Gloves Off: a marriage of convenience hockey romance (Vancouver Storm Book 4)

“Tell us how you two got together,” Cece urges later.

Georgia and I exchange a look.

After Cece insisted on leading us through the haunted house in the backyard that she and Shane created, we’re inside again, in the living room with Cece, Shane, and a small group of their family friends. Every so often, the doorbell rings with a trick-or-treater and Shane gets up to answer it.

“I didn’t ask her out for a long time because I thought she had a boyfriend,” I say, holding her gaze.

Her eyes narrow.

“Actually,” I tell Cece, “I thought she had two boyfriends.”

Georgia looks away but her mouth slides to the side in a half smile.

“Two boyfriends?” Cece asks, laughing. “Georgia?”

Georgia gives her a wry look. “He heard me talking about Stefan and Damon. My rabbits,” she explains for everyone else, and they laugh. “He was so jealous.”

“I was a little jealous,” I admit.

Georgia gives me a look of amused disbelief, and I know she’s also thinking about me saying no fucking other guys. “Very jealous.”

“Okay. Yes.” I rub the back of my neck. “Very jealous.”

Everyone’s chuckling and smiling. We’re selling this like pros.

“I always thought you two didn’t get along.” Cece exchanges a smile with Shane. “She spoke about you like she hated you.”

“She did. We argued every time we saw each other.” I look down at my wife, gaze snagging on the mesmerizing color of her eyes. “I wanted her, but I couldn’t have her.”

The words slip out so easily, and from the way the women around the table melt and exchange smiles, they must sound believable.

I put my arm over the back of Georgia’s chair and let my fingers toy with the soft ends of her hair.

“One day,” I add, “I got tired of waiting.”

Georgia turns her head, bringing her mouth close to my ear, lowering her voice. “And I’m the spoiled one, huh?”

I give her hair a light tug and surprise mixed with something else flares in her eyes. Amusement, maybe. Arousal?

Probably not. I doubt it.

Shane shakes his head. “I knew Georgia liked him.”

Under my arm, she stiffens. “No, you didn’t.”

“I did,” he insists, laughing, and the pink growing on my wife’s cheeks distracts me. “I knew she had a crush on you because of how she always got so twitchy when your name came up.”

I don’t know why this makes me feel like laughing. Maybe because I can picture the pissed-off expression she’d wear. I tug on her hair again, and the deadly look she sends me makes my pulse skip a beat.

“Has Georgia made you watch The Vampire Diaries yet?” her mom asks.

At my dumb expression, Georgia’s eyes widen in an emphasizing look. “It’s the show I love, remember?” Her eyebrows lift. “The one about teen vampires, that I named my bunnies after?”

If our marriage was real, I’d know this about her.

“Right.” I nod. “That one. We’ve watched a few episodes.”

She pushes her hair back over her shoulder, and my gaze catches on her ring. I bought the cheap piece of metal online. One day shipping. The thought of her having to wear something so cheap and ugly nearly made me smile.

Now, buying her a cheap ring just feels like a low blow. Possessive feelings race through me. She’s getting a bigger ring. Something flashy and expensive that tells everyone within eyesight that she’s taken.

“You named your rabbits after two teen vampires?” I mutter back.

“They’re not teenagers, they’re hundreds of years old. They just go to high school and date teenagers.”

She says this like it’s normal. I grimace. “That’s weird.”

“It is weird, but in a hot way, so we don’t think too hard about it.” Her eyebrows bob up and down. “Careful, Volkov, or I’ll get you hooked on the show and make you eat your words.”

Her mouth curves into that half smile she does, the one where her eyes glint with mischief, and my pulse trips, but she turns to address the table.

“I wasn’t fooled.” She gives them a smug smile. “Alexei was always drooling over my shoes. It was only a matter of time before he was begging me to marry him.”

“You’re the one who would be begging,” I mutter, but energy hums through me.

“Never.” She’s speaking so low only we can hear, giving me a gentle, pretty smile as if we’re talking like lovers. “There’s nothing you could do that would make me beg.”

My thoughts still. My blood pumps harder as I replay her words over and over again in my head. Through my body, electricity crackles.

I like the idea of the doctor begging.

“How’d you propose?” someone asks.

“Which time?” The doctor’s mouth quirks and when she flicks that knowing, smug look at me, my cock twitches. “He had to ask a couple times.”

“I wore her down eventually.” I let my arm fall so it’s resting on her shoulders. “My little Hellfire.”

Georgia turns her head to me slowly, her eyes flashing with warning and fury.

“Hellfire?” Shane asks, grinning. “Is that your romantic nickname for my daughter, Alexei?”

“No,” Georgia says, shoulders tense.

“Yes,” I say at the same time. “She used to get on my nerves so much that I swore she was forged in Hellfire.” My gaze flicks to her hair, strands of auburn glowing gold under the dining room lighting. “And the hair.”

“The nickname suits you, honey,” her mom says, smiling.

“It doesn’t suit me.” Georgia rolls her eyes. “He’s just teasing.”

As the conversation moves on, a realization strikes me.noveldrama

Hugo Greene died years ago. It was in the news. She’s had the option to get the inheritance for years.

“What do you need the money for?” I ask her quietly.

Our eyes meet, hers going guarded and wary.

“You obviously need it for something if you were willing to marry me,” I add. “And don’t even try to tell me it’s for shoes.”

I can’t believe I fell for that.

“I saw these bunny palaces online.” Her eyes spark. “Stefan and Damon will get a whole house and staff. There’s a waterslide, too.”

“Very funny.”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry what I need the money for.”

I’m going to find out why she needs that money.