“You can open your eyes now.” Vincent’s soothing voice reached Natalie’s ears, and she stopped her incessant humming. “Natalie, did you hear me?”
“I did,” she replied and squinted one eye open, followed by the other. “We’re here?’
The truck shut off, and he jangled the keys for her to see. “We’re here.”
She slumped in the passenger seat with a grateful groan. “Thank God. I was close to passing out the last few miles.”
“Hence humming the Star Trek theme for the past fifteen minutes?”
Cringing, she undid her seatbelt and leaned over the console to kiss him. “You know you love me for all my weirdness.”
“I love you for more than that,” he added, reaching a hand around to squeeze her ass.
If they weren’t in a truck, she would crawl to his lap and show him just how excited she was to be in a non-moving vehicle, but he pulled away and turned her face to look around them. An old stone and brick house stood before them, surrounded as he’d promised by gardens of beautiful flowers and cacti, and the Cyprus trees with their low-hanging branches swayed in the evening breeze.
“Wow,” she beamed, stepping out of the truck in a rush. “Oh, wow!”
She spun around in a circle, taking in the open land surrounding the house. In the distance, she could see a herd of cattle. In another field closer by were several horses, moving through the tall grass waving in the wind. They whinnied at the sight of people, and her boots crunched across the gravel as she walked to the fence.
“Do you think you could be happy here for a weekend?”
“Just one?” she lamented as Vincent placed his boot on the bottom fence rail.
“I was thinking every weekend—that we can get away, of course.”
“Now that sounds like the perfect adventure to me. Even with the two-hour car ride.”
He draped his arm over her shoulders, and they stood side by side, watching the sun sink lower on the horizon as the horses continued to graze without a care in the world. The fresh air filled her lungs, and Natalie wiped a tear from her eye. She’d missed this so much more than she realized. Being outside, being on a new adventure, and there she was with her husband, on his land, with so many activities calling out to her.
“Unpack and we’ll rustle up some dinner. I was thinking burgers tonight?”
She snickered as she climbed up into the bed of the truck to undo the straps around their suitcases. “Your burgers or my burgers?”
His dark look had her chortling. “Yours. You know, at least I try to cook every now and then.”
“And I will always eat whatever burnt and weird food you serve me,” she informed him. Once the suitcases were unloaded, she stomped to the tailgate and fell into his waiting arms. “Just because I love you.”
“Damn straight, woman,” he grumbled, and before she could get away, he slung her over his shoulder, spanking her ass as he carried her into the house. “Now, let’s get this honeymoon started right. Whiskey and burgers.”
* * *
Billy grumbledwhen his cell went off in the middle of the night. He covered his head with his pillow and tried to tune it out as another alert went off, and another, but finally gave up. With a curse, he reached out a hand, feeling for it. He brought it to his face, under his pillow, and squinted at the news alert.
Latest Scandal About to Rock Cunningham Campaign.
“What?” Wide awake now, Billy shot up in bed and clicked on the alert. His eyes skimmed the article, hinting at a larger one to come by Sunday morning. He was already on the phone with the man in charge of media alerts. When Jeff finally answered, Billy screamed at him to figure out what the hell was going on.
“What’s the scandal?” Jeff asked frantically.
“Just figure out where this asshole is getting his information, if he has any. I don’t want that article to hit on Sunday.”
“So there is a scandal? Billy, what’s going on, man?”
“Nothing, just do your job. I’ll try and get ahold of Vincent.” He hung up and dialed his boss and friend. There was no answer. After an hour, there was still no answer. Billy could drive out there himself, but that was overdoing it. Hopefully, they could stop the article before it hit the web or the papers and everything would be fine.
The pit in his stomach said everything was about to fall apart.
* * *
Lana lockedher car and glanced around the street for her fiancé. They were meeting at the florist at the end of the block to pick out flowers for their wedding in September. She checked her cell again, worried she’d messed up the day or the time, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss,” a man in a fedora said.
“Oh, hello. Can I help you?”
“I believe you can. Where is your husband today, Mrs. Cunningham?”
“Huh? Oh no, you have me confused with my sister. I’m Lana,” she said and held out her hand with a bright smile on her face. “And who are you?”
“Hank Butcher, ma’am. I’m sorry for the mix-up. I’ve been hoping to talk to your sister.”
“Oh, well, she’s been pretty busy lately,” Lana informed him. “I’m sure you could always call her and leave a message or something.”
“I suppose I will have to do something of the sort. Does it happen often, you two getting mixed up?”
Lana shrugged, uneasiness settling her stomach. She looked around for her fiancé again, but he wasn’t in sight. “Sometimes. We got used to it after a while. And there are a few differences if you’re paying attention. Most identical twins have at least one or two small details that are different. “My eyes are darker,” Lana rambled, gripping her phone tighter in her hand. “And I have a tiny freckle on my chin that she doesn’t. And then there’s the piercings and tattoos, of course. Those help quite a bit. I’m sorry, who did you say you were again?”
“Hank Butcher, and thank you. That is very useful information.”
“Useful? For what?” Panic set in and her hands shook as the man leered at her and swiped his finger across his phone before holding it up to her.
“So would this be you, then, on that marriage website?”
“What? What marriage website?” Lana fumbled for words as she stared at her photograph on the phone, her profile listed beneath it. “I don’t know what that is or how you got that picture, but you need to leave me alone, right now.”
“I’m just curious. if Vincent Cunningham went through all that trouble to pick you, how did he wind up with your sister? Although a change was made to the marriage license. Interesting story, don’t you think?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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