Marriage: Impossible (Voretti Family Book 1) Read Online Free

do?”
    Anger descended over her—a red haze that obscured everything. “You made a commitment Sean. I don’t care if you were under the influence of twenty gallons of alcohol. It’s done, and you can’t take it back. So you’d better shape up and make something of your life because I’m counting on you.”
    Her words echoed inside her head in the ensuing silence. Rational thought slowly returned, and she waited for him to attack. To pronounce her a liar or a manipulator or simply walk out of the room to escape this manufactured responsibility like he’d walked away from all his real ones.
    But he didn’t. He stared at her. His shoulders relaxed like her crazy diatribe had somehow freed him of a great burden, and his blank expression resolved into the Sean she knew. “Okay.”
    “Okay?” She stood tall even though she was mostly naked, trying to pretend that was exactly what she’d expected to hear. “I mean, I’m glad we understand each other.”
    *
    Sean had no idea how things had spiraled so far out of control so quickly. All he’d wanted to do was fix just one of the problems he’d caused his best friend. Yet, somehow, he’d done more damage than even he’d thought possible.
    When Ty found out Sean had married his sister in some quickie ceremony so they could have a drunken hook-up, he would lose his shit. And Sean wouldn’t blame him.
    He didn’t even remember how it had gone down, though it wasn’t hard to figure out. He’d had a hard-on for Keri since puberty. Last night, under the influence of too much alcohol and too little self-control, he’d taken what he’d wanted for so long without any thought to the consequences.
    Now he had another mess to clean up. He couldn’t burden Keri with a fuckup like him for a husband. She deserved better than that.
    The only solution was a quiet divorce. But if he brought up the idea now, she’d never go for it. She knew he was struggling, and with her naïve, I-can-do-anything-if-I-put-my-mind-to-it attitude, she’d never believe he was unfixable. She’d stick to his side, wrench in hand, until he’d snapped the steel in half. The only way to save her was to convince her he was fine. All better, thank you very much. Good thing he was a decent actor.
    “Are you okay?” Keri was looking at him with concern. “Do you want an aspirin? Maybe you should get some more sleep. I can close the curtains and—”
    “I’m fine. I’m going to hop in the shower, and then we can get going.”
    “Going?” She regarded him cautiously from under lashes that were a wet dream all by themselves. “Where?”
    “I thought we’d take a drive down to Lake Tahoe.”
    “If you think I’m going to go cliff diving with you, Sean Patterson, you have another think coming. I’ll handcuff you to the steering wheel of that beater truck if I have to.”
    Her vehement response coaxed a genuine smile from him. “Don’t worry, Ker Bear. We won’t get anywhere near a cliff. We’ll go for one of those cruises around the lake.”
    “Really?” She gave him a hug that was both too long and too short. “I’ve always wanted to go on one of those! Ever since Kimmie Pierce went in sixth grade and would not stop talking about it.”
    “I remember.”
    “Yeah?” Her excited grin transformed into an intent stare that reminded him exactly what they’d been doing before he’d fully woken up.
    Shit . Major strategic error.
    He knew what he needed to do. Turn around and walk into the bathroom and lock the door. And then, because he wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about the way Keri had held his gaze when she’d talked about handcuffing him to the truck—like she was planning to use that sexy little body to distract him from his cliff-diving plans—he’d take an ice-cold shower.
    He knew all that. Yet he heard himself saying, “You don’t really have handcuffs.”
    Her smile was sweet, but her gaze moved down his body like she was perusing a menu. “Was that a