Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Like I was the best he’d ever had.
He moved until there was nowhere else to go, until he hit my cervix and made me wince at the intrusion. His lips found mine again, and he kissed me as he started to move, taking it nice and slow, prioritizing our kiss over the reunion of our bodies.
My arms hooked around his back, and my nails dug deep to anchor myself in place as he thrust into me, as his big dick made itself right at home after our short dry spell. I moaned against his lips, interrupting our kiss when the pleasure became too much. I panted against his mouth, my hips rocking, my desperation bursting from nowhere.
“Fuck, Pretty.” His fingers fisted my hair tighter, and he pulled his lips away because now he wanted to fuck me harder. “I missed this pussy.”
We sat across from each other at the dining table.
Aldo had delivered dinner from downstairs, a three-course meal on shiny platters. There was also an expensive bottle of wine for us to share. I noticed desserts were never a part of the menu, like they were off-limits.
Axel had put his sweatpants back on but was still shirtless, hard as a rock even when in a seated position. He never touched the basket of bread sitting there, and his dinner was usually meat and vegetables…pretty boring. But that boring lifestyle made him cut like the finest piece of beef, so I didn’t mind.
“You seemed down when you walked in.” His plate was empty because he’d already finished his dinner. Whenever food was placed in front of him, his elbows were on the table and he inhaled the meal like a caveman.
“Oh…I was with my father.”
“Figures.” He drank from his wineglass as he stared at me across the table.
“We had lunch.”
“What was on the menu? Bullshit?”
I spun my fork in my pasta, eyes down. “If you’re going to act like that, then I’ll just keep it to myself.”
He gave a sigh before he drank from his glass again. “Continue.”
I took a bite of the pasta and savored it before I answered. “I told him how I felt.”
“And?”
“He understood…as best as he could.”
“Don’t let his disappointment affect you.”
“He told me there’s been a lot of conflict lately, but in his long career, it’s usually easy and peaceful.”
“It’s a dangerous business,” he said. “To downplay that is to lie.”
“He’s just sharing his experience—”
“Why do you defend him?” He slouched in the chair, elbows on the armrests. “You confided your fears to your father, and he basically told you to dust yourself off and get back out there.”
“I’m not defending him,” I said. “And can we ever discuss my father without it turning into this?”
His fingers came together in front of him, his stare annoyed. “Probably not.”
“I told him I was thinking of opening a restaurant.”
“And?”
I shrugged. “He didn’t have much to say.”
“At least he accepted your decision. That’s more than I expected.”
The conversation went deeper than that, and I wasn’t sure why I was tempted to share it. “He said if I don’t want the business…then there’s no reason for me to stay married to you.” Once the words were out into the ether, tension filled the room and masked the aroma of the meal we’d just finished.
Axel didn’t change his posture or his stare, rigid and hard as stone.
I wasn’t sure what he would say to that, but I didn’t think he would say nothing.
I continued to withstand his stare, absorbing the tension until it made me feel toxic.
“Is that what you want?” His deep voice broke the silence, calm despite the malice in his expression.
“My father thinks you would keep him as a partner if I did decide to leave.” I didn’t phrase it as a question, afraid of being too forward about the situation.
He cocked his head slightly, continuing to look at me with coldness. “Let’s just say I did keep him on… What would you do?”
Now the air was too thick to breathe. It was like hot steam filling my lungs, so heavy that I couldn’t get the oxygen that I needed. “I don’t like to speak in hypotheticals—”
“I’ll keep him on if you leave. There.” He massaged his knuckles, his focused stare trained on me like a scope from a sniper. “No more hypotheticals.”
The stakes had just been raised, and I felt like I’d walked into a trap.
“What’s it going to be, baby?”
Now that I wanted nothing to do with the business, I had no reason to be there anymore. I could walk away whenever I wanted…start over with someone new…move back in to my old apartment. I’d tried so hard to avoid Axel when we were first married, but now my old life sounded pathetic…and miserable. “I want to stay.”
He continued to massage his knuckles as he looked away, his face turning toward the window that showed the dim lights through the heavy fog. Then a slight smile moved over his lips. “You knew how I felt before I said a word.” He turned back to me, arrogance in his stare. “Because you felt it. Felt it in my gaze. Felt it in my obsession. My commitment, passion, and words. That’s how you know it’s real, when it exists without ever being spoken. Now I know you feel the same way.”