by K. I. Lynn
He nodded. “You’re more her type.”
My jaw dropped open as understanding flooded in. “Oh.”
“Do my ears detect jealousy?” he asked as he smirked at me.
“Jealousy? No. I’m protecting my image.” I knew he totally saw through my cover-up.
“Hmm, are you sure that’s it? You barged into my office on a rampage to accuse me of fucking outside of our arrangement, didn’t you?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. Crap, was that why I was so worked up? “You aren’t fucking anybody.”
“Only you, my dear.”
“Exactly,” I agreed, then blinked at him. “What? I mean, no. Nobody.”
His tongue slid out between his lips as he stared at me with an intensity that caused the hair on my neck to stand up and my nipples to harden. I swallowed hard and adjusted my arm to try to hide my reaction, but he caught the movement. His lip twitched up.
“Is that all, my dear?”
I glared at him, hating that stupid term of endearment that held no real emotion to it. “Yes.” I turned to stomp back out. Whatever my motive was for seeking him out had been completely ruined by both my accusation and the lingering anger, even though nothing was going on. Maybe I was jealous, because Holly got to see a side of Atticus that I dreamed of and hoped one day I would meet.
“I’d think you’d want me breaking the contract.”
I ground to a stop, nearly losing my balance at the force as I whipped around to look at him again.
“What I want is to come out of this with my reputation intact.”
“And a lot of money.”
“Of course.”
“That’s all you’re here for anyway.”
I didn’t like the venom in his tone, and I headed back over to him. Each anger-filled step amped up the tension in the air. What the hell was with the sudden attitude?
“Isn’t that what this is? A business arrangement? You pay me to be the dutiful wife and mother of your child?”
“You’re lacking in your dutiful wife responsibilities.”
“How so?”
He stepped closer, and I noticed how hard we were both breathing. I also took in the spice of his cologne, hating the way it made me want to lean forward and lick his neck. We were so close together and every muscle was tight, ready and waiting for something to happen, but I didn’t know what that was.
“Why don’t you get on your knees and I’ll show you?” he spat.
My eyes widened before narrowing. “Sorry, no sex, remember?”
“No vaginal sex,” he leaned forward as I froze. “It never specified no oral sex.” His hands took hold of my waist and pulled me tightly against him.
A gasp left me as I felt the hard line of his cock pressed against my abdomen. My thighs squeezed together, and I blinked up at him.
“I’d settle for setting you on my desk and rutting against your covered pussy for now.”
The sound of a slap resonated around the walls, and it wasn’t until it settled that I realized my arm had swung out and connected with the side of his face.
His eyes were slits, and my stomach dropped at the realization of what I’d done. In one quick movement one of his hands cupped my jaw, his fingers pulling at the back of my neck as his lips crashed to mine.
A squeak left me, and a shock tore through me as he held me tight. I pushed against his chest until there was some amount of space between us before whipping my hand across his face again.
His eyes darkened and he backed me up, pinning me to the wall. “Stop doing that,” he growled.
A shudder rolled through me, but what surprised me most was that it wasn’t from fear, but lust. It didn’t matter that I’d risked waking the wicked king, because I realized how intoxicating that destructive energy was, seductive and alluring as I imagined how he would touch me when he was so worked up.
His lips met mine again, and his thumb pulled at my jaw. My lips parted and when his tongue brushed against mine, I was overwhelmed by the electric shocks that pulsed through me.
There was no stopping my moans of pleasure, or the way I bowed into him as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He groaned and reached down, grabbing my ass as he lifted me up. The move had my legs around his waist and pulling him closer.
A groan left him, and he deepened the kiss.
This was what I needed.
His lips attacked my neck, and I felt him chuckle against my skin. “If this is how you react, I should make you jealous more often.”
“Jerk.”
His hips flexed, pressing his hard length against my clit. A low keening slipped out as his lips ghosted mine.
“Only for you, Ophelia. All of me is only for you.”
My heart beat wildly and my eyes pricked with tears. The man before me reminded me so much of the way he was the night we met. I was hanging at a dangerous precipice.
“Asshole,” I whimpered as I pressed my forehead to his.
A deep chuckle vibrated as his piercing blue eyes tore into my soul. One hand slipped under my shirt as he continued to rock his hips. A wake of electric fire ignited upon every inch of skin he came in contact with.
“You are mine, Ophelia, and I—”
The door suddenly clicked open. “Are you ready yet?” Hamilton asked as he stormed in.
I froze, my eyes locked with Atticus’s as I watched them morph from a smoldering lust into a flame of anger.
“Oh. She’s here.”
Atticus’s muscles tensed and he retreated from me, slowly lowering me until my feet were stable on the ground.
“Yes, my fiancée came to see me, and we were in the middle of something, so what do you want?”
“We have a meeting, remember? Stop messing with your little pet. We’ll be late.”
“Do you mind?”
“Yes, I mind,” he sneered, his predatory eyes locked on me. “You’re fucking around with that alley cat who shouldn’t even be here.”
