Terrifying secrets

“Meet my brother, Derek Giordano, the black sheep of the family,” Iris introduced.

Derek Giordano!

Unbelievable. No way.

He was the mysterious, handsome young man I met at a friend’s brother’s birthday party four years ago! Memories of how I would sneak out of the house to meet him at one of our trysts flooded my head. He gave me my first kiss and orgasm with his hands, but we never had sex because of his sudden disappearance from my life. I never saw him again—until now. At my wedding. And his big brother was my newly wedded husband!

What a mess.

I looked away, refusing to meet his eyes and praying for the miracle of him not remembering. But that was impossible—unless he had brain damage.

“Beautiful bride,” he said as he sat opposite me, and I involuntarily looked at him. My breath hitched. He was still as handsome as I remembered—no, even more now! His dark hair was shorter, his blue eyes even bluer, his skin tanner, his facial features sharper than I recalled. And to crown it all, he had a freaking neck tattoo! His dark dress shirt clung to his muscular frame and was folded at his sexy forearms, which held my attention a moment too long.

Oh God. I was checking out my brother-in-law!

“I’m sorry for being late. Didn’t catch my first flight,” Derek told us.

I was awfully quiet and disoriented by the bizarre outcome of my life.

“Look at how pretty the bride is! Enrico won a jackpot with this one!” Iris giggled.

“She’s the lucky one. Have you seen your brother?” Tati said to Iris, then shot me a dirty look. I concluded she didn’t like me—but I didn’t know why.

“I thought I was the handsome one,” Derek said, looking directly at me with hooded eyes, and I began to feel too hot in my dress.

“Oh, please. Enrico was made by God with the finest of clays. Have you read the blogs about him? They call him Daddy...”

Tati kept talking dreamily about Enrico, and I perceived she may have some sort of crush on him. Strangely, that bothered me.

Derek kept his eyes on me, and it made me uncomfortable—and nauseous. I had to leave the scene, get some fresh air.

“Excuse me,”

I said and left the table.

I hid in a corner, taking deep breaths and praying to God that I survived the night.

I was startled by a voice behind me.

“A small world,” the voice said.

It was Derek! Why did he follow me!?

“Derek...”

I whispered breathlessly.

He was right in front of me, and we were alone in a dark corner. This was dangerous.

“When I heard the news that my brother was remarrying for the third time, I never in a million years thought it would be the girl that was burned in my memory.”

Oh my God.

I was burned in his memory.

He was burned in mine too.

“You left,” I managed to say.

“I didn’t mean to,” he told me. His eyes were red, and his expression looked defeated.

“God, not you, out of all the women in the world!” he groaned.

“You know, I was happy about coming back to Chicago—not necessarily for my big brother’s wedding, but for the chance to see you again. And what a surprise. You’re the bride,” he said bitterly.

“I didn’t know your brother was Enrico Ferraro. You never told me anything about you!”

“Would you have changed your mind if you knew?”

“I didn’t even have a choice in the marriage.”

“Of course,” he scoffed. “You should be off in L.A., living your dreams as an actress.”

“You remembered,” I muttered, surprised he did.

“I remember everything,” he told me. “I remember riding through the streets of Chicago with you wrapped around my back...”

“Derek...” I gasped. Oh no—the feelings were coming back.

“I remember our first kiss.”

He took two steps toward me. I didn’t move.

“It was like we made magic,” he whispered against my lips—and then he crashed his lips onto mine.

We were kissing.

My brother-in-law and I!

He held me and deepened the kiss, which stirred a thousand butterflies in my tummy. It was just like old times. Just like magic.

“Sofie?”

Someone suddenly called, and I gasped in shock

Oh no.

Someone caught us.

I felt like an icicle in Derek’s arms as someone called my name.

I had been caught—kissing him on my wedding day!

“Sofie?” I was called again, and when I looked, it was Nora.

“Nora, it’s not what it looks like,” I tried to explain as I quickly moved away from Derek.

“Excuse me,” Derek murmured and walked off.

“Oh my freaking God!” Nora whispered. “You were kissing some other dude on your wedding day!”

“Sshhh! Someone will hear!”

“Sof! This is a mess! Do you know what Enrico will do to you if he finds out? Do you know what he’ll do to your parents? Oh my—”

“Can you stop freaking out! You’re scaring me!”

“You should be scared! What if someone else had seen what I just saw?”

“No one else saw what you just saw—and you’ll keep it that way. Nora, please. You can’t tell anyone. My life will be worse than it already is if you do!”

“Of course I’d never tell a soul, but what if he does? Wait—why were you even kissing him? Do you know—”

Nora paused and gasped.

“Derek! Derek from Bibi’s brother’s birthday party!”

“Yes. That Derek.”

“Oh my God. This is a mess. You dated him! Wait—don’t tell me he’s the younger brother!”

I gave Nora a look that told her all she needed to know.

“Oh shit.”