Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.

Chapter Nine

SHIKA

I ran my tongue over the split in my bottom lip and peeled the aluminum casing off the champagne bottle. It was the only thing I could find at Konoha Liquor that had been over ten dollars a bottle. If I'd known the way this day had been headed, I would have ordered something better to celebrate with. Not that we were really…really married. It was all just for show, but if we were, Temari deserved a hell of a lot more than a thrown-together ceremony with her ex standing as one of her witnesses. She hadn't even gotten to do the whole wedding dress thing.

Just another way I fucked things up when it came to her.

Holy shit, Temari Uzumaki…Nara, was my wife.

I had a wife... A wife that was Temari.

Married. Legally bound to each other.

Wife. Temari.

Maybe if I said it in a different language a few times it would all feel real, even though it wasn't. What a mind fuck. Temari's footsteps sounded on the staircase, and I opened a cabinet, looking for wineglasses.

"How did it go?" I asked her, examining the higher shelves.

"They're down. Denki seems relieved that they're staying, so that's progress, right? Way easier than handling that call with Mom."

Guilt settled hard in my gut. that courthouse farce definitely wasn't what Mrs. Uzumaki had in mind for her only daughter, and I was certainly not the son she'd envisioned at the end of Temari's aisle. But at least she knew the truth. Guess that made nine people.

Shit, ten with Naruto.

"I'm glad Denki feels relieved. He was so mad at us yesterday."

We were going to have to get that trust back, but how was I supposed to get a five- year-old to trust me when I didn't even trust myself? I was just winging it over here.

"He was scared, and in his defense, Mrs. Pendridge did almost drop Hoks."

"I just about lost it" I admitted, putting two wineglasses on the counter "How did things go with your mom anyway?"

She flushed.

"She's…um…shocked, but weirdly excited for us. I still feel horrible about lying to her. I mean, I told her the basics, that we'd done it for the boys, but she still thinks…" She somehow managed an even pinker shade to her cheeks.

"That we're together?" I asked softly.

Guess she didn't know the truth, so we were back to ten.

She nodded.

"I hate lying to her, and I'll come clean once the boys are settled, but we both know she'd tell the entire county that we'd duped Gemma if she knew the truth. It just sucks. What are those?" She leaned a hip against the counter, and her lips turned up in a little smirk.

"What?"

She shrugged. "Shika Nara owns wineglasses. Just figured you were still a Solo cup kind of guy."

I grabbed my chest.

"You wound me. I've matured."

She put her hands on the counter and boosted herself up, sitting so her feet dangled beneath the granite. Her skirt brushed against her knees, which was a crazy, sexy combination of flirty, classy, and insanely hot.

"Still have that Han Solo cup?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Okay, I've matured in most areas. And that's a collector's item."

"Uh huh," she teased as I poured the champagne into the glasses "We're celebrating?"

I handed her one of the glasses and lifted mine.

"It's not every day you get shotgun married while your friends and family wait outside to beat the hell out of you."

"True." She winced, her gaze dropping to my split lip. "So, what do we drink to?"

My feet took me closer to her while my brain begged me to back the fuck up. But Temari was like gravity—she didn't mean to draw me to her. My nearness was the simple result of her existence.

"We drink to our win today. To those boys upstairs."

I clinked our glasses, but Temari didn't drink. She pushed her mass of blond hair back behind her shoulder, then ran her finger around the rim of the glass.

"Temari."

She slowly brought her eyes to mine, and it was all I could do to keep a straight thought. I could stare in those blue-green eyes for an eternity, that's how captivating they were, how intricately the colors wove together.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she said softly, her gaze dropping to my lip.

"I know."

I set my glass on the counter and moved to stand in front of her.

"I put you in a shitty position, and I'm sorry, Shika. This wasn't what I wanted for you.. finally coming home and not just worrying about getting the crew up and running but having a wife and two kids that you didn't exactly want in your house. It's like a bad reality TV show around here."

