Wedded Or Worse Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Wedded or Worse

  Copyright

  Thank You!

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue

  Books by Brynn Paulin

  Wedded or Worse

  Beyond the Law

  By Brynn Paulin

  Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Powered by Your Imagination

  Wedded or Worse

  by

  Brynn Paulin

  We’ve been enemies since childhood, but now, we’re both forced to work on an undercover assignment together--an assignment where we have to pretend to be married. I can’t imagine what will be worse, married to my enemy or having to say goodbye to him when the assignment is over.

  Copyright

  © 2021, Brynn Paulin

  Wedded or Worse

  Cover Art by Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Electronic Format ISBN: 978-1-62344-389-4

  Published by: Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  Thank You!

  Thank you for your purchase of Wedded or Worse.

  I hope you enjoy the story and will consider leaving a review or telling a friend about the book.

  I love hearing from readers! To keep in touch and follow my news, please visit me on my website at www.brynnpaulin.com.

  Chapter One

  ~ Wynter Bruni ~

  I was clicking away at my computer, following an evidence trail down a rabbit hole and into a winding warren, when I realized he was standing in my office doorway. Detective Maverick Santori. The man of my nightmares. My nemesis.

  “What?” I said, not looking away from my screen.

  “What are you doing?”

  “None of your business. Not your case.”

  “Chief wants you. Us, actually. I was sent to get you.”

  I sighed, half-growling, as I locked my computer and stood. For the first time since he’d interrupted me, I let my gaze take him in. Maverick—Mav to just about everyone—had beach boy good looks, with unruly sun-streaked blond curls, and blue-gray eyes. As a detective, he kept himself fit, looking mouthwatering in casual clothes and suits.

  And didn’t it piss me off that I noticed any of that. Right now, he wore a suit with the panache of a Hollywood A-lister and a small smirk that told me he knew he was hot. As I followed him toward the chief’s office, I didn’t check out his butt. I didn’t. God knew if I wanted to do that, I could just eye him at home.

  Yeah…at home.

  That was a weird situation. We both lived at the Santori compound. Him, because his parents, Dom and Mira Santori, owned it, and for me, because my father was one of Dom’s top men. Which made it all sound very mafia. It wasn’t. Not anymore, anyhow. Once upon a time, before Dom took over, it had been deep in the underworld.

  From my understanding, the change hadn’t been easy, but Dom had been determined. But still, the structure of the organization, though legal, remained the same.

  I wasn’t naïve enough to believe everything was on the up and up. I suspected no one else in town believed they were squeaky clean, either, but everyone accepted the organization and didn’t dig into it. The Santoris kept things clean from gun running, as well as drug running, and other mafia organizations stayed clear of Silver Falls.

  Mav stopped at the doorway and waved me to go ahead of him. “After you, principessa.”

  “Don’t call me that,” I muttered. That’s what his dad called his mom, but I was pretty sure Mav called me princess in a very mocking way.

  He made a please huffing sound, his fingers trailing down my spine as he guided me inside the office. I didn’t shiver at the touch. I didn’t!

  “Have a seat,” Chief Poirot said, indicating the chairs opposite his desk. Sitting, I crossed my ankles and clasped my hands in my lap, waiting for him to speak. Conversely, Mav slouched into a classic man-spread, his knee almost touching mine, since the furniture was fairly closely spaced.

  “I have an assignment for you two. Undercover. It’s not exactly on our books. It came from a precinct in Crystal River because they need our assistance. A couple not readily recognizable there.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said.

  “You’re going undercover, posing as a married couple.”

  That brought Mav to attention. He sat up, tension visibly threading through him. “Wyn isn’t a detective. She’s not trained. You can’t send her undercover.”

  Our boss raised his eyebrow at Mav, challenging him to keep speaking. Mav’s lips snapped shut, but the way his jaw moved, his teeth were grinding together. Geez, he was that angry about working with me? Yeah, we were barely civil, but we could do whatever needed to be done.

  “What is it?” I asked Poirot. Mav wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t been through the police academy or detective training. There was no way they were sending me to do something dangerous.

  I was wrong. So wrong.

  * * * *

  “Hello, wife.”

  I growled, walking away from Mav and toward the compound’s main kitchen. I almost wished he’d go back to principessa. I couldn’t believe this. I couldn’t understand why I had to leave here tomorrow morning and pretend I was Mav’s wife.

  Okay, that wasn’t true. I understood. I just hated it.

  Apparently, there was no one else in these two small stations, three hours apart, to carry out this case. I didn’t believe it. Crystal River was a small tourist city. Surely, their police had the resources. But they wanted someone unknown. Someone clearly not local.

  Mav was chomping at the bit for this, his excitement only tempered by the fact I had to be his partner on the case.

  Yeah, I’m not too thrilled about it either, Buddy.

