Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
As if giving up has ever been an option for me.
Not in the orphanage, dealing with shit no kid should ever deal with. Not when we moved into Minos’s house and suddenly had everything we could ever hope for…but not without cost. There’s a price to every action and inaction. I know Pandora thinks I idolize Minos, and maybe she’s right, but the truth is that I wouldn’t have trusted a free ride. I understand what he wants from me, and he’s been nothing if not consistent in those demands.
It’s a price I’m more than willing to pay for safety and security.
And, truth be told, I’m just monstrous enough to enjoy the work.
“I’ll kill you before I let you use Pandora in some sick game.”
She laughs in my face. “You don’t get to have the high horse, murderer.” Aphrodite tilts her head to the side, her hair tumbling over my arm. “She’s a smart woman. She knows what I am.”
I highly doubt that. I don’t even know what Aphrodite is. Every time I think I have her nailed down, she twists out of my grasp and does something to make my life more complicated.
I met her two weeks ago. We’ve only been married two days. I don’t like to think what kind of damage she’ll do with more time at her disposal. “Leave her alone.”
“Leave her alone,” she mocks. “If that’s the only argument you have, it’s no wonder you need Minos pulling your strings. Ironic that you’re Hephaestus now when you never could have gotten the title with your smarts.”
I push her back against the wall, using my bigger body to hold her in place. “You keep running that fucking mouth, Wife. You’re right. I’m a murderer. What’s to stop me from snapping that pretty neck of yours?”
Even in the face of a serious threat, she’s undaunted. Aphrodite is relaxed in my arms, as if we’re in an intimate embrace instead of half a breath away from a physical fight. It confuses me. My brain knows she’s dangerous, but my body is all too eager to remember how good it felt to sink into her wet heat. I strain for control, but my cock isn’t listening.
“I don’t understand what she sees in you.”
The words don’t make sense…until they do. I glare. “Don’t talk about her.”
“Why not?” She kneads the base of my skull with her nails. It doesn’t quite hurt, but it doesn’t entirely feel good, either. Aphrodite lowers her voice. “Now, what you see in her? I get that. She’s a sweet little thing, isn’t she?”
“Stop it.” I’m playing right into her hands—again—but I can’t seem to stop.
“Selfish, though.” She smiles, slow and sinful. “She came all over me and then got in a car and went home.” Aphrodite laughs. “Woman knows how to leave you wanting more.”
She’s lying. She has to be. Pandora can be reckless and wild, but she’d never betray me like that…
Though I did find her here this morning, looking hungover and faintly embarrassed. That doesn’t mean anything, though. She said nothing happened, and Pandora and I don’t lie to each other. Nothing happened.
Last night. That doesn’t mean it’s true for tonight, though.
“Pandora would never fuck you,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Why not? You did.”
I don’t know who moves first. One moment we’re glaring at each other and Aphrodite looks like she wants to rip my throat out with her teeth, and the next our mouths meet in a clash.
She tastes of sex. The realization is almost enough to stop me in my tracks, but Aphrodite wraps one bare leg around my waist, and control slips through my fingertips. I run a rough hand up her thigh and cup her ass under the slit of her dress. “No panties. What a little slut.”
“Your girlfriend likes it,” she gasps against my lips.
I kiss her again to shut her the fuck up. Gods, but I hate this woman. That alone should be enough to ensure I never touch her again, but my body hasn’t gotten the memo. I lift her and take one step…
Which is the moment my knee decides to remind me that it’s not on board with this abuse.
It buckles and then we’re falling. I manage to catch the back of Aphrodite’s head to ensure she doesn’t bounce it on the marble floor, but that means I take the brunt of the impact.
Godsdamn it, that hurts.
She doesn’t pause, one clever hand delving between us to make quick work of my pants. The witch is already trying to take control of this. She doesn’t give a fuck that my knee is one blazing starburst of pain or that I saved her from the worst of the impact. The only thing she gives a damn about is winning.
Yeah, fuck that.
I brace myself with a hand on the floor by her head and catch first one wrist and then the other. She curses a little, but I’m not in the mood to play. “Spread your legs.”