I put my hands on either side of her knees and locked my grip on the edge of the counter, wishing I'd had shackles installed to keep my hands off her. She was at the perfect height to kiss. Hell, she was always perfect to kiss.

Which I had done just six hours ago… Which I would probably never get to do again.

"I told you to use the house."

She rolled her eyes.

"That is not what I mean, and you know it. After that night…" She shook her head and took in a deep breath, like she needed fortitude. "You've made it perfectly clear over the last few years that you don't want me around, and now I've pretty much scammed you into marrying me. That doesn't mean I'm not incredibly grateful that you've been ridiculously nice about it all, and I know we can get it annulled as soon..."

Scammed? Annulled? Over my dead body.

The thought sent my brain into short circuit.

"I never said I didn't want you around."

Danger, Will Robinson.

I hadn't said it then, and I wasn't saying it now because I never lied to Temari. Ever. I always wanted her around. That was the problem.

Her lips parted, and my chest actually fucking ached. Wanting her was an indescribable mix of pain and pleasure I'd lived with so long it had become part of my marrow. It was as if that ache just grew cells that multiplied with the same longing, and being here in Konoha, with Temari in my house, my kitchen, my life, was intensifying it to the point of pain.

"You never said you did," she whispered.

"I don't say a lot of things when it comes to you."

Didn't she know? Couldn't she tell the way I'd kissed her that night? Did she think I kissed everyone like that?

She smiled slowly and reached her hand toward my face, her thumb delicately brushing across the split in my lower lip that had been Naruto's wedding present.

"And things that have to do with this?" Her fingers grazed my chin.

That tiny touch was a lick of flame to the walls of ice I'd built around my control when it came to her... control I needed to keep a firm grip on. I was scared to nod, to move in the slightest, for fear she'd take her hand away. Fear wasn't an emotion that visited frequently. It never struck when I was on a fire, when I knew there was every reasonable expectation I wouldn't make it out. Never felt an ounce of it driving on snowy mountain roads, or climbing, skiing…anything, really.

But Temari? I was terrified. Terrified she'd finally realize how much that kiss meant to me, that she'd know she was the standard I measured every woman against. Scared shitless she'd find out I was too much of a coward to lose her brother's friendship, to cut away another piece of my already tiny family. Utterly afraid she'd know and then reject me, and I'd lose the possibility of her too. Because the fantasy of Temari may have been an ache, but it was a hell of a lot better than the finality of a no.

"You ever going to let me in, Shikamaru Nara?" she whispered.

She took a blowtorch to my defenses. My answer was on the tip of my tongue when the doorbell sounded, shattering the moment.

"Any guesses on who that could be?" I asked instead, stepping back to give her space.

"Any one of the few thousand people in Konoha" she answered as she landed on her feet "Apparently we're the talk of the town."

"Oh, we're definitely half of the gossip at the Chatterbox."

We made our way to the door, and I kept five feet away.

"You think only half? I'd definitely give us three quarters. I hear they're taking bets on how long we'll last."

"We should outlast them all and then see if we get the money." I smiled back at her, then opened the door. Every muscle in my body went rigid.

Naruto had the nerve to look mad as hell as he shifted the weight of a duffel bag on his shoulder.

"Oh, come on," Temari snapped from behind me. "What are you doing here, Naruto?"

"Unless you've come to say you're sorry for that bullshit you pulled at the courthouse, you can turn around and leave, because as I told you this afternoon, as my best friend, you're entitled to that one punch, but you're not getting another one in."

We were pretty equally matched. I had two inches on him, but he had twenty pounds on me, and the last time we'd truly thrown down, we both walked away with black eyes, bloodied noses, and busted lips after Sasuke had interfered. We'd been in fifth grade, so the odds were that we'd do a little more damage at this size.

His blue eyes—so much like Temari's—narrowed.

"Hell no, I'm not apologizing!"

I slammed the door in his pretty little Ken-doll face.

"Shika!" Temari gasped.

