Lex Talionis (n.)- The law of retaliation, whereby a punishment resembles the offense committed in kind and degree.
Two wrongs. One right. He met her under the worst circumstances. She was still married. To the man who'd stolen from his company. But none of that would matter, because Chase would have her. At any cost.
To Chase Blaine, it really was that simple. Douglas Colton had stolen millions from his company. He had to pay. Chase had every intention of cornering the bastard and making sure he ended up in jail.
Then he came face-to-face with Douglas’s wife, Aria. One look at her changed all his plans, warping them into a much darker and perverse plot to get his revenge.
He would offer Douglas his freedom...in exchange for a single date with his wife.
To a man like Chase, a man that hadn’t truly felt emotions in a long time, Aria’s presence soon became more addicting than a drug. A problem considering that she might never forgive him for blackmailing her, despite the fact that at times she seems just as unwillingly fascinated by him as he is by her.
Acknowledgements
As always, to my reason for living, and my reason for succeeding. Mom loves you forever, and after the universe.
To Elena, one of the best friend’s in the world, and the greatest business partner I could’ve ever asked for. Thank you so much for being one of the true, loyal ones. I will never stop thanking God that he sent you into my life.
To Julie, for loving me enough to understand and wait for me. I will never forget you. In my heart, you’re still my little five year old I met twenty-five years ago, and you will always be my very first best friend.
To my cousin Angie. Baby, you will always have my heart. And one day, we’re gonna be up there together.
Copyright © 2014 by N. Isabelle Blanco
Malfunction Erotica
(The House of Malfunction)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Edited By: K.I. Lynn & Elena M. Reyes
Cover Art By: N. Isabelle Blanco
Photo credit: Deposit Photos/ @Curaphotography
"I'M SORRY, MRS. COLTON, but the card's been declined."
Aria’s fingers tightened around the little piece of plastic the cashier handed back to her. Heat ignited beneath the skin of her face. Hands shaking, she reached into her wallet and pulled out another credit card.
"Try that one." She couldn't even meet the cashier in the eye when she handed it to her to try.
Aria stared anywhere but at the cashier’s face, aware that her own was bright red. She did her best to ignore the people in the line behind her. She knew they were staring.
Please God, let this one work...
"Mrs. Colton, I'm sorry, but this one, too—"
Fuck!
"It's okay, I just..." She couldn't even bring herself to finish the sentence. She stood there, in the checkout line at the supermarket, the register brimming with her would-be purchases, and seethed.
Food. Freaking food. That's all she’d gone there for. She wasn’t out shopping for clothes, perfume, purses, God damned lingerie…she’d gone there for food. A basic necessity. One they were running out of at home.
And she couldn't even get that.
Aria forced herself to wave a hand at the pile of groceries that wouldn't be going home with her. "I'll come back for this stuff." She hesitated for a moment, feeling horrible that she was leaving the cashier to deal with all the food.
Maybe she should put it back.
She caught the eye of one of the women in the line behind her, seeing the utter pity with which the woman was looking at her. Aria swallowed the lump in her throat and turned around. Without another word, she fled the supermarket. She walked as fast as she could until she was inside her car and just sat there. Immobilized by her own anger.
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as the tears came.
"Damn you, Douglas, what have you done this time?" She cried out from behind clenched teeth, slamming a hand down on the steering wheel.
Aria’s heart hammered away in her chest with the force of her ire. She knew things were getting bad, had known for a while now. Her husband was getting worse. His spending was out of control.
Douglas had always had a problem saving and keeping money. That's why she kept a separate savings account.
You married him, you fool.
It was her sad reality. He was her high school sweetheart, and the only man that she’d ever been with.
It’d made sense to marry him. Why not? And although his spending had been an issue throughout their marriage, Aria put up with it. If she had to be frugal to have a happy marriage, then she would be. She would do anything to make it work.
As long as they had a place to live and food to eat, nothing mattered more than being by his side.
Douglas asked her to be a stay-at-home wife while he brought in the money. She’d agreed to that, too. She thought it sweet that he wanted to take care of her like that.
Oh, you naive little girl.
Aria inhaled past another sob, squeezing her eyes shut to try to stem the flow of tears.
As long as they had the necessities they would be fine, she reasoned with herself. Problem was that they couldn't afford food. Or anything else.
This morning she received a letter from the bank in the mail.
They were going to foreclose on the house.
She, of course, had more than enough money in her private bank account to save the house if need be. Her grandmother had left her a sizable amount of money when she had passed. All these years, Aria had refrained from touching that money, knowing that one day there would come desperate times and she would need it then.
Looked like that day had arrived.
A desperate sound left her. She shook with sobs as she looked back at the mockery that her life had become. No money. A deadbeat husband that spent what little money they had, even though his job paid him a high salary.