Atticus swept me behind him with his arm. “Family or not, you will not talk to her that way.”
I put my hand on Atticus’s chest and stepped in front of him. “It’s okay. I don’t need you to shield me from him.”
I locked eyes with Hamilton to show him that his attitude didn’t affect me.
“In our life, women come and go. You’re just here for the moment, and I can’t wait until you’re gone,” Hamilton said. His glare was almost as frightening as Atticus’s, but if I was going to be part of this family, I wasn’t about to let Hamilton bully me.
“I don’t know, five years is a pretty long moment, and I gotta say—I’m settling in nicely.”
Atticus’s hands rested on my hips before yanking me back to him, his arms wrapping around me as he placed a kiss to my neck. “Very nicely.”
“I don’t know what your problem is, Hamilton, but I do believe in karma. I’ll be sitting here with popcorn waiting for the day you eat those words.”
“Then you’ll be waiting until you’re in your grave,” he spat.
“Go ahead to the meeting,” Atticus said. He gripped my chin and turned my head back to him. “I wasn’t finished playing yet.”
Hamilton tsked, his teeth flashing before turning and stomping out of the room. I barely heard the door click because Atticus’s lips were firmly pressed to mine and he was devouring me again.
I could get used to this. The strong, possessive grip and overflowing desire that poured out of him was intoxicating. I wanted to drink more of it until I was entirely consumed by him.
When did his lips against mine become so natural? So perfectly right?
A low groan rumbled in his chest. “Keep teasing me like this, and I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”
“No. Sex.”
He bit down on my bottom lip and pulled. “You’re entirely too infuriating. I’ll be in a rage all afternoon, and it’s your fault.” He turned me in his arms. “Are you ever going to tell me why you came by?”
I bit down on my lip. “Well,
I was thinking of taking a reprieve from my busy schedule and taking my fiancé to lunch.”
His lips twitched. “Lunch, huh? I have not eaten today. Where were you thinking?”
“A special little place I know. I’m in good with the owner, so we’ll have no problem getting in.”
His lips brushed against the column of my neck, leaving a low humming vibration against my skin. “I heard the owner was a little frustrated right now. Perhaps a dark, secluded hiding spot isn’t the best. I’m hungry, Ophelia, and food will not satiate me.”
“Then I guess I should be heading back. I don’t want to tempt you too much.”
“You should take responsibility for the state I’m in. After all, you barged into my office and accused me of cheating, remember?”
No, I didn’t, because every single thought in my brain had been completely overridden by him. His touch, his scent, his domination—all things that set me on fire and had me craving for more.
“We’re having an engagement party?” I asked, my eyes wide as I stared at Atticus.
“Yes. Next month.”
We were sitting on the couch when he dropped that bomb on me. Though over the last few weeks, our position had gone from my feet on his lap and worked my way up. Currently my head was resting on his lap while his fingers made slow circles around my exposed midriff.
And I really liked it.
“Here’s a question that has been bugging me for a while now—if there is a time limit on when you need to be married by, why is there such a long wait? Why didn’t we just elope?”
The word “elope” felt weird to say. Even though I was marrying Atticus, elopement always seemed like a rash execution of love by need due to either opposition or heightened emotions.
“Because things have to be done in a certain order. First was the announcement, now the engagement party. You should have adapted enough to know that our wedding will be highly publicized.”
“You mean your wedding. I’m just the girl in the white dress. They don’t care about me.”
“Perhaps. Still, they will all want to know the woman who tamed me. Don’t you want them all to see who I belong to?”
That was the second time he mentioned him belonging to me this week, and I liked it.
“Do I get any say in this engagement party?”
“Of course. Mother will talk with you more about it this weekend while dress shopping. She’s thinking either at Stronghold or the Asylum.”
“Asylum? The Hamptons house, right?”
I received a rare smile. “Yes. Our reprieve from the city.”
“Ah. I was…never mind.”
He seemed to sense my reason for hesitation. “It was a fair bit of wordplay on Elizabeth’s part, no?”
“Elizabeth named it?”
He nodded. “A name that encompassed both the inhabitants and the reprieve from the city. She was twelve. We started calling it that and it stuck so much that it is now commonplace.”
“I can’t wait to see it one day.”
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go,” he said. My gaze found his, and a shiver rolled through me. It had been happening more and more when we were together—a growing desire every time when he was close.
I tilted my head. “Do you even take vacations?”
His brow furrowed. “Not really. Long weekends to Haven on occasion, but besides the New York properties, that’s about it.”
Haven.
I’d seen the photos of the de Loughrey private island in the Bahamas, complete with its own airstrip and customs that would come out to them. I’d never been much outside of New York, and not that far afield. New Haven, Connecticut for my aunt and grandparents, Jersey because of friends, but outside of that, I’d never left that couple-hundred-mile radius.
Would he have time off that we could go? I’d gotten to be a better swimmer, stronger, so we could, right?
I froze when it hit me. I wasn’t thinking about me going and spending a few days, but of us together.
Atticus and I alone in paradise.
My face flamed, and I covered my face in my hands.
