Page 44 of Punked By the Playmaker
The pieces fell into place for my captain. “But she wasn’t your fiancée.”
“Nope.” I popped the P. “But once those words left my mouth, they were impossible to take back. Getting caught in that lie would be enough for me to lose Maisie and for her to lose Austin, so we—and when I say we, I may have had to strongarm Arizona into it—agreed that a real marriage, even a short one, was the only option.”
Cole’s brow furrowed. “Who’s Austin?”
“Arizona’s younger brother. Her mom’s sick, so she’s his guardian as well as Maisie’s at the moment.”
Crew leaned his forearms on the island. “That’s a lot.”
“Tell me about it,” I huffed. “And hopefully it goes without saying that you can’t tell anyone about what I just shared. No one can know that this union, while legal, isn’t exactly what most would consider real.”
Head tilting to the side, Cole asked, “If it needs to stay a secret, why invite us?”
Shrugging, I replied, “Needed witnesses I could trust.”
Crew straightened. “We’ve got your back. Maisie’s too.” He tossed her a wink, and her face turned scarlet again.
“Levi?” Austin’s voice near the entrance to the kitchen drew my attention away from my guests.
Like Maisie, he was dressed up for the occasion, in a pair of khaki pants and an aqua polo.
“What’s up, bud?”
“She’s ready,” he announced.
With a clap of my hands, I spoke to those gathered. “All right, people. It’s showtime.”
Chapter 13
Arizona
Standingbeforethefloor-lengthmirror in the primary suite, I smoothed my sweaty palms over the skirt of the white maxi-dress I decided was bridal enough for a beach wedding.
I still couldn’tbelieveI’d actually agreed to marry Levi Nixon, the same man who made a vulgar statement about oral sex during our first date—if you could even call it that. And I hated that I couldn’t stop wondering how his cocky persona would translate to the bedroom.
No, Arizona. Stop that right now. The minute you agreed to take his money, it took sex off the table.
Right. I couldn’t afford to fall back down that hole. No matter how incredible it felt to wake up with his strong body pressed against mine from behind a few mornings ago.
I would never admit it, but I’d allowed myself to revel in the pleasure of his touch for exactly thirty seconds before forcing indignation to take over. Levi could never know that orgasmswere the only high I allowed myself these days—I needed to get off multiple times a day in order to satisfy the cravings, and the limited privacy that came with living in his house and sleeping in his bed had put me into a state of withdrawal. If he ever uncovered that secret, it would be game over; he’d use my weakness against me to get what he’d wanted all along. I was struggling to resist temptation as it was; if he poured all his focus into seducing me, I would be powerless to say no.
A year under the same roof, legally bound, was a terrible idea. Why was I doing this again?
The humph from the scowling teenager sprawled on the sofa quickly reminded me of the answer to that question.
I turned to face him. “What’s got you in a mood? I thought you liked Levi.”
Austin glared at me. “Mom should be here.”
Exhaling heavily, I said, “This isn’t real.”
He shook his head in disgust. “Ever since you locked her away in that facility, you pretend like she doesn’t exist.”
“That’s not true.”
“You never let me visit!” he yelled. “She’s mymom, Arizona.”
My eyes slammed shut, a fresh wave of pain crashing over me.