Calm as I could manage, I stepped away from the door. Naruto had done enough damage to our friendship today, I didn't need to completely destroy it. Did I deserve the punch? Maybe. But he sure as hell didn't let me explain before he threw it.

Temari pushed past me and opened the door.

"Say you're sorry!"

"No!" he retorted.

I leaned against the wall, hooking one ankle over the other, waiting to see how this would play out. I'd never had a brother, Naruto and Sasuke were the closest things I had—but I wasn't stupid enough to get in the middle of a sibling squall. It wasn't like Naruto would ever put his hands on Temari, but I'd step in if his words got sharp. She was mine to protect, now, too.

It's not real.

"Naruto Bradford Uzumaki, if you don't say sorry this very minute, I'm going to throw the deadbolt and go to bed. You were an asshole today. Now apologize." She used her no-bullshit tone that probably sent preschoolers scurrying for their seats.

Tense silence stretched between them for a minute, maybe two.

With a sigh, Temari pushed the door shut, but just before it closed, Naruto called out,

"Fine! I'm sorry! Happy now?"

She swung it open and tilted her head.

"What was that?"

"Damn, Tema. I'm sorry I hit Shika, okay?" He said it like he was guessing the answer to a question. He wasn't actually sorry. I knew him better than that. "Now can I come in?"

She looked over her shoulder at me, and I nodded, respecting her all the more for it. She hadn't just let him in, she'd asked my opinion.

"Okay, then," she said, opening the door wide enough for Naruto to walk in, then shutting it behind him. "And no yelling. The kids are asleep."

"The kids are asleep" he muttered "I leave you alone for three weeks and you join the cast of Full House. Got a beer?" he asked me unapologetically, looking just as livid as he had at the courthouse.

I scoffed.

"Nope, but we have some champagne. Care to toast with us?"

Fine, that was uncalled for, but I was still pretty pissed about the right hook.

His eyes narrowed.

"Not really."

"Okay, then no champagne for you!" Temari joked, coming to stand at my side. "But seriously, what do you want, because I'm not sure if you noticed, but it's our wedding night." She wiggled her eyebrows, and Naruto's glacial glare transferred from her to me.

Holy shit, he was going to charge at me if she kept up that teasing.

"Hey, I didn't say that." I put my hands in the air like he was arresting me.

"Right." His grip flexed on his duffel bag, whitening his knuckles "Seriously, Naruto, what do you want?" Temari crossed her arms and delivered a glare of her own. "And what are you carrying?"

"My stuff, and I want to know what the hell is going on!" he snapped, his gaze flicking between Temari and me.

If the veins on his neck were any indication, he was going to blow a gasket soon.

"I told you earlier, we did it to keep the boys" Temari answered with a shrug. As if marrying me was the simplest thing in the world "And you're absolutely out of your mind if you think I'm doing your laundry."

"I don't need you to do my laundry. And that's all you told me. I got a five-second explanation that doesn't even begin to cover how ludicrous this situation is." He ripped his hand over his blond hair "Look, I think you taking the kids is pretty amazing, Tema, but you kind of skipped the part of how the fuck you ended up here." He whipped his gaze toward me. "How did you let this happen?"

My eyes narrowed.

"First off, she was here when I got here because she asked to borrow the house. I was already on my way. Second, watch your tone."

He blinked.

"Watch my tone?"

"Stop it" Temari lectured, stepping in between us "Naruto, I told you. I brought the boys here because I didn't have anywhere else to bring them. Shika got here, and the home study happened, and it just rolled from there."

"I get why you're here," he said, his tone softening "But I don't get why you stayed." He glared at me. "Why didn't you just move into my place?"

It was my turn to blink.

"I guess it didn't occur to me."

Really, that would have been the simplest solution, but if I was being honest with myself, I hadn't wanted to leave Temari…or the boys.

"It honestly worked out for the best" Temari answered. "Gemma was only going to place them with a family with two foster parents. If Shika had moved into your place, which is an asinine suggestion anyway, this is his house, the boys would have been split up and sent elsewhere."

