Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“There’s my husband who can’t stand me at all. I’m old and boring,” Clarissa said, laughing. She then put a finger to her lips. “And he thinks I’m stiff in bed, but don’t tell him I know that.” She burst out laughing again. “I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing. I’m doing what I was told to do.” Clarissa was trying to whisper.
Thankfully, the only people in the café were himself, his three friends, Clarissa, her three friends, and guards.
“My mom told me he would tell me what to do, and I was just to lie there. That’s what I did, but was it good enough ... nooo.” She drew out the no.
Lorenzo had no idea.
“If he had told me what to do, it might have gone better,” Clarissa said. She was giggling. She put a finger to her lips. “But don’t say anything because a husband is always right. He has to always be right.” And she laughed.
Now it was time to take her back to the hotel. It didn’t take as long as usual to separate the girls, and he figured that was because Liana and Mia hadn’t joined in.
“You could have called us before they finished the first bottle,” Emilio said.
Lorenzo lifted Clarissa into his arms and held her tightly to him.
She snuggled in close. “I like when you hold me like this. You’re so lovely.” She pressed her face against his neck.
Fuck, he had missed this. He didn’t want her to stop. He held her tightly against him and didn’t want to let her go.
Lorenzo looked to his friends, but they didn’t need him to clarify what was going on. They all knew what was about to happen. He carried her out of the café and put her into the car. One of his guards sat in the driver’s seat, and he moved into the back, keeping Clarissa in her arms.
“I love when you hold me like this,” Clarissa said. “You know, I’ve always wanted to be a good wife to you but I ... you’re not meant to be mine.”
This made him frown. The few times Clarissa had gotten drunk, he knew it was best to stay silent and let her speak, and he learned so much about her.
“You’re my sister’s. That is who you’re supposed to marry. Not me. I’m the spare. The backup plan. Did you know my parents didn’t want me?” she asked. She didn’t wait for a response. “They got pregnant and were hoping for another son. I’ve got an older brother. You know that, right? Anyway, she was pregnant with a girl, and that was little old me. They didn’t need another girl, but they decided to have one. They would joke that I was the spare in case something happened to Isa—my sister.”
He had noticed she never called her sister by her name.
“Yep, I’m the spare, and as I grew up, I was the disappointment. I didn’t have beautiful, long blonde hair. I was a brunette. Boring and dull brown. I was not beautiful like my sister. She was a looker.” Clarissa sighed. “I was nothing but a disappointment. My sister was my best friend, though. She would call me ‘Mousey.’ We saw a garden mouse, and it was so happy, and it would run around all the time. She said I was like that. Always talking. Always making noise. I was her little mouse.”
Lorenzo held her.
“I miss her so much,” Clarissa said. “She made me feel loved and wanted. Like Grandma.”
He kissed the top of her head.
“But you’re not mine. You’re not supposed to be mine. You’re meant to marry my sister, not me. I’m here because I was the one that should have died that day.”
“Don’t,” he said.
“It should have been me. The ugly sister. The fat one.”
He pulled her close, because he couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her. There was no way he could tell her that he was glad she was his. He knew of her sister, but never met her. The engagement had been agreed to when the girl was fifteen. Like with Clarissa, he hadn’t wanted to meet his bride as a freaking child. He fought against the marriage, as he didn’t want a young bride.
Now he had Clarissa, and he had fallen for every part of her. He wanted to get to know all of her. Her grandmother had told him that one day, she hoped Clarissa would finally open up. He wanted that too, more than anything. But so far, that wasn’t happening.
“I’m going to be sick.”
And like all the other times, Clarissa couldn’t handle the alcohol, and he signaled to the driver to pull over. He learned the hard way the first time.
The moment the car came to a stop, he opened the door and held her out of it, pulling back her hair. Again, all a learning curve he had come to deal with.