KYLE: A Mafia Romance (The Callahans Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

your life. We realized that we had a few things in common, so we spent time talking about those things.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like the movies we like to watch and the music we listen to.” I set my roll down and licked my fingers, aware of how closely he was watching me. “You like Green Day and the Stones. I like Twenty-one Pilots and Shawn Mendes. You teased me, and I teased you, but then you made me confess that I love Wake Me Up When Septembers Ends. ”
    A little light danced in his eyes when I said that. He leaned forward, reaching for a piece of bacon even as he watched me.
    “How did we end up at the chapel?”
    I blushed. It was easy because the memory was real.
    “You started kissing me. We sort of made out on the couch…” I gestured behind me in the vague direction of the couch. “You were getting a little fresh, and I asked you to stop. That’s when you suggested if we were married, I wouldn’t ask you to stop.”
    “It was my idea?”
    I nodded, the lie easier when I didn’t have to put it into words.
    “And you agreed?”
    “I told you things about me, personal things I’d rather not repeat, and you promised to fix them for me.”
    “Did I?”
    I looked up, the sweet roll suddenly this heavy, thick lump in my stomach. I hated lying. I prided myself on my honesty. I’d lost friends because I’m completely honest about everything. But I had to lie.
    “We drank a lot. I drank a lot. I told you things I’ve never told anyone and you…” I stopped, tears creating a new lump in my throat. “I know you don’t remember any of this. I can just go and we can—”
    “What? If you won’t divorce me, what options are there?”
    I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”
    Tears began spilling down my cheeks. I reached up and rubbed them away, feeling suddenly as though I’d been stripped naked and placed on display. I wanted out of there; I wanted to call this whole thing a mistake. I knew it wouldn’t work; I knew that I couldn’t convince him that he wanted me. We’d known each other all of…what? Five minutes? It was ridiculous to believe that I was enough to convince him to play this game.
    But then he was out of the chair and crossing toward me, his hand resting heavy on my shoulder.
    “Don’t cry.”
    I brushed the tears away again.
    “I’m sorry. I’ve never done anything like this before…I never imagined I ever would. The only reason I came up here last night was because you were so nice to me when I took you those drinks at the blackjack table. Most guys are condescending or they touch me in unwelcome ways. But you…you were kind compared to all of them.”
    He knelt beside me, taking my hand gently between both of his. “My Pops taught me a lot of things, but the most important was to be kind to a woman.” He smiled softly. “I always tried to remember his advice, even when a heartbroken woman is throwing things at me from across the room, something that’s happened on more than one occasion.”
    I smiled, finding it very easy to imagine such a thing.
    “Look, this clearly isn’t all your fault,” he said, brushing a few more tears from my cheek. “Surely we can find a way to work it out so that we both benefit.”
    I shook my head emphatically. “No. I don’t want to take anything from you. I just…my father would have a stroke if he knew what I’d done.”
    “Mine, too.”
    He suddenly stood and began to pace the room.
    “What about an annulment?”
    “If it’s done by a priest…”
    “I could do that.” He turned to look at me. “But I’d need you to promise that no word of this would get out. You can’t tell anyone, not your father, not your friends. No one.”
    I looked down, let my hair fall over my face so he couldn’t see my expression.
    “It’s not like I’m proud of this.”
    “It’s just…my dad has had some unpleasantness happen over the last few months. It really wouldn’t help him much if this got out, you know?”
    I brushed my hair