Naruto's focus shifted between us, as if he was weighing her words. His grip tightened on his bag.

"And that's how you ended up married?"

"Gemma was being a dick—as usual—and he said we weren't stable, and the boys need stable. So Sanderbilt suggested we become stable." Temari shrugged.

"By getting married." He said each word slowly, as if they could change meaning mid-verbalization.

"Pretty much" I answered "It was get married or watch the boys get shipped off to separate homes in a town they don't know with people who don't know them."

"And that's all that's happening between the two of you?" His stare bore into me like he was trying to see under my skin.

"That's all," I repeated.

Temari's shoulders dropped slightly, and I wanted to punch Naruto in the face for barging in before Temari and I had the chance to hash this shit out ourselves. But there had been enough punching between us today.

"It all happened pretty fast" She spun the diamond engagement ring around on her finger "I honestly thought we were getting a fostering license and then boom, we're getting married."

That ring fit her perfectly and looked spectacular on her hand.

Stop it.

What the hell was wrong with me?

"So you two aren't sleeping together…" He looked back and forth between us.

Temari's mouth dropped open.

"That's none of your fucking business," I snapped "None of this is, we're just filling you in as a courtesy." I pushed off the wall, standing to my full height.

He could call me out on the carpet all day long for my tendency to bed hop, but he didn't get to know about Temari's sex life. That was way overstepping the brotherly bounds.

Temari's sex life? You're the one married to her, you moron.

"Awesome, then you won't mind me moving in." He dropped his bag on the floor.

"No chance!"

"Hell no!"

Temari and I answered at the same time.

"Get out," she growled, and he backed up a step, his blue eyes flaring slightly.

I took mercy on him.

"And that's my cue to walk you out before Temari commits a murder that will make us ineligible to foster anyway." I picked up his bag.

"Tema…" Naruto pleaded, his face stricken with concern that tripled the guilt in my chest.

"I'm not kidding," she responded "Get out of this house. I'm a full-grown woman, and as honorable as your intentions may seem to you, they're sure as hell a piece of misogynistic assholery. You don't own me. You don't tell me what to do. I'm not your ward until you choose a suitable husband for me. My honor isn't yours to defend or watch over. It's mine. You don't get a say in who I sleep with. Not now, not ever. So get the hell out before I..."

"Jesus, Temari, before you what? Yell some more? I'm just trying to look after you, because I know him…" He threw a pointed finger in my direction.

Awesome.

"Before I call our mother!"

Naruto's head snapped back like she'd hit him.

"Oh, come on!"

"Get. Out. Or I get my phone." She folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground.

The two faced off in a staring battle, and my money was on the aqua-eyed blonde. If looks could kill, Naruto would be a puddle of goo, with an I'm melting voice-over.

"How about I walk you out?" I offered him a chance to retreat.

Punch or not, he was my best friend.

"Yeah, that sounds good," he agreed quietly, withdrawing with as much dignity as possible when your little sister laid you out with a single threat.

I opened the door, and he walked through. The April air had that crisp chill that signified one thing.

"Snow?" Naruto asked, apparently thinking the same thing as he checked out the starless sky.

"Has to be" I answered, walking him to his truck.

He opened the door and threw the duffel bag into the cab. I couldn't believe the ass had actually thought he'd move in.

"So, are we going to be civil?" I asked, addressing the two-ton elephant in the room.

He turned, shoving his hands in his pockets. At least he wasn't planning an immediate swing at me again.

"You married my sister." To his credit, he kept his voice low and even.

"I did."

There was no denying that fact, or the little jump to my heartbeat at the thought.

"But you're not…" His eyebrows jumped sky-high.

"No. I'm not." He really knew how to suck the joy out of a guy's night.

"And you're not going to…" His eyes narrowed.

