“Where have you been?” I rasped. I wanted to touch her arm again. I fucking needed to touch her, as if merely seeing her wasn’t enough to confirm she was unharmed. Aria jumped back, her eyes flashing with anger. “No! Don’t ever touch me again. Not when you use those same hands to touch your whore.”
“Out, everyone. Now,” I growled.
Steps rang out and then there was the familiar sound of the elevator.
“Where have you been?” My pulse was pounding wildly. Didn’t Aria understand how much danger she’d been in?
Aria glared at me, but behind the anger lingered deep hurt, and I didn’t get it. “I wasn’t cheating on you if that’s what you’re worried about. I would never do that. I think faithfulness is the most important thing in a marriage, so you can calm yourself now—my body is still only yours. I only walked around the city.”
If she knew how eager the Bratva probably was to get her hands on my wife, then she wouldn’t have done it. “You walked around New York at night? Alone?”
“You have no right to be angry with me, Luca. Not after what I saw today. You cheated on me.”
Guilt flared up in my chest, but I shoved it down. I was never guilty about anything. “How can I be cheating when we don’t have a real marriage? I can’t even fuck my own wife. Do you think I’ll live like a monk until you decide you can stand my closeness?”
Aria swallowed hard. “God forbid. How dare I expect my husband to be faithful to me? How dare I hope for this small decency in a monster?”
Faithful? Was this even a real marriage? Aria might have said yes, but she didn’t act like she wanted to be my wife. She’d looked at me like I was my father. “I’m not a monster. I’ve treated you with respect.”
“Respect? I caught you with another woman! Maybe I should go out, bring a random guy back with me and let him fuck me in front of your eyes. How would that make you feel?” Aria hissed, and something snapped inside me.
I grabbed her by the hips and hoisted her on the bed, pressing her down with my weight as I held her wrists above her head. Nobody would ever touch her. Nobody but me.
“Do it. Take me, so I can really hate you,” Aria whispered harshly, tears glistening in her eyes. She closed them and turned her face away. My gaze traced her flushed skin, her trembling lower lip, the tears that clung to her lashes. Scared. Scared of me. Fuck. Aria. My wife. Mine to protect and honor. I needed to control myself better. I lowered my head and pressed it to her shoulder, breathing in her flowery scent. I exhaled, getting a grip on my anger. “God, Aria.”
I released her wrists and raised my head. Aria didn’t move, her arms still stretched out above her head submissively. The sight of her surrender left a fucking bitter taste in my mouth. I tried to touch her cheek, but she drew back. “Don’t touch me with her on you.”
She was right. She didn’t deserve this.
I got up. “I’m going to take a shower now, and we will both calm down, and then I want us to talk.”
Aria peered up at me. “What’s there left to talk about?”
“Us. This marriage.”
Slowly, she brought her arms down from where I’d pushed her into the bed. “You fucked a woman in front of my eyes today. Do you think there’s still a chance for this marriage?”
“I didn’t want you to see that,” I murmured. Fuck, the look in her eyes when she’d caught me would haunt me for a long time, which was ridiculous considering how much I’d done and seen.
“Why? So you could cheat in peace and quiet behind my back?”
Aria was right, but she’d never showed any hint that she cared about this marriage. “Let me take a shower. You were right. I shouldn’t disrespect you further by touching you like this.”
She didn’t say anything, only regarded me with those sad eyes that felt like a blade in my chest. I turned and headed for the bathroom. I wasn’t sure how long I stood under the stream of hot water until I felt like I could return to my wife, like I’d washed every trace of Grace’s perfume and touch away. I didn’t like the heavy feeling Aria’s tears had left in my body. It was a sensation I had no experience with and wasn’t keen on experiencing more often.
After I’d wrapped a towel around my waist, I returned to the bedroom where Aria sat against the headboard. Her hands were folded in her lap, those blonde tresses cascading down her elegant shoulders.
I felt like even more of an idiot for going to Grace when I had someone like Aria in my bed, but she still didn’t want me which became apparent once more when I dropped my towel and she quickly looked away as if she couldn’t bear the sight of me. I wasn’t vain like Matteo, far from it, but I knew how women checked me out. I worked hard for my body. After pulling on boxers, I sank down on the bed beside Aria. My gaze rested on her puffy eyes. It still caught me off-guard. “Did you cry?” The better question was why?