“Agreed,” Maggie said. “ But we have to stick together on one point. They need to be taught a lesson.”
“Absolutely. What do you think we should do?” Carina asked.
Her sister-in-law grinned. “It’s what we don’t do. No sex tonight.”
Silence.
Julietta knew how they felt. Sure, she was mad at Sawyer, but she still looked forward to climbing into bed with him after girls’ night out.
Alexa sank back into gloom. “Good-bye painful bikini wax.”
Carina pursed her lips. “Couldn’t we just torture them a lot in bed?”
Maggie shook her head firmly. “No. It will drive the lesson home. Just tonight. Hell, by the time we all get home, we’ll be exhausted, and they’ll be sleeping anyway. We won’t suffer at all. But this needs to be a united agreement.”
Julietta rallied. After all, it would be the easiest for her.
And a night alone might be the best thing for both of them.
“Agreed.”
Carina and Alexa chimed in.
Maggie rubbed her palms together, green eyes sparkling. “Great. They have music starting in a few, so we can dance. Now that we’re not having sex, let’s talk about sex.”
Her gaze swung around like a radar. “Starting with Julietta.
Spill.”
“Me?” She ducked her head to fight the color in her cheeks and took a sip of her Kahlúa. “Uh, it’s good. We’re good.”
Carina giggled. “you’re blushing. That says it all.”
Curiosity made her face her sister. “Hmm, since you could have been in my place, maybe I should ask you. Didn’t you spend some time with Sawyer before Max?”
Carina made a face. “I didn’t fool around with my new brother-in-law, Julietta! We shared a short kiss that meant nothing. He was a nice distraction while I trying to make Max jealous. But he had all this brooding, sexual energy that seemed quite yummy for the right woman. It wasn’t like that at all between us.” Her dark eyes sparkled. “But with you he’s so different. Calmer. Happier.”
Julietta jerked back. “really? How do you know?”
The women shared a worried glance. “Why do you seem surprised?” Carina asked gently. “you got married. you’re obviously madly in love. Is something else going on?”
odd, she’d always been close to her sisters but had never shared her personal secrets. Venezia was too different to understand, and Carina was always too young. The girlfriends she hung with were always chosen from work and rarely scratched the deeper surface of sharing thoughts, dreams, and fears. Her innate loneliness had become such a part of her makeup, she’d never thought to question it. But since Sawyer had stormed into her life, she craved more.
Including friendship.
Her heart pounded and she dragged her sweaty palms down the length of her skirt. “We didn’t elope like we told everyone. We had to get married.”
Carina gasped. “Are you pregnant?”
“No. Mama made us.”
A short silence fell over the table. The sounds of the band starting up, glass tinkling, and laughter rang out.
Maggie cleared her throat. “Umm, Julietta, I think you need to tell us everything.”
Julietta did. When she was done with the whole story, a lightness tingled through her body. For the first time, she didn’t feel so isolated. How silly of her to be so afraid of opening up. The serious looks on their faces told her how much they cared about her, and that her fight was theirs.
Carina took her hand and squeezed. “I’m so sorry, Julietta. I had no idea you were going through this.
Meanwhile, I was telling the girls we finally had proof the love-spell book worked.”
The memory of creating the love spell and burning her list in the fire shimmered before her. Such an odd coinci-dence. “Nope, I guess this time it didn’t have the power. At least not compared to Mama.”
Carina took a deep breath. “I have my own truth to tell.
Mama made me marry Max.”
Julietta gasped. “What are you talking about? you married in Vegas.”
Her sister nodded. “We slept together. Mama came to visit and found us. She threatened Max and me, and we ended up eloping.”
Maggie drained her margarita in one long gulp. “you guys are starting to freak me out here. you’re making her sound like some crazy mob boss.”
“Her reasons were solid, and Mama is very strict on tra-ditional values and doing the right thing. She also told me she knew I was in love with Max and that she would never have forced me to marry someone I didn’t love.”
“Weird. Two forced marriages in one family.” Maggie frowned, as if a thought flickered past. “you know, I’m not sure you know this, but your brother and I weren’t really married when we came to visit you guys. It was supposed to be a fake to let Venezia get married.”
Julietta’s mouth slid open. “No. Not possible.”
“yeah. I never planned on saying anything, but it seems this is confession time.” She gave a laugh. “of course, the fake marriage ended up real when your mother surprised us. Father richard showed up, and all of a sudden, I was saying vows and . . .” She trailed off. “oh. My. God. Do you think Mama knew we were faking it? She was sick, and Michael was afraid to say no.”
Carina pressed her lips together. “remember how surprised we all were when she was perfectly fine a few hours later? Like nothing ever happened. Maggie, I bet she knew and forced you to marry Michael!”
They all lapsed into quiet, analyzing the actions of the woman who’d raised them. Maggie whistled. “Damn, she is a mob boss. A love-mob boss. I don’t know whether to yell at her or kiss her.”
Alexa spoke up. “Umm, since we’re all confessing how we fell for our husbands, I think it’s my turn. Mama Conte wasn’t involved, though. But I ended up marrying Nick for money to save my mother’s home. We struck a bargain to be married for a year. No sex, no love, nothing.” She grinned.
“of course, that didn’t work out the way we planned, thank God. We fell in love and eventually worked it out. But isn’t it strange how all of us at this table were forced to marry our husbands?”
Maggie grabbed her wallet and slid off the stool. “Wait here. I’m getting another round for everyone. We need some serious alcohol.”
Carina leaned across the table. “you need to tell him the truth, Julietta. He loves you—I see it in his eyes when he looks at you. And the way he treats Wolfe? He watched over him the whole time at Mama’s. Making sure he was comfortable, trying to engage him in conversation. When Dante jumped on his lap and Wolfe smiled, Sawyer looked so damn happy it was like he was his father.”
Alexa nodded. “Sometimes you have to take your shot.
It may have started because Mama Conte bullied you and on paper it sounded like a good arrangement, but he has real feelings for you. He’s probably terrified, and you’ll need to take the plunge. What do you have to lose?”
Everything.
“It could change us,” she whispered. “As long as we don’t push, things can stay the same. We’re content. We still have each other. Maybe with more time, he’ll come around.
Sawyer was very clear he doesn’t believe in love.”
Alexa smiled gently. “Nick was the same way. Something was broken inside, but eventually we were able to heal it together. He still has some flashbacks from his lousy par-ents, but we deal with it. He knows I’m not going anywhere.
Sawyer needs to know you’ll fight for him. you deserve happiness, Julietta. A real marriage. Maybe children one day.”
Carina nodded. “And if Sawyer can’t give this to you, you may have to make a choice. When Max and I had trouble, I realized it became more about me. I didn’t think I was worthy of him. Took a while to get my head on straight and then I got him back. Something tells me you’ve always avoided relationships for a very good reason. once you figure it out, you don’t have to be scared any longer.”