A man that had not touched her in months.
He was always too busy. Too busy to want his own wife.
Six fucking months.
She’d put up with so much, and now it had all come to this.
For the first time, it occurred to her that there was a strong possibility that her husband was cheating on her. Douglas had done so, once before, when they’d first started dating. She’d forgiven him that, reasoning that he was just eighteen at the time and everyone made a mistake.
Always reasoning.
It took Aria about twenty minutes to calm herself down, but when the tears stopped, all that was left in their place was rage. Her hands shook as she turned the ignition. She tried calming down by taking deep breaths.
It wasn’t working.
Her face was hot, her heart broken, and her nerves had enough. Head pounding, she drove home, keeping the car five miles above the speed limit. Fast enough to get her there as soon as possible, but not fast enough to land her a speeding ticket.
God knew she couldn't afford to deal with being pulled over right then.
She pulled into their driveway and blinked in surprise when she saw two other cars there.
Bile rose in her throat, but she forced it down. Here they were, with bills and marital problems up their asses, and Douglas was entertaining.
Again.
Because he just loved t
o pretend he had money, when he fucking didn't.
Seething, Aria shut off the car and jumped out of it. She ran up the front stairs. Her keys fell out of her hand when she tried to open the door because of how bad she was shaking. She let loose a string of profanity that was characteristic of her on any good day.
This, however, was not a good day so the curses came out that much more creative.
Aria managed to open the door and she barreled in, not giving a damn that she looked like shit. She was ready to put her good-for-nothing husband in his place in front of his guests and she didn't care what anyone thought about it.
She rounded the corner into the living room, mouth open and ready to unleash her tirade, when the color blue slammed into her line of vision. Aria stopped, two steps into the room, her chest heaving, her mouth wide open, and her eyes locked with the prettiest gray-blue eyes she’d ever seen.
Heat flared everywhere; every inch of her skin broke out in goose bumps.
Aria blinked, swallowed—willed herself to breathe. Her eyes moved, taking in the face that those blue eyes were attached to.
Sharp jaw. Straight nose. Thick black eyebrows the same color as his close-cropped hair. Big, almost boyish blue-gray eyes.
Lips that should have been illegal considering they were on the face of a man.
There was something almost scary about this man, a danger surrounding him that she could sense all over her living room.
She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, in a daze, and looked back up into the man’s eyes. Just like that, something within her stirred. She’d never felt it before. Not even with Douglas.
Horrified, she turned her head away from the gorgeous, intimidating man in front of her, and took in the other people in the room.
Aside from sex-in-a-suit, there was another man in the living room. A huge, behemoth of a motherfucker. He would've been scary, but the look on his face was nothing but curious and friendly.
And then, there was her good-for-nothing husband.
Aria should've felt guilty that she’d been pretty much ogling another man in front of him, but considering that she was unable to come home with food, and he hadn’t touched her in half a year...
Ah, fuck it.
She put her hands on her hips, tapped her foot, and raised an eyebrow at her sweating, squirming "significant" other.
She waited for him to say something, to start explaining himself.
He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, swallowed, and said nothing.
"Douglas..." she growled low, feeling her face heat up with more anger.
"Douglas, aren't you going to introduce us to your wife?"
Aria’s head snapped in the direction of the man with the unholy eyes and her breath stopped when she noticed he’d stood up.
He started taking steps toward her. His eyes took her in from head to toe.
Jesus.
Aria thought she saw him lick his lip. She hoped she’d imagined it. Then again, there's no way she could imagine something so sexy.
Suddenly, he was in front of her. She stared, wide eyed, her chest heaving. He was just too attractive. His presence took up too much room. She didn't want to react to him the way she was; his aura was a strong, palpable , energy that suffocated her and gave her no choice.
Then, he looked right into her eyes and reached for her hand.
CHASE LEANED BACK IN his seat and stared at the man in front of him with distaste. "Do you have any idea how much money you ‘owe’ this company, Douglas?”
Douglas ran a hand through his hair, nervous. He couldn't even bring himself to stare Chase in the eye.
He had the balls to steal from Chase, but the fucker couldn’t be a god damn man now that he’d been caught.
Matthew, Chase’s right-hand man, shook his head in disgust before speaking. "And I find it ridiculous that we’ve had to come and pay you a home visit. How you’ve found a way to avoid us beats me, but it ends here.”
Chase nodded in agreement, barely holding in a sneer as he stared at the weasel of a man in front of them.
"I haven't been hiding—” Douglas began in a feeble tone.
"Bullshit." Chase’s patience was running thin. "And it seems you're going to lose your house." He raised an eyebrow when Douglas looked at him in shock.