"For fuck's sake, Naruto. She has her own bedroom. I married her because she said she'd do anything to keep the kids from being separated. This was anything, and unless you want to be the one who gets those boys removed, you'll keep that reasoning to yourself. To everyone else, this marriage is legit, and it has to stay that way until they find Nolan Clark or permanency for Hoki and Denki. Regardless of what you think, I'm not some jackass who married Temari to get in her pants…which, oddly enough, is pretty much the history of marriage in the world." Just not mine. "At least you know this one is for a much larger purpose."

Conflicting emotions raged across his face.

"It's just that I know you, Shika. The second the new-and-shiny wears off, you'll split to the next challenge. You're not the guy who sticks around and sees things through. You're restless in a way that makes you a kickass firefighter and a pretty horrid boyfriend..."

"Yeah, I got it." I backed away. "If it's okay with you, I'd rather not stand here in my own driveway and get every single one of my flaws flung in my face by someone who is supposed to be my best friend. Because I did the first fucking decent thing I've ever done in my life today, okay?"

I wasn't good enough for Temari. Point taken. It wasn't like he needed to beat me over the head with that fact. He'd told me seven years ago, and I'd gotten the message loud and clear. So damn clear that it altered every interaction I had with Temari from that day. I could have him as my best friend or shoot my shot with Temari, but not both.

"Man." He rubbed his hands over his face and let out a monster sigh of exasperation, his breath visible in the rapidly chilling air. "That's not what I'm doing here. I swear. You are my best friend. You and Sasuke are the only brothers I'll ever have, but Temari is my sister. Even if some miracle happens and you do stick around, or worse"—he grimaced—"you two become a thing, I don't want her sitting home like my mom did for countless nights while our dads were off on fires. I don't want Temari getting that phone call that turns her into a widow before she's had a chance to go gray. It's not fair. Just promise me this thing is temporary."

Logically, I knew it was, that she'd be gone the second the boys were, but I wasn't promising him anything.

"You have more than made your point."

I don't want her with you. That was pretty much what that boiled down to. Somehow the physical punch had hurt a hell of a lot less than this conversation.

"Look, I'm just saying that she'd better be able to get an annulment when this thing is over. Understand me?"

Loud and fucking clear.

"Welcome home, Naruto."

Without waiting for him to hurl the next well-meaning insult, I turned and headed back to my house. The 4000-square-foot, perfect fucking house I'd had built. The house I'd designed, choosing everything I thought Temari might like, knowing she'd live in it after I inevitably died in some fire like Dad. Except she was living in it now.

"Shika!" Naruto called out.

"I'll see you at the clubhouse tomorrow," I called back, walking through my front door and shutting it a little harder than I had to.

She'd better be able to get an annulment meant don't touch my sister.

Fuck, maybe I should have moved him in. At least he would have been a physical barrier between me and my waning self-control. The boys kept us busy, but that didn't mean I wasn't well aware she was sleeping just across the hall every night.

"How did that go?" Temari asked softly, holding our champagne where the foyer ended and the great room began.

"About as well as I expected." I walked over and took the glass she offered. "He's pissed, and with good reason."

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" I asked, damn well knowing exactly what she meant. "When you said that we're only married to keep the boys." Her gaze dropped to her glass as she ran her finger over the rim.

"That's pretty much what happened today, isn't it?" I tried to keep my tone neutral, clinical even.

"Right" She glanced away "Sorry, the champagne and the ring and… everything just threw me, I guess." She shook her head. "So, what do we do about the future?"

She lifted those eyes to me, and I knew I was fucked. Standing here, having her…but not, was killer. Which future? The one with Temari? The one for the boys? The one with my best friend on our hotshot crew? It was impossible to have all three, and two of those were a choice.

"We do what's best for the boys. We make sure everyone in this town knows we're married and happy."

Instead of married and dying of sexual frustration. I'd leave that part out of any inquiries.

"Happy," she said to her glass.

"If we want to keep them here until they can officially find their dad, or whatever the next step is for them, we have to put on that front." The words tasted like sand, gritty and impossible to wash out.