  As the hours passed, though, he seemed to embrace the idea. Me? Not so much. I wasn’t trained to do stuff like this. I couldn’t tell anyone about the job, either. Besides being police business, God forbid, my father, one of the top men in the Santori organization, found out about the assignment. I’d have bodyguards all over my ass.

  And that would hinder the investigation.

  After all, Mav and I were practically bait: me for kidnapping and him for blackmail. Good times.

  Ignoring him and the fact he was following on my heels, I entered the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge, pulling out a Coke and a huge slice of chocolate cake. I headed for the table and sank into a chair with my bounty in front of me.

  “Stressed?” he asked as he sat opposite me. His arms stretched onto the table before him, his pointer fingers linked while he watched me.

  My fork sank into the decadent cake. “Why would you ask that?”

  I almost moaned as I closed my lips around the fork. Mav swallowed hard. He nodded toward my food. “Cake and Coke… It’s kind of your prescription for stress relief. It always has been.”

  I didn’t ask how he knew that. He’d cataloged too many little details about me. I swore it was so he could annoy better.

  I shrugged. Slowly, I chewed my
cake. Rather than answering him, I savored the chocolate melting in my mouth. “Who knows when I’ll have it again?” I said after a long moment. “Apparently, I’m being sent into the lion’s den.”

  “Nothing’s happening to you,” he grated. “I’ll never let anyone touch you.”

  My throat closed as I tried to swallow my food. Unable to escape his intense perusal, I stared at him with wide eyes.

  “You can’t promise that.”

  “God help anyone who tries to harm you, amore mio. I will kill them.”

  “Maverick…”

  He leaned forward, resting harder on his arms as he got closer. “I’ve waited for years, Wyn. Years. I fulfilled my promise to your father to wait. I know you hate me now, but know this. You are mine and nothing is changing that.”

  Chapter Two

  ~ Maverick ~

  Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I waited for Wyn to come out of the house. Our bags were already in the trunk, and I knew she was dragging her feet because she didn’t want to do this… Or she was still running from what I’d said last night.

  It was probably both.

  At my words yesterday, she’d gotten to her feet and nearly sprinted from the kitchen. I could have easily caught her, but I let her go. I’d have her captive in this car for the next few hours, then I’d pour on all the attention and affection I’d been holding back for years.

  She’d been my obsession for as long as I could remember. I’d been ready to step in and claim her when she turned sixteen. I’d been eighteen, but willing to wait to have sex with her. I just wanted the world to know she belonged to me. I’d wanted the freedom to kiss her and hold her whenever I wanted. Her dad had cornered me and made me promise to wait.

  When she turned eighteen, I was ready. But he’d stepped in again. Let her finish college, he’d asked. We’d argued, but in the end I’d caved, only out of respect for the man who’d be my father-in-law. Spending life with the man as an adversary wouldn’t make for an easy marriage. Along with college classes, I was in training for my job anyway.

  Hiding my feelings and my need for her had been damn difficult. By the time she’d graduated college, she thought I hated her. Hardly. And I’d been figuring out a way to get her where I needed her, so I could make my intentions clear.

  My body lit up when she walked out of the house in jeans and a red blouse. Both contoured to her lush body. Matching red pumps added inches to her height, and I saw just the hint of gold at her collar.

  It was that gold that gave me hope. Though I wasn’t supposed to know, I was very aware of what it was. Wyn still wore the necklace I’d given her for her sixteenth birthday, a gift that was supposed to be accompanied by my declaration of love. A piece of jewelry that had allowed me to know exactly where she was every minute of every day the past six years.

  Yeah, I was that guy. And I wasn’t sorry about it at all.

  Jumping out of the car, I ran around to open the door for her. “Good morning, amore mio.”

  “Mav, stop,” she whispered.

  “Never.” I helped her inside my low-slung sports car, a vehicle I never drove to work, then leaned in and fastened her seatbelt. My lips brushed her cheek then whispered across her ear. “Never ever, principessa mio.”

  Her lips parted, her gaze a little stunned as she watched me circle back to the other side of the car. “You don’t have to start pretending yet,” she grumbled as I settled behind the wheel.

  “Not pretending.” I sped from the circular drive and down the long stretch to the main road.

  “Oh, right. Suddenly, you’re interested in me.”

  “Nothing sudden about it.” My fingers tapped on the steering wheel. I hadn’t thought we’d get this all out in the open now, but I guessed we might as well. Then we could start fresh.

  “What are you talking about? You can’t even be in a room with me. And when you are, you’re always going out of your way to antagonize me. And now…I’m yours? You want me?”

  “I was only following orders.”

  “Orders? Whose orders?”

  I glanced at the directional screen in the dash, noting my turn off. Then ignoring it, I turned onto a side road that led to a park near the Santori complex. The car slid into a spot in the tree-lined parking lot that overlooked a small pond, currently filled with ducks and swans.

  Shifting in my seat, I faced her. I needed to look Wyn in the face when I said this. “Your father. He told me to leave you alone until you finished college.”

