Page 45 of Legacy

The moment Eli and I walked through the doors of the house after our lunch, a different energy surrounded us. It crackled as if pulsing with residual rage for what the asshole had planned and needing to carry out the retribution he deserved, mixed with this sexual undercurrent that felt as if it burned along my skin.

I wasn’t sure if it was anticipation or my senses warning me.

The fact that I found the violence Eli displayed a far greater turn-on than gifts or trips should qualify me as demented. Then again, a weak man would never holdmy interest, and from the moment I met Eli, I knew he was unlike anyone I had encountered before.

“Let me tend to your hand,” I said, not giving him a choice, and moving into the kitchen where I’d placed a medical kit in a drawer.

He followed after me, not saying a word, only watching me. His eyes continued vibrating with the rage and fire of the incident, but the rawness there set my heart racing.

He needed to stop looking at me like that.

First, it confused me, and second, I couldn’t go there.

Those types of emotions weren’t part of the plan.

This marriage was an arrangement, a joining of two families for dual purposes. Our inability to keep our hands off each other was a bonus.

“Go wash your hands, and then sit there. I’ll get everything out.”

He followed my direction, remaining silent, but his focus on me grew in intensity.

The lives Eli and I lived teetered on the boundary of right and wrong. Maybe that was why this skewed view of things made what happened thrilling rather than repulsive.

He possessed the strength to harm me, but he preferred fucking me rough and hard. The darkness inside him called to me in a way I never wanted.

This wasn’t acceptable. Eli was part of a plan, nothing more.

As an intelligent, capable, independent woman, I needed no man. Then what the fuck was this man doing to my brain cells? To have someone come to my defense the way he had,to have someone want to protect me for once, to take care of me…I…I…

I shook the thought from my mind. I couldn’t allow myself any weakness.

Not like this.

Christ, why wasn’t he talking? What was going through his mind? He needed to speak so my thoughts wouldn’t spiral. And why the fuck was my body reacting to him?

My nipples beaded against the fabric of my lace bra, and an ache ignited deep in my core. Biting my lip, I set the things I needed on the table next to us.

The second he set his palm over mine when I offered him my hand, the volatility of his emotions poured over me. As if he were a ticking time bomb restrained and ready to burst free.

It was taking all my will not to show him how this enraged beast side of him spoke to my libido.

Or he already knew since he could read my body’s reactions better than I could.

Slowly, I tended to the wounds on his knuckles and fingers. The more I touched him, the more the arousal coursing through me intensified. My skin burned, and the desire to press my thighs together to gain a small semblance of relief overwhelmed me.

When I neared finishing, Eli closed his hands around mine. “Are you done?”

“Yes.” My breath grew unsteady, and my heartbeat raced out of control.

The primal hunger in his gaze should have scared me, except I willingly offered myself to be his prey.

And he knew it.

“Mine.” He grabbed hold of my throat and jerked me to him, sealing our mouths together.

My arms came around him of their own volition, and I lost myself in the demand of his lips and tongue. His taste exploded over my senses; he was delicious and addictive as always.

Maybe we should have worried about anyone walking in or scandalizing the staff. Still, the carnal need riding us controlled everything.

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