Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“You heard me,” he whispers.
I grab the front of his shirt and shove him against the wall. “Why would you do this?”
He grabs my wrist with both his hands. “Please, Raiden. You’re hurting me.”
“Tell me.”
“You’ve never accepted that we’re involved in a fight. A fight for Grandmother’s approval. To be the one who gets the inheritance. You’ve never seen that… but I do. I know it’s in my best interest to make you look bad.”
“You fucked me over, betrayed me, to make a point? After all we’ve been through? We grew up together, you sick bastard.”
“That’s why I had to tell you. I can’t live like this anymore. The guilt is eating me alive.”
I tighten my grip on his shirt, lift him up, think about throwing him to the floor and kicking his goddamn teeth in.
The door behind me opens. “Raiden?” Aurora says, her tone innocent, but I know she must have heard us.
I let Julian go. “Get out of here.”
“I’m sorry, Raiden,” Julian mutters.
“Go!”
He scurries away, leaving me with a spinning head and a heart like a drum pounding in my chest.
“What was that about?” Aurora asks when I return to the room.
“Nothing,” I grunt.
Julian was scheming behind my back. Trying to tear me down. That deal seemed off from the start, but every step of the way, Julian offered his assurances, encouraging me to make the deal. I trusted him against my better judgment.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing,” Aurora mutters.
“Feelings weren’t part of the arrangement,” I growl. “You need to get ready for the welcome party. Put on a dress. Put on a mask. Remember why we’re here.”
She frowns at me, but what can she say? She’s reminded me this is business several times already.
She huffs. “Fine.”
“Fine,” I repeat. “What?”
“Huh?”
I stand to my full height. “Fine… what?”
She bites her lip. Even now, with rage coursing through my veins like hot fire, that causes my manhood to ache.
“Sir,” she whispers. “Fine, sir.”
I walk right up to her, reach down, and ruthlessly spank her thick ass. She gasps and stares at me in shock… and something else that she tries to hide. Seeds of pleasure, of curiosity. Perhaps she doesn’t think I can see the emotions shining in her eyes.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
I spank her again, leaning over to watch her thickness shake for me.
“It’s your reward,” I snarl. “For calling me ‘sir’.”
When I move to do it again, she quickly backs up, hands raised. “I’m suh-serious. Don’t.”
“Say that like you mean it.”
“Don’t, Raiden.”
Yet she couldn’t help but let out a little moan when I spanked her the first time.
CHAPTER 11
AURORA
Ilock the door to the en-suite…
Something Raiden didn’t do.
How do I know that?
I may or may not have snuck to the en-suite door–which he left slightly cracked–and pushed it open. And I may or may not have let curiosity get the better of me.
When I saw him standing in the shower through the glass door, his eyes closed, his huge manhood in his big hand and every muscle tight as he focused on his fantasy, I almost joined him.
For a crazy, misguided moment, I almost tore off my clothes and climbed into the shower with him. I imagined whispering, “Are you thinking of me, sir?”
Then, I quickly closed the door and hurried back into the bedroom.
I shouldn’t have looked. I shouldn’t even be thinking like this.
Sleeping with him will just complicate matters. What if he thinks there’s something real because of that?
And afterwards, when he was arguing with that guy, he looked devastated. He tried to hide it with a gruff attitude, but in his eyes he betrayed the little boy who needed a hug.
I rub soap on my breasts and over my stomach, thinking about after. The spanking, the kissing sting of it. It was my reward, he said.
Give me a break.
I get ready in here, not wanting to change in front of him. I do my makeup and my hair and everything else with the door firmly locked. It takes just over an hour. I emerge in my party dress.
Raiden is waiting for me, wearing a well-tailored tuxedo that might as well not exist… all I see is his naked, muscled, soaking wet body. He makes a throaty noise when he lays eyes on me.
“That dress is stunning,” he says.
I enjoy the compliment. Is that so bad?
“Thank you,” I reply. “I’ll just get my mask, and then I’m good to go.”
He takes his mask from the bed and puts it on. It’s white with gold trim. Mine is an off-white color with silver additions dotted around, like teardrops or glitter.
He takes my shoulders and leans down.
I suck in a breath at how close he is, and whisper, “What are you doing?” But I don’t stop him.
“We didn’t practice kissing with the masks on.”
I should tell him no. Nobody’s watching. There’s no need for this.