"Eh?" I glance up at him. His pupils are dilated with… Pain? Awareness? Pain, probably. It has to be painful when I stab the needle through his skin, but he hasn’t jerked once. "Not long now," I mutter, then turn back to my task.
"Take your time. At least this way, you have a real reason to stay close to me."
"You’re delirious," I murmur.
"Am I?" He clears his throat. "I know the only reason you’ve stayed with me is because I threatened your family."
I don’t reply.
"If I had asked you to pose as my fake wife, you never would have agreed."
"That’s true," I agree.
"But it doesn’t need to be that way, you know."
"Right." Just a few more stitches to go now. I can do this.
"Just tell me what you’re hiding from me, and I’ll forgive you, and I promise not to hurt you or your family either."
My finger slips, the needle stabs his skin extra hard, and he winces. "I know you don’t like me, but try not to kill me with that needle, okay?"
I shoot him a glance from under my eyelashes. "Don’t be a baby; you can take the pain."
"But can I take the agony when I find out that you have been betraying me?"
"What?" I stare, "I … I haven’t been betraying you."
"Haven’t you?" He chuckles. "You’re such a bad liar, Flower." He reaches up and pushes the hair off of my forehead. "But that’s okay. I know how to spank the truth out of you."
"You’re not going to be doing much of anything except lying on your back and recovering."
"I’d rather you be lying on your back," he smirks, "with me on top, of course."
"Of course," I say dryly as I continue with my task.
"Better still, I can lay back, as long as you practice some of your kinky doctor shit on me."
"Kinky doctor shit?" I chuckle. Drunk-with-pain Christian is a lot more fun than sober Christian. "What does kinky doctor shit involve?"
"You know"—his lips curl—"you giving me a thorough full-body examination."
"The only thing you’re getting from me is a prostrate examination, buster."
He laughs.
I scowl at him. "No, don’t tell me. With your perverted tastes, you’d probably enjoy that too much."
"I’d enjoy it more if I could return the favor with a breast examination, followed by a pelvic scan. You know, the kind where I get to use my dick instead of a probe."
I raise my eyebrows. "Really, you’re going there?" I knot the thread one last time, then grab the scissors and cut it off.
His muscles go solid.
I raise my gaze to his face to find his eyelids shut. "You okay?"
"What do you think?" He opens his eyes and fixes me with that blue gaze. "My fiancée—"
"Fake fianceé."