  “I’ve been done with college for six months.”

  “Yeah, I know. Every minute of you hating me has been hell. No matter what I do, you’re still pissed at me.”

  “I—”

  I took her hand and brought it to my lips, pressing a kiss to her fingers. Not letting go, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box I’d stuffed there. I flicked it open with my thumb.

  “Maverick,” Wyn gasped, looking down at the diamond. “When did you get a ring? That’s not something the station gave you to use.”

  “Fuck no. I had this made for you the month before you turned eighteen.”

  “I…” She watched me slide the large solitaire and the matching band onto her finger.

  “More than anything, I wish I was giving these to you while a priest pronounced us married and blessed us, but there’s no way I’m putting some shitty band from the detective’s unit on your finger.”

  And maybe there was a tracker in the band… Yes, there was one in her necklace, but a man couldn’t be too careful. Fuck, if I could chip her like my mom had her dog, I would. But Wyn would never go for that. She’d probably be pissed about the dog analogy, too, so that suggestion would never pass my lips.

  Wyn stared at me in shocked wonder. Her lips parted slightly while she slowly shook her head. “You’ve wanted to marry me all this time? I thought you hated me.”

  “Never.” I desperately wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her. “I could never hate you, amore mio. I promise you, I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe while we do this case. And when we get back, if you’ll let me, I’ll spend every moment I can proving my feelings for you. And if you won’t let me… Well, I’ll probably be a pain in your ass because you’re mine and I’m not ever giving up.”

  “I can’t believe my dad made you wait.”

  “He asked me, and he made a good point. He wanted you to finish your degree without being attached. Of course, he had no problem with me keeping other guys away.”

  She pursed her lips, looking annoyed.

  I raised a brow. “Are you angry you didn’t get to date those college guys?”

  She blew out a huff. “No. I’m angry I didn’t get to date you. Do you have any idea what I felt like thinking I had this unrequited crush and that I’d have to watch you find the love of your life, get married and live your happily ever after while I stood on the sidelines.”

  I cupped her face, leaning close and breathing in her unique floral scent while I stared into her blue eyes. “That would never happen. You’re going to be my happily ever after. When we’re done with this case, we’ll start living it.”

  But this damn case. I’d never admit it, but it terrified me. If anything happened to Wyn, no one involved would be safe until I was in the ground from the suicide missions I’d go on. I hadn’t been kidding last night when I’d said I’d kill anyone who hurt her.

  I’d also been dead serious when I’d vowed I’d do everything in my power to keep her safe. I still worried. Apparently, young couples in Crystal River were being targeted. They were being snatched and separated. The men were told if they didn’t comply and commit the crime assigned to them by the “kidnappers,” their woman would be trafficked and never seen again. If the guy did comply, he’d get her back…and, maybe, she’d be unharmed.

  Hence, the extra tracker on Wyn. I needed to figure out how to get another on her, just in case.

  Seriously, I’d wanted to be a cop my
whole life, but when this assignment had been handed over, I’d been ready to quit. I could work for my father’s security organization. Hell, I could probably work almost the same job as I did for the PD and get paid more.

  Something to think about.

  My lips brushed hers, then I let go of her face and turned back to the steering wheel before I gave into a whole lot more. Making out in the park’s parking lot wasn’t high on my priority list, especially since there was a good probability of being seen by someone in the Santori organization or from the force.

  After I pulled out of the parking spot, I linked my fingers with hers, reveling in the relief of finally being able to touch her, to tell her my feelings.

  “I can’t wait until the case is finished then.” Her voice was a breathy whisper that caressed over my senses. I knew immediately that I didn’t want to wait, especially since there was a one-hundred percent chance we’d be in the same bed until this was finished.

  “Wyn?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will you go out with me tonight? On our first date?” It would be the first for both of us, ever.

  “Yeah, Mav. I’d like that a lot.”

  Chapter Three

  ~ Wyn ~

  Maverick had wanted me all this time? It seemed as if my whole world had shifted, opening up fissures in my reality that showed me an entirely different reality. All this time, I’d thought he hated me, and now to find out he didn’t… I almost didn’t know what to think.

  As I put in my earrings and covertly watched him, he sat on the edge of the bed, looking mighty mouthwatering in his well-cut suit with a black shirt open at the collar. He might be a cop, living on a cop’s salary, but right now, it was completely evident this man came from and had money. Not that I really cared about that. My father was high in the Santori organization, and as such I’d grown up surrounded by relative wealth, too.

  Mav had a phone pressed to his ear while his gaze scanned over the fuchsia bodycon dress I wore. It clung to my ample curves, showing off my fit hourglass body. I’d coupled it with black mile-high heels that would bring me closer to his tall height. He’d still top me by several inches, making me feel petite beside him, as he always did. Even when I thought he’d didn’t care for me, I’d always had a sense of being protected by him. Now, in retrospect, I guessed I always had been.