Page 20 of Tempt Me
Of course,preyedis a bit of an overstatement. She preyed on me if anything.
She was lovely, beautiful, older, and sophisticated. She drew me in. I was fascinated with her. Her husband only found it amusing when she turned me down flat.
But that was the night everything changed for me. Twenty-eight and needing some form of outlet for the aggression that was building up inside me, Viktor Di’Castello took me under his wing. He recruited me, mentored me, and then set me free in Grove City, where I resided until I was asked to move to Coe Bay a few weeks ago.
Some part of me wonders what Rue would say if she knew I hit on her mother, but another part of me hopes she never finds out. It was my lowest point, I think, looking back. Aiming higher than I had a right to. But maybe it was fate. Who knows? All I know is that from that night, I discovered that I didn’t have to use sex as an escapism anymore. My thirties were spent honing whatIenjoyed instead of only keeping the women happy, so they would let me sleep over and have a shower and some food, and maybe a repeat performance. I’ve slept with thousands of women; it has to be. I never counted to begin with, but it becomes an addiction, especially in the middle of winter, when you’d rather be in a warm bed than a limp sleeping bag with holes in it, waking up with it stiff from frost.
And then I turned forty.
My life flashed before my eyes, and I realized I wasn’t getting anything out of it anymore. It was time to stop.
I hadn’t looked back until I saw Rue being eaten out in that sex club, and she became all I could think about.
“Hey, you still with me?”
Her voice cuts into my ruminating.
“Always.”I will never leave you, Rue. Never.“We probably have a signal. Call your parents.”
Finally getting back onto the main road that leads back to the coast, I relax my grip on the steering wheel and slam my foot down. The rain eases up the closer we get to home. When we pull up at the gates, forty-five minutes later, we are inspected thoroughly and let through to find Francesca and Viktor waiting for us.
Francesca whisks Rue away while Viktor gives me that icy glare that used to terrify me. Now, I take it, knowing I failed to protect his daughter.
“I want to know precisely what the fuck happened up there,” he grits out before stalking off into his office.
Following, hoping I can debrief him without mentioning anything about Rutledge or the sex, I sit down, slumping in the chair as I fill him in minute by minute from when we left the house over twelve hours ago.
Chapter11
Rue
“I’m not even going to ask why you are wearing a grimy bedsheet,” Mom’s voice cuts through my haze of exhaustion. This has been a day and a half rolled into a few hours.
“My dress got filthy.”
“Hmm.”
She watches me closely as I climb in the shower and turn on the jets. A sigh of contentment escapes my lips, and I just stand there for a few moments, relishing the warmth and cleanliness of the spray.
“Your father and I are really proud of you, Rue, for stepping up and doing as we wish.”
Groaning inwardly, I plaster a smile on my face, so my answer sounds sincere. “Of course.”
“We’ve never told you this, but we were an arranged marriage.”
Pausing to take that in, I slide the door open and give her a shrewd stare. “Oh?”
She nods with a little giggle, folding her arms. “Your late grandfather, King Alfonso, wished Viktor to marry. He wasn’t so keen, much like you. He enjoyed his single life. I came from a good family, wealthy but not too much, influential but not powerful. I was a good match and handpicked by Alfonso. On my eighteenth birthday, I was married off to your dad, fifteen years my senior. I was a virgin and had no idea what to expect. I was terrified.”
“But you did it anyway.”
“I had no choice. The King of Arachon had demanded it. Who was I to refuse? But when Vik lifted my veil, and our eyes met, mine scared, his amused, I fell head over heels for him, and I know he felt the same. We were perfect for each other.”
“You didn’t worry he’d cheat on you?” Sorry, but that question is hanging there, ready to be asked.
“Not even for a single second. We were besotted with each other. He adored teaching me all the things of the world, and I loved being taught by him.”
“Eww,” I groan and duck back into the shower.
