Page 65 of Cash in Hand

“For the weekend. Until things go back to normal,” Cash said. It would hurt, but less than if he fooled himself.

“Idiot,” Arkady said in exasperation. “You know better than to make a deal with me without parsing it thoroughly. Do you know why I kept that outfit, the one you wore to my first wedding?”

“Because I was hot, still?”

Arkady swallowed. “Because the first time you wore it, I couldn’t even look at you or I wouldn’t have been able to go through with my vows. You were so beautiful, and all I could think about was what it would have been like to marry you.”

Cash drew back slightly. “Are you asking me to—”

“No,” Arkady said. He twisted his fingers through Cash’s hair and tugged affectionately. “Not yet, anyhow. But you? You’re my normal. So, this? After this weekend, this is going to be your new normal too.”

He ducked his head for another kiss, careless of their audience. Cash didn’t care either. He doubted any of the parents from Ellie’s school would be here to make a complaint. He curled his hand around the back of Arkady’s neck and leaned in.

DONNA ACCEPTEDa glass of mushroom gin from a servant—just because she’d let them aboveground didn’t mean she’d given them the night off—and watched her son and his lover. Love would die eventually, of course. Even the most smitten of lovebirds would peck the other to death one day. It was still sweet, and more importantly, it got her what she wanted.

Her son, happy, and her granddaughter under her roof—where she belonged.

She savored the mealy taste of her drink.

And Cash thought that none of them were good liars.