"Front," she repeated, her eyes going dim "Fake it." She nodded her head, as if coming to some kind of conclusion, then forced a smile at me "Okay. I can do that. For the boys. Let's lay down some ground rules."

Her chipper tone grated on my raw nerves like broken glass over an exposed artery.

"I don't have to fake it, being around you. That's the easiest part of this" I tried to reassure her "It's not about you."

"Oh, I know that, because you kissed me today like it wasn't exactly a chore, or maybe you're just that good at faking it. Then again, the second Naruto walked through that door, you went back to cool and aloof toward me without skipping a heartbeat. Whatever this is, it's about you. So, about those ground rules."

Man, I wished the champagne in my glass was tequila.

"What would you like?" I asked, instead of chugging the alcohol and searching for more.

"If we're faking this marriage, then can I assume you won't be sleeping with anyone local?" She lifted her brows.

"I'm sorry?"

She may as well have tossed the rest of her champagne in my face.

"Well, I know your history, and your" she waved her empty hand at me "general appetite. It's not like you didn't show up here last weekend with someone. I just want to make sure it's not anyone I'd have to deal with gossip about, because that would be detrimental to the faking it goal." She headed toward the kitchen, and I followed.

Gravity.

"Appetite? What, like I'm a general danger to the female population of Konoha?"

I set my glass on the counter and then put the island between us.

"Oh, I'm sure the Konoha girls are currently mourning your loss after the news of our marriage. Ring or not, some would be all too willing to oblige you, especially now that the crew will be officially back in a couple weeks. You guys will be like rock stars around here. How many news teams have asked for interviews? Seventeen? Eighteen?" Her glass hit the counter, sending some of the champagne sloshing over the edges.

I liked it better when angry Temari was aimed at angry Naruto.

"I have no clue. Sakura handles all that. And are you seriously telling me that your first concern is that I can't keep my dick in my pants?"

She folded her arms.

"What's the longest you've gone? Because I have no clue how long it will take to settle Denki and Hoki. I'd like to know your timeline, so I know what our shelf life is here." Her face was all kinds of smiling and kind, but those eyes gave her away. They were about as warm as the snowstorm building outside.

"Three months" I answered without thinking.

They were the months after I'd kissed her the first time, the ones I'd spent trying figure out just how serious Naruto had been about putting her name on that list.

Really damn serious, as it had turned out.

She blinked once. Twice.

"Three months. That's your limit. Good to know."

She came around the island, and I stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. I wanted to kiss that fake-ass, serene smile off her face, but I kept my hands to myself.

"I didn't say that was my limit," I explained. "I said that was the longest I'd gone in the past. While we're on the subject, what's your longest dry spell? What's your shelf life?" I'd been home enough to know the guys around here asked her out like it was a rite of passage to get turned down. All except the firefighters—both structure and wildland—stayed far away from her.

Naruto had seen to that years ago. She stepped to the right.

I matched the movement.

"That's not important," she sang, scrunching her nose. "I'm not the one the town will be watching. You are. You may have been gone for the better part of a decade, but it's not like you don't visit, or people don't remember what you were like. Small towns have longer memories than Facebook screenshots." Her smile slipped.

"Nope. Don't put this all on me. You want the details of my sex life, then I get yours. That seems fair." I shrugged, folding my arms across my suddenly tense chest.

"Fine. About a year."

She glared up at me, and damn, it was hot. I loved that she always stood her ground, never backed down. Maybe that trait was a bit of a pain in the ass right now, but she was Temari.

"Huh." My forehead puckered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gone was the glacial nonchalance.

Her eyes were spitting fire at me now.

"Nothing." I shrugged.

It really meant nothing. I just liked pushing her buttons.

"You know, not all of us see sex as just a physical need. Some of us require a level of emotion to let someone that close, so forgive me if I'm not out at the bar picking someone up, someone from LFD, for a one-night stand." Her cheeks pinkened.

That hadn't been what she'd said seven years ago. Oh no, then it had been about her inability to lose her virginity, let alone her first kiss. Vic-fucking- Donaldson had been good enough though, right?

