Page 10 of Lust & Lies
His smile faded. “Is that so?” he asked, tone no longer tinged with humor. “Why not?”
“You’re sort of like this house,” I told him, moving closer.
He took a step forward. “Explain,wife.”
“Allegedwife,” I corrected, feeling like I was going too far but no longer caring. I mean, he’d asked for it, after all. “I don’t remember marrying you.”
“Oh, you will,wife. Now, explain why you don’t think I’m the type of man you’d want to spend your life with,” he practically growled.
Standing toe to toe with him now, I stared up at him and said, “You’re much too perfect, too polished, too polite.”
“Am I?” he drawled, glaring down at me.
“So perfect that it feels fake, practiced.”
“Basically, you’re saying I’m fake because I’m a gentleman?”
“You treat me like I’m made of glass. You’re careful of what you say and what you do around me. Sure, you’re obeying the doctor’s orders, but I feel his orders are a bit much, and I think you’re taking them to the extreme. How am I ever supposed to remember anything if you treat me like a fragile flower that will blow away in the gentlest breeze? I’m not weak. I’m not easily broken. You said it yourself, I’m a survivor. So, stop treating me like I’m fragile.”
“How do you want me to treat you?” he asked.
What kind of question was that? If he were my husband, he would treat me the way he’d always treated me.
“How did you treat me in the past,husband?” I sneered, anger and frustration spilling into my words.
I gasped when he gripped my throat and walked me backward step by step, until my spine met the wall. What the hell? Fear flooded my veins as he leaned down until his nose was inches away from mine.
“I treated you like this, wife.”
His lips pressed against mine in a rough kiss. For a second, I was too shocked to move, too surprised for my brain to fully register what was happening. That feeling quickly wore off.
I tried to turn my head, to tear my mouth away from his. But his grip on my throat tightened, forcing me to be still. It wasn’t until I bit his lip that he released me. I shoved him away from me, hand going to my mouth where I tasted blood,hisblood.
My angry gaze met his, and I was shocked at how different he looked. He no longer appeared a picture of poised perfection. There was a savage glint in his eyes, a hunger I’d never seen before.
He touched his hand to his lip and stared at his fingers. Instead of getting angry, he chuckled.
“Wife, you’re not ready for me to treat you the way I used to,” he told me. “You should appreciate the gentleman while you’ve got him.”
His words sent a chill over me.
“Are you saying you made a habit of forcing yourself on me in the past?” I yelled.
“No,” he said after licking the blood from his lower lip. “In the past, I never had to force you. In the past, I’d come home to you waiting in the bed, naked, hungry for my cock.”
My eyes widened, pulse spiking at his words. He was lying. He had to be.
“In the past, you’d send me texts telling me to hurry home because you was hungry for my cock. In the past, you’d wake me up out of my sleep and sweetly tell me that you couldn’t sleep and ask me if you could ride my face until you got tired enough to doze off. And I’d let you. I’d eat that sweet pussy until you came in my mouth, then drifted off to sleep. In the past, you’d come to my office just to suck my...”
“Okay!” I rushed forward and placed my hand over his mouth, unable to listen to more of what heclaimedI’d done in the past. If what he was saying was true, then I was a certified freak. I wanted to deny it.
Yet, his words had my heart racing. It had me imagining myself doing those things. It had my body growing hot from the fantasies his words brought to life. He gripped my wrist and lowered my hand from his mouth.
The savagery in his gaze had dimmed. He looked more composed, though his lip was still swollen from where I’d bitten him. When he spoke, he sounded calmer.
“I can’t treat you the way I did before the accident because you’re not ready for that, Noelle. And I admit, Iambehaving differently.” His hands flexed at his sides, then he clasped them behind his back as if he were trying to refrain from touching me.
“But, baby, this is all new to me, also. I don’t really know how to behave or how to treat you right now. All I know is that I want you to get better. I don’t want to rush you. I don’t want to do anything that could slow down your progress.” He took a small step forward, then stopped.
