Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Staring at her now, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was dreaming about him. He reached out as if to wake her, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. With the glow of the light, Dante looked at her.
Aria hadn’t wanted this either. She didn’t ask to be married to him. No one had offered her hand in marriage. She was a lot older than most brides.
He couldn’t bring himself to move.
She looked … pretty.
He knew a lot of people considered Aria a plain beauty. Her brown hair not exactly the prized blonde of her sister. Now, as he looked at her without any anger or hatred, Aria held a softness about her, a different kind of beauty. He suddenly wanted to see her brown eyes, but he wasn’t going to wake her. There would be time for him to look into her eyes.
In the corner of her bedroom, he saw a chair, and he knew he shouldn’t stay. He lowered himself into the chair and watched her sleep. The minutes ticked on and he had every intention of leaving her to her peace. Only, he felt the heaviness of sleep suddenly weighing him down, and he didn’t want to leave her bedroom.
Eyes closed, he started to drift off to sleep.
Chapter Four
Aria tried not to panic as she woke up and found her husband fast asleep in the chair in the corner of her bedroom.
Glancing around the room, she didn’t know what she expected to find. Guards, soldiers, all expecting to kill her. She’d not done anything wrong, but that didn’t mean lies couldn’t be planted on her.
There was no one else in the room with her and Dante.
She still held onto the bed sheet for dear life, hoping against hope this wasn’t the calm before the storm.
If Dante wanted to have her killed, he could have already organized it by now. Once she realized that sad truth, she still didn’t let up on the sheet. Why was Dante in her room?
She tried to ignore the man opposite her and focus on how she was going to get out of her room. He was near the door to her en suite bathroom. Even her closet was behind him as well. She would have no choice but to sneak past him, and use another bathroom in another room. Some of her clothes might still be in the laundry room.
Dante’s asleep.
Aria didn’t know why that mattered to her. It hadn’t concerned her before. Every time he stayed home, he’d go to his own bedroom where he was probably sleeping. This time, he was asleep in her room and she couldn’t help but glance over at him. His eyes were still closed and without anyone to bear witness, she couldn’t help but take this opportunity to look at her husband.
Dante looked so … sexy.
He wore a pair of pajama bottoms, no shirt, showcasing his fully inked upper body. She hadn’t looked at him for any length of time. She often tried to avoid anything that would bring them too close. He was muscular. The ink couldn’t hide that, but she could imagine he didn’t have much of a choice. He would have to be strong to gain the reputation he’d gotten over the years.
He was a handsome man. She knew there were a lot of women who would be very happy to share his name. Who would love to be close to him. Even if it was for one day a month.
“You’re awake,” Dante said.
She gasped.
She’d been so distracted by his chest, leading down toward his pelvis, that she’d failed to see him wake up.
“You’re in my room,” she said, wanting to distract him from the fact she might have been caught ogling him.
He didn’t move.
His gaze was on hers and where she would normally try to avoid looking at him, she felt in a trance, unable to look away.
“What happened?” Aria asked.
She needed to talk.
“I heard,” Dante said.
“Heard what?” Had there been an attack? A threat of an attack?
“Your conversation with your sister.”
“Oh,” Aria said. She tried to think of what she talked to Isabella about, and then it all came flooding back.
Was he talking about the sex? She felt her cheeks start to heat. She hadn’t exactly been complimentary, far from it.
“I, ugh, I…” She didn’t have a clue what to say. Was it wrong to tell the truth? “It’s like that for a lot of women,” she said.
“I know,” Dante said.
She licked her dry lips. This was not a conversation she ever intended to have with her husband. She didn’t like sex. She didn’t get the hype and what drove people crazy about it.
“Can I use the bathroom?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She was a little taken aback that her request was granted, but she pushed her blankets off and tried to make her escape quickly while walking at a normal pace. Her heart raced as she entered the bathroom. She pushed the door closed and went to the toilet. Once she was finished, she washed her hands, and then couldn’t help but glance at her reflection.