Pulling my calf back, I position my boot so it’s aligned with his groin and kick forward with every ounce of anger coating my blood. It feels thick and evil, like hot molasses in mid-July, blurring my eyesight.
I kick until the only thought piercing my conscience is about my wife, and that this man had his hands on her. Something I vowed to protect her from, regardless of intent. Shame floods the recesses of my brain, a lighthouse calling me to shore, as I realize my absence this week maybe drove her to him.
What kind of a fucking husband just disappears on his wife?
My foot seems to continue of its own accord, propelled by the darkness within me, repeating the motion until his gurgling is the only sound present in the entire room. The distant noise of curdling liquid pulls me from my thoughts and grounds me in place.
I blink, feeling as though I’ve just woken from a blackout.
Luca’s body curls into the fetal position, the response probably a reflex and defense mechanism, as he chokes on his spit and blood. I slam my fist once into the wall to shake myself out of this—to keep myself from killing him right here in front of Caroline.
Caroline.
Wheeling around, I notice she hasn’t moved from her spot by the island. Her clear, blue eyes hold onto mine, an ocean of emotion swirling in their depths.
But I don’t give her a chance to act on them—to run. Instead, I close the gap between us, cup her jaw in my bruised, bloodied hands, and crush my lips to hers.
There’s only a hint of hesitation, the slightest gasp as she opens her mouth, and I tilt my head, adjusting so we fit better together. So, I can climb deeper inside.
And then, while her cousin—the man she nearly reached third base with—lies in agony, she raises up on her tiptoes and kisses me back.
“OH,GOD.” Caroline drags her lips from mine, pushing against my chest. “What the hell are we doing?”
“Whatmarriedcouples have done for centuries.”
“You just beat the shit out of my cousin.”
“Mio amore, I told you no one would ever touch you again. I fucking meant it.” My hips piston forward, pinning her into the island, my erection hard and heady against her hot, sweet core. I need to get these layers out of the way.
Need to be inside her already.
I drop my mouth to her jaw, feathering kisses along the smooth ridge, feeling her fingers curl into my biceps.
Off to the side, Luca’s groans grow more insistent, like he’s fighting the black fog threatening to take him under. I can almost feel Caroline’s eyes on his slumped form, can feel the moment she distances herself from this between us in favor of caring for him.
Her shoulders tense up, her head tilting back further in an attempt to escape me. She presses hard against my arms, trying to push me off, but there will be no reprieve from this tonight.
An entire week of being my wife, and I’ve not tasted her once since the party where we met.
An entire week of her clouding my thoughts, my every fucking fantasy, of wondering what she was doing at home and when I’d be able to get back to her.
Obviously, the surveillance I have posted around the house keeps me somewhat updated, but there’s nothing like being here. I can only bust a nut watching her undress through a screen so many times before I need the real thing.
And right now, that’s all I want.
Herbody, her soul, all of it. I want to bend her over this counter in front of the fucker who thinks he has a claim on her.
“I’m going to fuck you until you’re raw—right here, right now—if you don’t tell me to stop.” My fingers grip her jaw tight enough to leave bruises, but I can’t stop the punishment. The monster inside me grabs hold, unyielding as it salivates for her.
It seeks out her inner demons, the dark stains marring her innocence, looking to add insult to injury. It’s still mad about my confession, about the mounting feelings I have toward her that remain unreciprocated.
But what does she have to reciprocate?I know more about her than she does me, so how can I expect her to find something decent within me to latch onto?
Ignoring that thought, my free hand pops open the button on her shorts, pushing the fabric aside with a heated fervor. Her chest heaves with each breathless pant, her wrist circling mine before I can delve to her hidden paradise.
“Wait. We can’t do this here.”
Chuckling, I press harder on her throat, loving the way her organ flexes beneath my grip as she tries to swallow. I dip down and lave my tongue along the warm, flushed skin of her collarbone, a dizzying arousal surging to my dick. It throbs behind my slacks, my balls aching for release. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, baby. This is my castle; I’m your goddamn king.”