I frown. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Remaining quiet, her eyes narrow and she reaches out, her hands planting on my chest and giving me a worthy shove.
Worthy enough that I take a couple of steps backwards, allowing her to escape.
I watch her go, irritation flaring in my blood. In my mind. This woman…
I want to trust her.
But I don’t know if I can.
Chapter Seven
Charlotte
I’m exhausted.
A wedding is absolutely draining. All the planning and anticipation and dread. All the worry and nervousness and excitement. I’ve been running on empty all day long, and now that I’m standing in the elevator with Perry while we ride up to the penthouse suite, where we’ll be spending our first night together as husband and wife, I feel like I could fall asleep standing up.
I press my head against the mirrored wall, closing my eyes. The wedding gown is heavy, like the mental weight I’m currently dealing with. Perry stands just in front of me, and when I open my eyes, I can see his face in the reflection of the mirror. The tightness around his mouth. The strain at the corner of his eyes.
He’s stressed. Mad. All because of me.
“I didn’t know he would show up.” I don’t need to clarify whoheis. Perry knows who I’m talking about.
My husband’s gaze meets mine in the mirrored walls. “You keep saying that, yet I still don’t believe you.”
Breathing deeply, I close my eyes once more, giving up. Why should he believe me? It doesn’t look good, Seamus attending our reception. I know it doesn’t. Perry and I barely know each other, though I thought we were learning to trust each other…
“Doesn’t stop me from wanting to fuck you on our wedding night though,” Perry continues.
My eyes pop open to find him still watching me in the mirror’s reflection. I see hunger in his gaze now, and my traitorous body responds, my blood humming and my skin tingling as it remembers how good it was between us last night.
“You going to stop me?” He lifts his brows in challenge.
Ugh, he’s too handsome when he looks at me like that. He got rid of the bow tie sometime during the reception and the first couple of buttons of his shirt are undone, exposing the smooth column of his throat. I remember kissing him there. How warm his skin is. The groan that sounded low in his throat—
“Are you?” he asks, interrupting my thoughts.
A ding sounds and the doors slide open, me hurrying out of the elevator without a word. Perry follows silently alongside me, magically producing a key card from the pocket of his tuxedo jacket. I don’t know where he got it.
I don’t bother asking either.
Within seconds the door is open and we’re entering the suite, the click of the door shutting loud in the otherwise hushed silence.
Pressing my hand to the wall, I kick off my shoes, a soft exhale of relief escaping. They were killing me. I’m not used to being in heels for that long.
Perry walks past me, still silent, coming to a sudden stop with a muttered curse. I go to him, stopping right beside him when I see what he’s staring at.
The king-sized bed is covered in deep red rose petals. Formed in the shape of a heart.
He turns to me, his expression grim. “Did you request this?”
I slowly shake my head. “Of course not.”
His scowl deepens. “Right. Not an ounce of romance is involved in this marriage.”
The silence in the room is deafening and I take a deep breath, trying to find the strength to be honest with him.