Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
He was close. I could feel it, the way his rhythm fractured, the way his muscles locked beneath his skin, the way his cock pulsed inside me with each thrust.
I pressed my palms against his chest. Fuuuck…
The wave of my pleasure crashed through me so wildly, so roughly, I thought I screamed. Maybe I did, I wasn’t sure… It was all too much.
His hips pressed flush against mine and held there, and then, I felt it—the hot, liquid pulse of him releasing inside me, filling me in waves that seemed to go on forever.
His whole body shuddered above me, every muscle trembling. A sound tore from his throat, guttural and wrecked; my name wrapped around it like a confession. It was primal and unrestrained as he spilled inside me.
He didn’t pull out.
He hadn’t pulled out.
For several heartbeats, neither of us moved.
His weight pressed me into the mattress, his heart hammering against my chest. I could feel him still pulsing inside me, still stretching me in a way that ached so good.
When he finally lifted his head, his eyes were dark, almost black with satisfaction. A strand of dark hair fell across his forehead, damp with sweat.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
Adrian’s gaze held mine, unapologetic. “I know.”
He rolled to the side, taking me with him and keeping me pressed against his body.
“You broke your promise,” I said, though the words lacked conviction. My body still hummed with the aftershocks of pleasure, making it difficult to summon genuine anger.
“I broke a lot of things tonight.” His voice was rough, exhausted. “Including, apparently, my own self-control.”
Warmth seeped through me, leaving my body loose and pleasantly weightless. I felt as though I was floating somewhere far above the ground, suspended in a haze I didn’t want to escape.
For once, my mind was quiet.
I should have been furious. I should have pushed him away, demanded an explanation, and reminded him of the rules we’d established.
But I… couldn’t.
The lingering pleasure from the aftermath made it impossible to summon my temper. I simply couldn’t bring myself to be mad—not at him, not at myself, not at anything.
The same warmth lulled me deeper into its embrace until my eyelids grew too heavy to fight, fluttering once before finally slipping closed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ADRIAN
The violence etched onto her flesh had vanished, leaving only faint amber shadows that my eyes alone could discern, marks that I had obsessively recorded in my memory. The swelling in her hands had receded completely. Even the delicate cut on her lip, born from her own desperate teeth during that brutal struggle, had closed into a whisper of a pale scar.
She was healed. Whole. Alive.
And it was time for my wife to come home.
“The time has come, Serafina,” I declared softly, fully knowing that she would put up a fight and preparing for that fact.
Serafina remained facing away. “Time for what?”
“To return home.”
The words landed between us like a stone dropped into still water. I watched the tremor ripple across her body, the subtle tension in her shoulders, and the slight stiffening of her spine in a defensive arch.
“No.”
One word. That was all she said. A simple refusal.
“Serafina.” I closed the distance between us, hovering directly behind her. Close enough to inhale the sweet vanilla fragrance of her hair, yet exercising restraint, denying myself the satisfaction of touching her skin. “Your wounds are healed.”
She whipped around, her hazel eyes blazing with a dangerous fury that had been smoldering beneath the surface for weeks. “Healed? Is that how your twisted mind sees it? Now that I’m healed, I can seamlessly resume playing the role of your dutiful little wife?”
“An assassin nearly took your life two weeks ago. A bounty hangs over your head. You are exposed out here and in any other city you flee to. The only place where you are truly safe is—”
“Let me guess, the only place I will be protected is back at your estate.” A sharp, mocking laugh escaped her lips, hollow and devoid of warmth. “How poetic, Adrian. Truly. The very man who dragged me into this hell now claims his gilded cage is my only salvation.”
“I never claimed—”
“You didn’t need to say it aloud.” Her tone was razor-sharp, and it frustrated me how low she thought of me. Fuck, have I not proven myself enough? That I would never fucking hurt her. “That has always been your objective, hasn’t it? Ensuring your property remains undamaged before locking it back away.”
The venom in her words sliced through me, exposing a raw, ugly truth I had desperately tried to bury. Darkness pulsed violently beneath my ribs. “You are not a property.”
“Don’t lie to me.” She raised her hand, her fierce gaze locking onto mine. “Don’t offer me false promises. You’ve deceived me enough since the day we met.”