the warmth from his firm thigh seeping into my bare arm, I tried to relax enough to study him as he began to read the latest news headlines on his iPad.

  A few minutes later, Trip offered me a nod and a quick smile at Nico’s arrival. With his family still sleeping soundly, he stood up from our seating area and left to go back to the cockpit.

  Nico lifted his head from his iPad to watch Trip depart and after he was safely out of ear shot, he lifted my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. I turned my head back towards him in surprise and as my eyes sought out his he offered up an apology.

  ‘I’m sorry I’ve had to work so much in the last few days, Barbara.’ His voice was deep and sounded like I imagined a soothing blanket would as it wound itself around me. I moved my shoulders suddenly to shake myself free of its pseudo comfort.

  I took a quick look around the cabin and checked no one who was awake was near enough to listen to the conversation I wanted to have.