Page 108 of Brutal Collateral

I just smile at her, but I want to bend her over the vanity.

She clears her throat, staring at me. “Can I ask you something?”

The unexpected weakness in her voice shocks the shit out of me. “You can ask.”

“Six months, huh?” She bites her lip.

My body tenses. “What about it?”

“We’re going to be married for six months.”

“And you’re not to mention that to your brothers.” Who can’t know I don’t want to be tied to them forever. Not like this.

“What will you tell Ares?” she asks, futzing with her robe.

I cross my arms over my bare chest, annoyed at the implication thatIwill have to explain toherbrothers. Only, I don’t want this marriage any more than she does. I don’t want a womanforcedto marry me.

But what if she decides she likes being a mafia trophy wife? I have no intention of staying married to a woman I can’t fuck regularly.

“Depends on how you’ll disappear,” I say.

Her finger swipes the counter. “I’m figuring out that between your brother Shane and the tech services company Ambrose hired, disappearing isn’t a viable option.”

All I heard was ‘tech services company Ambrose hired.’

“Then you need to think about this very carefully.” I stride closer, my hard cock rubbing against her. “If you divorce me, that makes you a free single woman. And don’t think for one second that Ares won’t force you intoanothermarriage.”

Ava being single also means she’s free to sleep with another man. A thought that has so much fire raging under my skin, I might burst into flames.

She drops her hands. “Do I come acrossthatuseless?”

“Not to me. Not at all.” It hits me like a blow, the feeling I should keep her.

Stay married to her. Try to make it work. Something to pick apart later. I worry I’m thinking with my aching dick.

“What if we...stage some kind of accident.” Her eyes get so dark that a shiver runs up my spine. “Fake my death. A...fall of some kind.”

I push her against the bathroom wall. “Thatis out of the fucking question.”

“Why? Then you can go back to fucking whoever you want.”

“What if I want to fuck you?” I admit, and then grip the short strands of her hair, the silk leveling me out. “Only you. No one’s made me come as hard as you.”

She purses her lips, fumbling for a response.

“It’s okay,” I whisper. “It’s okay to admit that I was the best fuck you ever had, too. So much that you had to tie me up to get away from me because you knew you’d be wondering if all that pain from the grueling training was worth it when you could have been in my bed with me licking your cunt and fingering your ass every night.”

She pushes me away. “What are you doing? You don’t mean any of this. You’re...playing with me. There’s nothing between us.”

“My hard cock pressed into your stomach begs to differ. The way you came on my cock in the car after getting fucked on your hands and kneesbegs to differ.”

“Yeah, you should be begging.”

Pressing harder against her, I add, “What exactly did I do to make you so mad and bitter toward me?”

Her empty eyes search my face, shocked I’m making her explain what the fuck is going on in her head. Maybe she’s not built like that. To think too deeply. To just act. Maybe that’s the nature of the Navy training that never left her soul.

“Nothing. Go take your shower and jerk off. I have...” She sucks in a breath like something hit her.

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