Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife (The Harder They Fall, #2)(35)

“Married?”

We jumped apart at the indignant screech. A smartly dressed pregnant woman with tidy hair and Luca’s eyes stood in the doorway, her head swiveling back and forth between us.

Luca’s arms crossed over his chest. “Knock next time, Clara.”

She cupped her round belly. “You’re married, Luca? Are you kidding me? We just had lunch and you didn’t say a single word.”

A man hovered behind her. He was what my sister-in-law, Elena, dubbed “Medium.” Everything about him was in the middle. Height, coloring, looks. For Clara’s sake—since I recognized him as her husband, Miller Fairfield—I hoped he had the personality to make up for his lack of everything else.

Clara strode right to me, holding out her hand. I took a step to meet her, sliding my hand into hers to shake. Then I used my best training from my life as a politician’s daughter.

“Hi, I’m Saoirse. It’s really nice to meet you, even under surprising circumstances.”

That wasn’t a lie. I wanted to meet all of Luca’s family, but Clara had intrigued me the most since she was his big sister, and from all accounts, they were fairly close. Also, I’d always had an interest in high-powered women. And Clara Rossi-Fairfield exuded power, even flustered and red-faced.

Miller followed his wife, shaking my hand after her. “Miller Fairfield. Rossi’s CFO and Clara’s husband.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

My nose twitched since this was less than the truth. I knew nothing about Miller, but his immediate vibes were so blah, they were off-putting.

The corners of Clara’s eyes pinched. “I wish this wasn’t the first time I’m hearing of you, Saoirse. If I’d known my brother already had a wife, I wouldn't have spent so much time trying to fix him up with a suitable woman.”

I let out a soft, breathy laugh. “It would be great if you didn’t push my husband to date any longer.”

Luca’s presence hit me a beat before he wrapped his arm around my back, settling his palm over my hip. “Clara, Miller, this is my wife, Saoirse. We were going to tell the family together, but I was hit with a sudden surge of possessiveness this afternoon and couldn’t stop myself from informing everyone this beautiful woman is mine.”

She gave him a very sarcastic thumbs-up. “Cool. Next time, get her name tattooed on your bicep. We don’t send emails to the entire company on a whim, Luca. I think you know the minimum you should have done was run it by me, but really, legal should have been pulled in as well.”

His fingers curled into my hip. “In the future, I’ll do that. But what’s done is done. I can’t exactly unspill this news.”

I slid my hand over his, weaving our fingers together. “I would have stopped him if I’d known he was going to do it. But we both know when Luca has an idea—”

“There’s no stopping him,” Clara finished. “Yes. Thirty-one years of Luca Rossi has taught me that.”

Luca cleared his throat. “Well, you’ve met. Now you can go, and we can all get back to work.”

She scoffed. “Do you actually believe that’s the end of it? I have questions, Luca, and you will answer them.” Then she smiled at me, and there was a heavy dose of kindness behind it. “You’re beautiful and elegant and seem to like my brother for some reason. I’ll get your number from Luca—”

He chuffed. “I don’t want the two of you meeting without me.”

“Bypass Luca and email me. It’s my first and last name at Rossi Motors.”

Her brows rose. “You’re a Rossi employee?”

“Only a temp.”

Luca cleared his throat again. “Actually, as of five minutes ago, your new email is Saoirse Rossi at Rossi Motors dot com.”

I bit down on my tongue. Hard. Luca was obviously used to making unilateral decisions, but that wasn’t going to fly. Still, I knew enough to discuss this in private.

Clara pressed her hands together. “You’ll have an email from me with all my contact information very soon.” She jabbed a finger at her brother. “We’ll talk later.”

“Uh, Luca.” Miller held up a finger. “We need to set aside some time to discuss the Grave Business Report. They published an article—”

“Miller.” Clara’s sharp tone and clenched jaw drew everyone’s eyes to her and stopped her husband in his tracks.

What the hell is that about?

Luca filled the thick silence. “Send me the link and your thoughts, please. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have the chance.”

Mollified, Miller nodded and let his wife lead the way out of the office, his hand on the small of her back. As soon as they crossed the threshold, they went their separate ways without a word to each other.

Luca circled his desk, taking his seat behind it. I stood there with my hands on my hips.

He raised his eyes to me. “I can’t do this right now.”

“Are you going to actually come home tonight?”

“I come home every night.”

“Pfft. After I’m asleep, and you leave before I come downstairs. Can you try to be home earlier so we can make a plan?”

He folded his hands on a tidy stack of papers. “I’ll be home by seven. We can have dinner together and talk.” Then he waved me off. “Order takeout. I’m good with whatever you like.”