Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife: A Marriage of Convenience Office Romance (The Harder They Fall)

NIDDHI, AMELIA, CHARLIE, AND I were out to lunch at Niddhi’s favorite Thai place. She was still in a downward spiral over her ex, who now had a serious girlfriend and was blasting their relationship all over social media.

This was a cheer-up lunch, and I was more than pleased to have been invited into this tight little group.

Plus, the pad thai and gaeng daeng were off-the-charts delicious. Better than I had when I’d visited Thailand.

I felt a little bad for being in such a good mood when Amelia had just swooped a tearful Niddhi to the bathroom to help her clean up her makeup, but I was. Luca and I were finally going to talk tonight, and maybe I’d get my cat soon.

Charlie reached across and swiped a piece of fried basil from my plate. “How is this so good?”

I swatted his arm. “Watch it. I take my food seriously. The next time you steal from me, I can’t promise I won’t stab you with my fork.”

He gave me a playful shove back. “Sharing is caring, Saorise.” His playful expression suddenly dropped. “Oh shit. Why is the CEO looking at us like that?”

Turning my head, I followed his line of sight, landing on Luca. He was on the other side of the restaurant, his thunderous glare aimed directly at the two of us. I gave him a small smile, which seemed to cause his frown to deepen. I didn’t know what else to do since we were still under wraps. It wasn’t like a temporary employee could waltz over to the CEO for a chat.

“He’s not going to last, you know.”

I whipped around to face Charlie. “What do you mean?”

“Have you heard anything about Luca Rossi?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

He leaned in, speaking low, even though there was no chance Luca would be able to hear him from the other side of the restaurant. “He’s at clubs every weekend, always getting his pictures taken. I’ve heard rumors he’s had multiple DUIs, which have been dismissed from bribes. They also say his sister is the one who really runs the company. He’s just the face of it…for now.”

“That sounds like a lot of rumors based on nothing but gossip.” I had to fight the snarl that wanted to come out and play. I barely knew Luca, but by the nature of our relationship, he had my loyalty, and I didn’t love the way Charlie was speaking about him. “Besides, I don’t think it’s a great idea to root against the CEO of the company you work for.”

He shrugged. “I was a big fan of his father. I’m reserving my judgment for the son.”

A laugh burst out of me. “This is you reserving your judgment?”

He snickered. “I guess not. But you’re right. I should give him a chance.” He peered in Luca’s direction. “Looks like he’s gone now. We can relax again.”

Niddhi and Amelia chose that moment to bustle back to the table, Niddhi’s streaks of mascara all cleaned up. She dove straight for the plate of spring rolls in the middle of the table.

“What did we miss?” Amelia asked as she shook out her napkin.

I waved my chopsticks at Charlie. “Just a little bashing of the CEO, that’s all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Charlie only dislikes Luca Rossi because he’s hotter than him.”

Charlie made a strangled sound. “That’s—”

She pinned him with a hard stare. “It’s true and you know it. But Luca Rossi is hotter than ninety-eight percent of the male population, so don’t get too disheartened.”

When we arrived back at the office, I noticed a few people looking at me as I walked by them on my way to my desk. I wondered why I was suddenly so interesting. I checked the compact mirror I kept in my desk drawer. There wasn’t food on my face or blouse, so I shrugged it off. I had a full inbox of emails to answer and tasks to complete before the end of the day.

The subject of the company-wide email from Luca Rossi, CEO of Rossi Motors, stopped me in my tracks.

Personal Announcement

Holy shit. He couldn’t have.

I clicked it, the blood draining from my face when it opened. At the very top of the email was a picture Judge Hernandez had taken of us on our wedding day.

He’d done it.

He’d really done it.

Without any discussion, Luca had announced our marriage to the entire company.

Dear Rossi employees,

It is my intention as your CEO to be honest and open with you. Sometimes that will mean sharing bad news and personal failures, but other times, like now, I’ll share my triumphs.

It’s with great happiness I announce my marriage to my new bride, Saoirse Kelly-Rossi. We were married in a private ceremony at our home, and we’re looking forward to what the future has in store for us.

Thank you for your continued support of Rossi Motors, the Rossi family, and of me.

Yours,

Luca Rossi

As soon as I finished reading, Charlie walked into my cubicle, waving his phone around.

“Is this you? Is he talking about you?”

Swallowing, I nodded slowly and forced out a grin. “Surprise!”

The furrow in his brow belied his carefully measured words. “Congratulations are in order then.”

“Thank you, Charlie.”

Silence stretched between us as he stared at my computer monitor. I realized belatedly my wedding picture was filling the screen.

I was all out of grace and subtilty when I minimized it, but it snapped Charlie’s attention back to me.

“You could have told me at lunch instead of letting me spout off. I feel like an idiot.”

“No, don’t.” I was going to kill Luca for putting me in this position. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And don’t worry about what you said. I won’t repeat it.”