“What are you hiding from me?” Atticus asked as he pulled my hands away.
His blue eyes pinned me down. “N-nothing.”
“By the enticing blush that is spreading across your beautiful skin, it isn’t nothing.”
“I was just thinking about Haven.”
“What about it?”
“You and me. Alone. Together. In paradise.”
He chuckled as he leaned down and grasped my jaw, pulling me closer. “What did I say before about enticing me? I won’t be held accountable.” He pressed his lips to mine before pulling back.
The heat in my face burned hotter. “So, engagement party?”
“Yes. You’re dress shopping this week with my mother, correct?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I know that our marriage is a contract, but I hope you’re looking forward to the wedding, because I know I am. That being said, don’t let Vera steamroll you. This is your wedding, and you have the right to say yes or no. But I will also say that society at this level is new to you, please listen to what Mother suggests. If it is something you are adamantly against, I will support you.” His lips twitched and his eyes narrowed. “Drinking with Gen aside.”
I reached up and cupped his cheek. “Thank you.”
The truth was that I hadn’t let myself get excited about the wedding. How could I? Yes, I’d given Vera my opinion on many things, but I had failed to let my inner child dreaming of her wedding to Prince Charming run wild. Atticus was a prince, but charming was up for debate. He also hadn’t fallen for me after one night.
That thought stopped me, and I froze.
But in a way, he had, hadn’t he? We had one fairy-tale night, but afterward, he wasn’t walking around the streets of New York carrying a glass slipper. He was, however, carrying longing and regret.
For a year, he searched me out multiple times a week, and when he needed a wife, he said all he could see was me beside him.
So why was I reserved—cautious almost—in my excitement to be walking down the aisle to him?
“You’ve gone far away,” he said as he brushed a lock of hair from my forehead.
“Do you want to marry me? Are you excited?”
He cupped my face and leaned down to press his lips to mine. “There is no other I want to call my wife.”
“Not even Bridget or Antonia?” I asked, my jealousy flaring up. For years he’d seen them. Even if it was casually, I still worried that he might want them.
“I have no feelings for them.”
“You’ve had sex with them.”
“Attraction is different. They’ve been on my arm for many events, but they were just convenient decoration.” His hand moved farther up under my shirt, and his eyes locked with mine. “Look at me.”
It felt like a bolt of lightning had come down from the heavens and struck me. I jolted in his arms.
“There it is.”
“W-what?”
“Why I could not even consider them. Never once have I wanted a woman to look at me like that. Only you.”
I blinked at him, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.
“If you keep that expression, I’m going to try to do very bad things to you.” His hand moved farther up until his fingertips skimmed the underside of my breasts, then brushed across my nipples.
I drew in a ragged, shuddered breath, my nipples hardening and sending jolts of pleasure straight to my clit.
“No sex,” I said, but even I could hear my lack of conviction.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. “Your weakness is showing.”
He was absolutely right, because he was my weakness, and my resolve was crumbling to pieces.
“Stand up straight, Ophelia,” Vera said in her sharp tone, leaving no room for argument.
Spending the day with my soon-to-be mother-in-law was not in my top one hund
red things I wanted to do at any time, but I had no choice. Almost two months had passed, and I had done very little for my upcoming wedding.
A wedding Vera had planned for January before she even knew about me. One she had already hired caterers for and sent out announcements. Granted, it was for her oldest son, but so far it was very much Vera’s wedding and not mine.
Things were changing between me and Atticus, and I was starting to come around to the idea that we weren’t just a business contract. That we could be more. And that actually made me more interested in our upcoming nuptials, but I was steamrolled at every turn.
Not that I let her walk all over me, but I’d shown so little interest in the first month or so that she’d done whatever she wanted.
I blew a stray curl from my face. Vera scrutinized my appearance the moment she stepped foot into our home. While the outfit I chose was passable, she balked at my hair. What was with the de Loughreys and my hair?
I ended up in the salon with some frazzled-looking woman huffing as she attempted to catch her breath. It looked like she’d run from wherever she’d been. There was sweat beaded on her forehead, but she still managed to give me a smile, even if it was a bit strained.
And that was how my normally straight blonde hair, that was almost to the top of my shoulders, was now curly and pissing me off.
My hand felt heavy due to not being used to the weight of the hunk of rock that sat on my finger. It was over the top, much like everything the de Loughreys touched, but even so, it was gorgeous.
Yes, I loved The Rock, but why did it have to weigh so much?
My phone went off, which was odd. My phone hardly ever went off.
Atticus : Just remember to breathe and make sure to get what YOU want.
I stared down at the screen, my chest clenching as I read the words. He was worried about me. Soothing me from afar. How did he know I needed him?
Ophelia : Thank you. I needed that.
Atticus : I know.
It felt like a very Han Solo response, but still, him responding, him even thinking about texting me, was a hard hit to my emotions, and I had to blink back tears. Being with Atticus was overwhelming in itself, but falling for him was worse. It was all-encompassing and frightening.
The car slowed to a stop outside of a large building.