"How did you—"
"We now know everything,” Matthew stated in a bored tone. “Every last bit of the bullshit you try to hide.”
Sweat glistened on Douglas’ brow. "Guys, I'll find a way to pay the money back, I swear.”
"How, Douglas?" Matthew asked.
"I—" Douglas was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut, the loud noise vibrating throughout the house.
They all turned to look at the door leading into the living room, waiting to see who it was.
A dark haired woman stepped through it, blazing with fury. Chase’s mouth went dry. He stared at her. At her flushed face glowing beautifully, her long, sinful hair that was all over the place, and her blue, molten eyes flashing with—
She was looking back at him.
She was fucking magnificent.
Chase swallowed the lump in his throat. His eyes fell to her chest, her small waist, and her perfect hips. He started to wonder who she was, but then it hit him. And he was beyond incredulous.
The piece of shit of a man in front of him owned the gorgeous creature before them? How?
She turned away from Chase, staring at Matthew. For the life of him, Chase couldn't bring himself to look away from her. He was shaken; flabbergasted by the sheer amount of lust that was flooding his system. He had never, in all his life, had such an instant reaction to a woman.
A woman that was married to another man.
Fuck.
She was staring at her husband now, her hands on her hips. The way she tapped her foot and stared Douglas down had Chase aching.
And confused.
What the hell?
She growled Douglas’ name, her anger evident, and it took everything in Chase to stop himself from biting down on his lip. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Douglas’ mouth fall open. Chase waited, curious to see what excuse Douglas was going to dish out—the sound of his own voice surprised the hell out of him.
"Douglas, aren't you going to introduce us to your wife?"
Again, what the fuck?
Even worse, Chase had gotten to his feet. Her eyes snapped back toward him. She seemed almost… frightened. His stupid legs began moving in her direction. He told them to stop, but they just wouldn't listen.
There was astonishment in her eyes, a touch of fear, but it was the undercurrent of heat in them that had him reaching for her hand. It was small, dainty, and her skin was soft. A jolt went through him at the feeling of it, one that left him fighting back a shiver.
She, on the other hand, trembled at his touch.
Chase’s heart took off in his chest, all the blood in his body heading downward. Slowly, as if not to frighten her, he brought her hand up to his face. His eyes locked with hers. Hers were wide, her perfect mouth hanging open, and her breaths were coming out in short gasps. He lowered his mouth toward her hand and brushed his nose against it. He took a moment to breath in her luscious scent before pressing a small open mouth kiss to the back of it.
Delicious.
She gave a tiny a gasp, one Chase was sure only he heard, but it sent his blood into a frenzy. He looked back into her eyes; didn't let go of her hand. The urge to seduce the air out of her, right in front of the man she was married to, was overwhelming.
He wanted her.
In a way, he couldn't remember ever wanting a woman.
And she was married.
Shit.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Chase Blaine, the CEO of Blaine Medical Technologies. The company your husband works for."
She blinked, that delicious looking mouth still open. Her cheeks darkened more and he could do nothing but stare, battling the animalistic hunger taking over him
.
"Aria," she squeaked, her eyes still locked with his.
"Aria," Chase said, rolling the name around on his tongue.
A throat cleared behind them and he turned, ready to stare down her good for nothing husband for even thinking of interrupting the moment.
But it was just Matthew, who had stood as well and was making his way over to them.
Chase let go of Aria's hand, took a step away from the temptation she posed, and tried to regain some control.
What the hell was wrong with him? He’d almost seduced a married woman. In front of her husband, no less. All because of how she was making him feel.
And there was no doubt about it. He was feeling.
"Hello, Aria. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Matthew, Chase’s friend and the vice president." Marcus smiled at her.
Aria swallowed and held out her hand.
It was obvious that Matthew had more common sense than Chase at the moment. He gave her a small handshake before stepping back, still smiling.
Chase breathed in deep, trying to control the need and confusion coursing through him.
Douglas stood from his seat.
"Douglas, why didn't you tell me your bosses were coming over?" Aria asked, her annoyance returning as she turned to stare at her husband.
Chase couldn't deny that a sick amount of satisfaction ran through him.
"It was a last minute visit, hon. Would you mind? We're going to take this into my office." Douglas stepped forward and leaned down to give her a kiss.
Chase’s nostrils flared as Douglas’ face got close to hers and he almost stepped forward to stop him. The look Matthew threw his way reminded Chase of his place. Impulses were firing off, at a speed he’d never had to deal with before. This new lack of control was aggravating. More than he could keep up with.
Still, when Aria turned her head away from Douglas and gave him her cheek, Chase couldn't hold back the satisfaction that broke forth.
A Debt Repaid (1) Page 1