His shoulders slumped forward. “Thanks for that.”

I fielded several more visits before Amelia sent out a department-wide email reminding everyone it was still a workday and to keep private matters outside of the office. The visits petered out after that, but I had no doubt I was the subject of many interoffice private messages.

And yet, I hadn’t heard a single thing from Luca.

Foregoing an email, I texted him.

Me: Send me the code for the elevator. We need to talk.

Luca: I’m busy now, Saoirse. We’ll talk tonight as planned.

Me: A little late for that, isn’t it? While you’re locked in your executive tower, I’m with the rest of your employees. Send the code, or I’ll “reply all” to your email and tell everyone about your fetish.

Luca: What fetish do I have?

Me: Don’t be coy. I know all about your collection of toenails.

Luca: Jesus. Why did I think you’d make my life easier? Check your badge. You’ll find you now have clearance to the executive floor. Perks of being my wife.

Me: I’m on my way. Prepare to meet your maker, Rossi.

Luca was sitting calmly behind his desk when I arrived.

“Are you kidding me?” I seethed, charging toward his desk. I braced my hands on it, leaning down so we were face to face. “This isn’t what we planned.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Plans change. We would have discussed it over lunch, but you were busy.”

My eyes flared. “I know you saw me with my coworkers. I saw you too.”

“Coworkers? I only saw one, and the two of you looked really familiar with each other.”

“You only saw one because two of them were in the bathroom.” Straightening, I slapped my forehead. “Is that why you did this? You sent a company-wide email because you were jealous?”

“Jealous? No.” He pushed back from his desk, stood, and rounded to my side. I turned to face him head-on. His eyes were nearly black as they flitted back and forth between mine. “If I’m going to be inconvenienced by having a wife, I expect her not to date other men during our marriage. That’s not asking for too much, is it?”

My breath caught at his harsh manner. “Inconvenienced?”

He picked up my left hand. “Is it too much to ask for you to wear your rings?”

“Are you wearing yours?”

His jaw tightened, and he leaned in so our foreheads were almost touching. The heated way he looked at me made me unsure whether he was going to throttle me or kiss me. I was millimeters from taking the decision from him when his office door flung open.

“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.”

I blinked at him, not feeling like much of a fan of CEO Luca. “Am I being dismissed?”

“You can stand there for as long as you want to, but I have a lot I need to get through in order to leave the office before your eight o’clock bedtime.”

“I don’t go to bed at eight.” It was more like ten, but still. Couldn’t a girl like her sleep without being judged?

“Close enough. I’ll see you tonight, Saoirse.”

Spinning on my toes, I headed for the door. With my hand on the knob, I looked over my shoulder. Luca’s eyes were on me.

“Your sister seems pretty amazing.”

He lowered his chin, his mouth curving slightly. “Yeah, she is.”

“Your brother-in-law, though…” I rolled my lips over my teeth, and Luca’s shoulders vibrated with silent laughter.

“Yeah, he is.”

I was sifting through Luca’s pile of take-out menus he kept in one of his kitchen drawers. It seemed, like me, he was a fan of holding a menu in his hands rather than scrolling through them on his phone.

I was thinking we’d have burgers for dinner. I had no idea if Luca even liked hamburgers, but he’d left me in charge, so he’d have to live with whatever I decided.

A knock on the front door interrupted my rumination. Before I could even hop up to answer it, I heard the sound of the dead bolt clicking, followed by two voices.

“Luca?” A woman.

“He’s not home yet. I told you that.” A man.

Oh shit. What was I supposed to do? I was in the kitchen, so I had my choice of weapons, but maybe hiding was the best plan. Thieves didn’t typically steal from pantries, did they?

My feet were still glued to the floor in panic when the intruders rounded the corner into the kitchen. The three of us stared at each other for a long, tension-filled moment.

As I took them in, it became crystal clear they weren’t thieves. The woman looked to be a well-kept sixty, with a thick, creamy blonde bob and elegant understated makeup. There was nothing understated about the rock on her finger or the gleam of rubies in her ears.

The man was of a similar age. Dressed in tailored trousers and a starched button-down, he towered over the petite women by his side. His salt-and-pepper hair and the subtle wrinkles on his angular face did nothing to take away from the stark resemblance to his son.

There was no question these were Luca’s parents.

I raised my trembling hand. “Hi. I’m Saoirse. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Rossi.”

His mother covered her mouth with one hand and clutched her husband’s arm with the other. Mr. Rossi’s reaction was more subtle, rocking back on his heels as he took me in.

“We thought Luca was playing a prank on us.” He cleared his throat. “It appears his news is legitimate. You’re married to my son.”

I nodded once. “I am. And believe me when I say I wish you hadn’t found out this way.”

Mrs. Rossi sucked in a breath, and I braced myself.

It was a good thing I did because the next thing she did was rush at me.