Smoke Signals by Catherine Gayle Page A

“Tell me.”
    “They could interview everyone you know. You’ve got to be incredibly convincing. Both of you. If you can’t convince the people in your lives that you married her because you love her, and vice versa, it won’t look good.”
    Fucking hell. I hung up the phone and tossed it on the countertop. Still itching to hit something, I pounded my fists on the refrigerator door and spun around to bang my head back against it.
    Then I saw her. Wide eyed. Lips parted. Ready to bolt.
    Tori had on one of my Thunderbirds T-shirts, long legs stretching out from the hem that ended mid-thigh, and her dark hair was still sleek and wet from the shower. She held a towel in one hand, clutching it to her chest as she had so often clung to her purse.
    “You said I’d get green card. You said marry you, and I won’t go back to Russia.” The fear and pain in her voice was going to kill me.
    “Tori—”
    “No. You said—”
    “I know what I said.” Fuck, I just wanted to reach for her, wrap her up in my arms, and hold her until she listened. That wasn’t an option. Not with Tori. The instant she sensed I wanted to touch her, she would retreat. I was going to have to do this with words—not good, since words tended to land me in trouble. “I’ve got my agent working on it. He’s going to figure it out.”
    “They want me go to Russia. Don’t they? No more visa. Now no green card. Have to go back.” Tears filled her eyes, on the verge of spilling over. She took a step back even though I hadn’t made a move toward her. “Marrying you, it’s not enough. Is it?”
    I didn’t know what to say, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to lie to her. “There might be some problems I didn’t know about. My agent is looking into it.”
    “What problems?”
    “Apparently, you can’t marry for the sole purpose of obtaining a green card.”
    “What… What does it mean?”
    I shook my head, letting out a sigh. “I wish I knew.”
    The doorbell rang. Bad timing. Really fucking bad timing.
    “That’s probably Tallie,” I said, my jaw grinding over the words. “You should go put some clothes on. She’s probably going to run you ragged with shopping.”
    The tears finally won out, racing down her cheeks. “But…”
    I smiled, trying to ease her worries, even though I knew it wasn’t close to enough. “Go on. There’s nothing we can do until my agent calls me back, anyway. No point in changing our plans or acting like anything’s wrong. For all we know, we’ll be able to make this all work out the way we initially planned.”
    Tori pursed her lips and dried her tears with the towel. I pushed away from the fridge and headed for the door. Before I opened it, I turned to see Tori scurrying down the hall. Too bad I couldn’t tell from her body language if she was hurrying away to get dressed, like I’d suggested, or if she just wanted to hide.
    After she was gone, I realized I should have filled her in about the potential for immigration officials to question people in our lives, so we were going to have to put on a hell of a show around everyone we came into contact with. That had to start now. It had to start with convincing Tallie. I needed to get that across to her before she left, but without letting Tallie in on the ruse.
    Tori and I might both be speaking English, but I felt as if we were constantly on different pages. I’d give my left nut to really understand her. Something told me I might have to do it, too.

 

     
     

    I WAS STILL trying to tug my skirt down, subconsciously glancing at Tallie to gauge her reaction to my clothes, when Razor drew me into his arms and kissed me in a way that stole my breath. It was sweet and tender, his lips gliding softly over mine. My knees almost buckled beneath me, and I had to cling to his shirt to prevent myself from going down.
    What game was he playing? I’d just found out that everything he’d told me about being safe after we married was a lie—whether