Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“Did I wake you?” he asked, not bothering to deny his presence.
I sat up, letting the blanket fall to my waist. “No. I’ve known you’ve been coming here for days.”
The corner of his mouth twitched—almost a smile, but not quite. “Have you now, wife?”
“I’m not your wife,” I said quietly. “I’m your prisoner.”
“Prisoners don’t get their own rooms,” he replied, his voice rough. “Prisoners don’t get meals delivered to their doors. Prisoners don’t get to ignore their jailers for weeks on end.”
“That’s right. You’re not my jailer.” What a pompous ass. He thought just because I had been catered to that it meant my life was magically better? “You’re my tormentor.”
“Tormentor,” he drawled. “I like the sound of that. I did enjoy tormenting you while I was drinking up your sweetness and your juices were dripping down my chin.”
I slid from the bed, my bare feet touching the cold hardwood floor. The nightgown, sheer, white, and utterly useless for modesty, slid down my body, covering my legs but revealing everything else.
Adrian’s eyes tracked the movement of the fabric. They darkened as they traveled from my exposed collarbone to my shoulders, lingering on my chest where my nipples had hardened in the cool night air.
His gaze continued its slow, deliberate path down my body, pausing at the curve of my hips, lingering at the juncture of my thighs before moving down to my ankles and then slowly, torturously, back up to meet my eyes.
“Enjoying the view?” I asked, my voice laced with venom, defiance spiking through me.
“Immensely.” He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed.
“Why are you here, Adrian? Why do you come to watch me sleep?”
He leaned back in the chair, the picture of casual arrogance that infuriated me. “I’m your husband. I can go anywhere in my own house.”
“Not my room. Not without my permission.”
His bare chest rumbled with a chuckle. “You gave me permission when you said ‘I do’ at the altar.”
I took a step toward him, my hands clenched at my sides. “I said ‘I do’ to a lie. You used me.”
“And yet here you are, still my wife.”
“Because I had no choice!” My voice rose, the carefully constructed composure I’d maintained for weeks finally cracking, anger flaring hot in my chest.
Now he was here, finally talking to me and I was mad. I wanted to fight. I wanted him to know exactly what I thought of him. “You took everything from me. My future, my dignity, my family’s respect. I can’t go back to my family’s home; my father will never accept me back. I have nothing to my name. I have nothing!”
“I gave you my name,” he countered, rising from the chair in one fluid motion. “I gave you protection.”
“Protection?” I laughed, the sound bitter even to my own ears. “You’ve done nothing but torment me since the moment we met.”
He took a step toward me, and I stood my ground, refusing to be intimidated. “I’ve left you alone for weeks.”
“And yet you watch me sleep like some kind of creep. You didn’t leave me alone for my benefit or because it would make me feel better. You left me alone because it was another one of my mind games. Another way to torment me. To isolate me. To hurt me with silence. So tell me, dear husband.” My body shook, my emotions barely contained. “Why do you come to my bedroom every night? Why do you watch me sleep?”
“Because I am intrigued… but now I find that you’re just a silly distraction.”
“Distraction?” I scoffed. “Is that what I am to you now? A distraction from your precious revenge? Oh how lucky of me.”
He moved so quickly I barely had time to react. One moment he was across the room, the next his fingers were wrapping around my throat, not squeezing but holding me in place as he pulled me against his hard body. His other hand tangled in my hair, tilting my head back.
“You talk too much,” Adrian growled, his breath hot against my face.
“And you don’t talk enough,” I spat back, my hands pushing against his chest. “You keep your secrets locked away while you destroy everyone around you. You pathetic lunatic—”
His lips crashed against mine, cutting off my words.
It wasn’t a kiss—it was an assault, a punishment and a claim all at once. Brutalizing.
His mouth moved against mine with bruising force, his tongue demanding entry. I struggled against him, my hands pushing harder, but he was immovable.
Heat bloomed where our bodies touched, a traitorous response that infuriated me more than his shameless arrogance.
I bit down hard on his lower lip, and Adrian hissed but didn’t pull away. Instead, he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, tangling with mine. The metallic taste of blood filled my senses—his blood, my doing.