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Theo’s strong arm suddenly blocked her path. A beat-up car honked loudly as it whizzed past.
Emmie gasped, realized she’d almost stepped into traffic on the street.
With her center of gravity already so off-kilter, she stumbled back, staggering in her tight mermaid skirt, falling back to the sidewalk—
Theo caught her. As their eyes locked, her white veil was caught by the breeze, whirling around them, lifting upward.
Sunlight frosted his dark hair, framing him with blue sky, making his black eyes luminous. She felt the strength of his body against hers, his powerful chest beneath his snug black T-shirt. The shape and power of his thickly muscled arms beneath her hands.
Her gaze fell to his mouth, and she shivered, breathless with sudden longing...
No!
“Pull me up,” she gasped. Struggling, she said hoarsely, “Let me go!”
Wordlessly, he set her on her feet. Cheeks hot, she ducked her head, turning to point at a two-story building on the next corner. “That’s it.”
Careful not to touch him, she led him past the street-level store emblazoned with old neon from her grandfather’s day in loopy cursive lettering:Swenson and Sons Plumbing. They reached a nondescript door. Typing in the security code, she led him up the stairs to the three-bedroom apartment where her family had always lived.
“Come in,” she said. “It’ll only take me a minute to change.”
“I’ll call Bernard and tell him where...” Theo’s voice trailed off as he looked around the living room.
Following his gaze, Emmie saw their cozy, too-small home in a new light. It suddenly looked shabby and cluttered. In the mad scramble before the wedding that morning, the sofa bed where her brother Joe slept had been left a mess of tangled sheets. Dirty clothes from various brothers were strewn over the floor. The kitchen table was covered with piles of empty pizza boxes from last night’s dinner, with yesterday’s dirty dishes stacked in the sink.
Her cheeks went hot as she followed his gaze.
“I didn’t have time to cook last night or tidy up as usual,” she stammered. “I was busy with the wedding cake...”
“You made that? Yourself?” Theo’s dark eyebrows rose, then he licked his lips. “It was good.”
“How do you know?”
Not answering, Theo looked around. “You do the cooking and cleaning for your family,” he said slowly, “as well as supporting them financially?”
She stiffened, sensing some criticism of her father. She said defensively, “My family’s had a hard time since my mother died—”
“Even before that, you were sending your father most of your paycheck.” When she jolted in surprise, Theo tilted his head in amusement. “Do you think I didn’t know why you first agreed to work for me?”
Emmie ducked her head, embarrassed. “There were medical bills,” she mumbled. “My father’s hopeless with anything that doesn’t require a hand tool, and my brothers, well—” she smiled weakly “—they wouldn’t see a mess if they tripped on it.”
“I see.” He turned away, looking from the dated, worn furniture to the sparkling-clean windows and old carpet beneath her brothers’ discarded clothes, which still had lines from the vacuum cleaner she’d used yesterday morning. Faded photographs, school photos, and black-and-white images of her grandparents lined the walls, covering faded wallpaper.
She flinched a little. She could only imagine what he was thinking. Theo Katrakis could have his pick of gorgeous, glamorous women, heiresses, royalty, movie stars. Was he already regretting the surprise pregnancy that had forced him to propose marriage to a plain, plump nobody from Queens?
She turned away. “Wait here. It’ll just take me a moment to pack.”
“Don’t bother. You won’t need anything.”
Emmie turned back to him. “What do you mean? Won’t we live at your penthouse after we’re married?”
He looked over her wedding dress. “Tell me you’re not planning to wearthatagain.”
“No,” she said, insulted by his obvious opinion of her mother’s gown. Even if she herself had been thinking it was ugly earlier, that didn’t give him the same right.
Theo shook his head. “Then, there’s nothing for you to pack.Especiallynot those bargain-bin pantsuits.”
They’d been more than a bargain. She’d gotten the suits used from a thrift store for five dollars each. But he didn’t need to know that. She lifted her chin. “Maybe Ilikethose bargain pantsuits. Did you ever think of that?”
