Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I charge toward her and grab her by the arm. The lighter falls from her hand to the chair and she faces me, her lips parted and her skin flushed.
For a moment, I want to believe that she’s doing this for me.
For us.
But why would she when she never has before?
There’s only one way to find out the truth.
10
Lia
When I plotted this, I had one thought in mind—get to Adrian.
I didn’t care whether I got his anger or his wrath, as long as he expressed it instead of bottling all his emotions inside as usual.
To ensure I had everything prepared, I brought out the candles, the sheets, and the lingerie I bought a year ago but never had the courage to use. I had to hide them at the back of the closet as if they were some sort of disgrace.
Back then, I was more afraid of the idea of him and didn’t want to fully give in to my feelings or to him.
A part of me still battles that. Still whispers in a corner of my head that Adrian is a monster and there’s nothing that will change it.
However, that part is what made me lose my mind, because I denied something I wanted so much, and in doing that, I screwed up my head.
So now, as he holds me by the arm, the dark gray pools of his eyes shining with malice, I don’t run away.
I stare.
I fall.
I just stay in the moment.
Which isn’t so hard since Adrian is able to confiscate my entire attention by merely being there.
Goosebumps erupt on my flesh from where he’s gripping me. The shadow on his sharp cheekbones gives him a darkened, lethal edge.
He’s such a handsome man with a quiet beauty that creeps up on you out of nowhere and a physical perfection that gets better with time. I might have been a bit infatuated with him for years.
Okay, a lot.
“What do you think you’re doing, Lia?”
I love the sound of my name on his lips. In fact, I love it so much that I may have leaned closer merely to hear it clearer in the tenor of his voice.
Snap out of it, Lia.
“Just dinner,” I say with nonchalance.
“This doesn’t look like just dinner to me.”
“You’re the one who called me earlier wanting a date, remember?”
“Who said I want it anymore?”
I ignore how his words sting, especially since we’ve never really had a date before, but I tamp it down. “Well, I want a date.”
“If by a date, you mean you’ll either answer my questions or I will get your ass red, then fine, Lia. Let’s have a date.”
“And they say romance is dead.”
“Drop the sarcasm. It doesn’t suit you.”
“I think it suits me just fine.”
“Lia…” he warns. “Don’t talk back to me or your ass will pay the price.”
A jolt of excitement goes up my spine and I feign indifference, trying hard not to rub my thighs together. “The dinner is getting cold.”
“What are you playing at? Are you going to seduce me in order to ask for something later? To get out so you can meet the fucker, maybe?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I never cheated on you, Adrian. I swear.”
He grabs me by a fistful of my hair and I wince as he tugs backward. “So this is your new game? Denial?”
I hold onto his wrist, not to remove it, but to touch him, to establish a connection with him so that whatever vulnerable thread exists between us doesn’t break.
“How about I treat you the same, Lia? Should I bring in a mistress, too? I’ll tie you to the bed and fuck her right in front of you while you watch. Is that what you want?”
“No!” Tears fill my eyes and a green-eyed monster rears his head from the depths of my soul.
I have no doubt he’d do it just to teach me a lesson, to hurt me as much as I hurt him, and I don’t think I would ever survive the sight of Adrian touching another woman.
It’d break me to the point of no return.
“Why not? You sent your lookalike in my direction, so isn’t that what you expected to happen? For me to fuck her?”
Bitter tears slide down my cheeks and I clamp my lips together to prevent them from trembling.
“Answer me, Lia.”
I choke on a sob before I speak. “I wasn’t thinking straight back then.”
“You weren’t thinking, but you obviously thought hard enough about having her take your place. Did you imagine her in my bed? Did you like that image?”
“No…no! No!” I dig my fingers into his skin. “Don’t torture me like this.”
“You mean, like the way you’ve been torturing me for months?”
“I didn’t cheat on you and I’d never be able to. Not when you own every part of me.”
“I own every part of you?” His eyes darken to a frightening hue.