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I totally understand Vienna’s frustrations with the way my mother has taken over the engagement party as though it’s her own and turned it into something ten times bigger than we ever wanted. It’s more than I ever wanted to have to go through, too, and my mother knows neither of us are big on crowds.

The thing is, I know damn well that my mother is just getting started. If we both think this party is insane, just wait till she gets her hands on the actual wedding. I’ve warned Vi about that and said I will try my damnedest to keep her at bay, but things are going to blow wide open sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time.

Maybe that’s why Vienna’s smiles and gestures all seem forced now. She must be worried about this happening all over again in a few months.

But, damn it, could she at least pretend to be enjoying herself?

The tension in her shoulders had been obvious upstairs in my house earlier, and she’d looked to be strung about as tightly as a violin string. I won’t lie, I made her come with my bare hands for the stress relief just as much as for my love of watching her shudder and tremble with need beneath my touch.

The tension has resumed its place in her shoulders again, however, and short of sneaking her into one of the bathroom stalls in this community centre and fucking her up against the wall until she can barely walk, I’m not sure how to rid her of it at this moment.

Barry Edson, or Old Man Edson as we’ve always known him, is shaking her hand beside me, and Vienna is putting on that fake smile that even a blind man could see through.

“Thanks for coming,” she says flatly to him.

I reach out and pat Old Man Edson on the shoulder. “Yeah, thanks, Mr. Edson. We’re so glad you could make it. Say hi to Margaret for us, okay?”

He shuffles off. I steal the chance to duck my head down and whisper, “What’s wrong?”

Vienna turns and looks up at me like I’ve grown two heads. “Two and a half hours of my smile screwed on, repeating the same things over and over again while wearing very, very uncomfortable shoes. That’s what’s wrong.”

“Kick your shoes off.” I keep my arm securely around her waist. “No one will even notice.”

“You’re missing the point.”

“And you’re looking downright miserable.”

Vienna has never been one to say anything negative, or even put on anything but a happy face. So, while her lackluster reaction to this party might, in fact, not be that noticeable to anyone else, to someone like me who knows her better than she knows herself, she may as well be wearing a neon sign that says she’s in a foul mood.

“I’m just not—”

“Hey, Cohen,” a voice says from behind me. We both turn, and I swear, you could pick my jaw up off the floor. I’m literally speechless.

“Oh, and hey, Vienna. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Jesus, I hadn’t even got a formal introduction out and she’s already made a dismissive comment toward my fiancée. “Liz, hey. I didn’t know you were here.”

My ex-wife grins sweetly—far too sweetly—and shrugs her shoulders. “The rest of the town is here. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Maybe because you’re my ex-wife? Or because our divorce was messy as hell? Or, maybe, just maybe, because you blamed our divorce on my feelings for Vienna, even though Vienna was thousands of miles away in New York? “Just didn’t expect it, that’s all,” I choose to say instead, trying to keep things civil. “I’m not sure you’ve met Vienna.” I pull her as close to me as possible and turn so that Vi is facing Liz. “Liz, this is my fiancée, Vienna Anderson. Vi, this is Liz Calley, my—”

“The ex-wife,” Liz blurts out, holding out her hand, still maintaining that wicked smile. “May as well just get it out in the open now. Although, Vienna, I must say, I feel like I already know you, since I’ve heard so much about you.”

Another veiled insult.

But maybe I’ll get lucky and Vienna won’t pick up on it.

I steal a glance down at her pretty features.

Nope, she’s definitely picked up on it.

“Funny,” she replies, shaking the black-haired woman’s hand stiffly. “Can’t say the same about you.”

Vienna’s tone, mocking with a dark undertone of don’t fuck with me, signals exactly what I don’t want happening—the claws are ready to come out. Vienna knows about Liz, and knows that we parted because of the feelings I’ve always harbored for her. But she doesn’t seem to care about what she does and doesn’t know right now. Or that people are starting to notice that my ex and my fiancée are meeting, and they’re intrigued enough to stare unabashedly.

Liz takes the snippy comment in stride, pulling her hand away only after Vienna pulls away first. “That doesn’t surprise me, actually. Seeing as Cohen always had a tendency to talk about you more than me.”

“Liz, what the hell—” I hiss under my breath, but Vienna doesn’t even seem to notice.

“That’s why you came here?” she snaps, much louder than I am speaking. “To confirm that he’s always loved me more than you? Well, hell, Liz, thanks for pointing out the obvious. Now, get out.”

I’m not saying it’s not warranted, but I’m shocked by my fiancée’s outburst.

Liz, however, seems to find this amusing, and her eyes grow wide. “Wow.” She turns toward me. “Tell me, Cohen, was it this kind of charm and grace that made you yearn for her all those years? Because, I must say, if it was, I don’t get it.”

Vienna takes a step forward. Though I’m unsure what exactly she plans to do, I reach out and hold her back, keeping her arms—and her claws—far away from Liz Calley.

“I told you to get the fuck out of here,” Vienna barks out. A series of gasps from onlookers erupt. The residents of Garrison are just like me in the sense that they’ve rarely, if ever, heard a curse word pass Vienna Anderson’s pouty lips.

I pull her back against me. “Jesus Christ, Liz, just go, will you?” I whisper loudly, despite the fact that everyone can see and hear me. “Thanks for stopping by, but I’m not sure what you wanted to accomplish by coming here today.”

Liz gives me a long, blazing look—one of the glares that evokes so much heat and ice together that you’re not sure whether to be scared of the hot fury or petrified enough to have shivers run up your spine—then smiles a vindictive grin before muttering, “Oh yeah, and congratulations,” and turning on her boot-clad heel and walking out of the community centre.

I make sure the doors are completely closed before I spin Vienna around in my arms and narrow my eyes. “What was that all about?” I whisper bluntly. I can’t bring myself to glance around us at the onlookers, but I can feel their heavy gazes boring into us.

“Your ex showed up here. I told her to leave. I thought you were paying attention.”

Her tone annoys me. “Don’t be smart, Vi. You could’ve given me a chance to handle it.”

“Didn’t need you to. I handled her myself just fine.”

Her feigned indifference only irks me more. “Vienna, what—”

She leans in and wraps her arms around my shoulders, pressing her lips against my ear. “Oh, right. I forgot, you prefer my submission rather than taking care of myself.”

I pull back like the hot, breathy words she’s just uttered have scalded me. “That is completely out of context and you know it.” But be damned if her heated breath and the mere mention of submission doesn’t make my cock stir. “Obviously, your feistiness showed up at the completely wrong time.”

“Funny, so did your ex-wife.”

And with that, Vienna saunters away from me, heading toward the bar for another drink.