"And there was an emotional connection with Vic Donaldson?"

"What? Vic? Are you out of your mind?" She sent me a look that said I was.

"You seemed pretty sure that he was the one on prom night, remember?"

Her eyes popped wide.

"So you do remember that night." A slow smile lifted her lips, and I cursed my temper. Some things were better left unsaid.

"And don't think I didn't notice your little jab that you'd go home with someone on the structure side. That was a low blow."

The rivalry between the Konoha Fire Department and the Konoha Hotshots wasn't just well known, it was legendary. Well, at least for a small town.

"Oh, you'd rather I pick someone on the crew? Because I know Neji's home, and I can't think of one good reason I wouldn't climb that man like a tree." She smiled.

"I sure as hell can!" I snapped, raising my voice.

"Oh, and what is that?" She fisted her hands on her hips.

"Because you're not emotionally connected to him, and you're married to me!"

My voice echoed off the bare walls, and I cringed, hoping I hadn't woken the boys. For fuck's sake, it was the first night of our "marriage" and I was already losing my temper. She would have been so much better off choosing someone else's house, someone else's last name.

But she took yours.

"Oh, that's right." She tapped thoughtfully on her chin. "So, ground rule number one means neither of us will be having sex outside of our marriage, even as fake as it is."

That last part stung unexpectedly.

"I wasn't going to in the first place." I advanced on her, my skin prickling with heat. Her back hit the counter, and I caged her in. So much for five feet. "But since you brought it up, no. We won't. I would never do that to you, Temari or myself. You think I could fuck another woman knowing you're here at home? Even if you're down the hall and not in my bed, there's no chance." Because no one compares to you, and I would know it the whole time. "Even if it's just for…now." I swallowed back the bitter taste that came with that word. "Those vows mean something to me. I'm not going to break them."

I might not be able to keep her—that had been made apparent—but I sure as hell wasn't going to do anything to fuck it up while she was mine, even if it was just a technicality.

Her gaze dropped to my mouth and her tongue skimmed her lower lip, reminding me I'd had those same lips under mine just a few hours ago. Kissing Temari was a religious experience that had ruined me for casual sex years ago. I'd spent years chasing that high I'd felt on prom night, only to realize today, with that bare touch of a kiss, it only existed with her.

"What about having sex within our marriage?" she asked softly.

My entire body went tight, and my heart thundered in my ears. All of that beautiful hope lingered in her eyes, the glimmer of a future I could have if Naruto wasn't my best friend. But he was. He and Sasuke were the only family I had besides Grams.

Fuck, she smelled good, and her lips were close enough to kiss if I just ducked my head...

"That's not going to happen either," I replied slowly, trying to match her soft tone and praying my regret came through in more than just my words. In another life, maybe, but not this one.

Watching that hope die in her eyes was right up there with the moment I'd let her walk away on prom night. It fucking hurt. Anger, I could have handled. Even some snarky comment would have been easy. But her quiet acceptance, the sadness that permeated the air between us, was heavy enough to push the breath from my lungs.

"Okay. Any other ground rules we need covered?" she asked, as though I hadn't just squashed any chance we'd had. Not that there'd ever really been one.

"I think we can give those a break for tonight." I backed away, and she sidestepped out of my arms.

"Right. Then we can pick this back up tomorrow. Or the next day, or whenever." She lifted her glass and drained the contents, chugging the champagne like a freshman sorority girl. "Night, Shika."

She left the kitchen without waiting for my reply, leaving me alone with both Naruto's and Temari's words ringing in my ears, and a dull, throbbing ache in my chest where I used to think I had the possibility of a heart.

"Night, Temari," I whispered to myself.

Then I slammed back the champagne, toasting myself to the biggest irony of my life. Me, the proverbial bachelor, had just married the one girl in the world I'd always wanted, dreamed about, blatantly fantasized about, and I still couldn't lay a hand on her.

This house was about to get interesting.