I march downstairs with Rialta fast on my heels as I open the door and find Kit standing there. I realize that I won the bet, but Rialta won the game. She used me to break up with Kit.
I glance back at her standing in my shirt. She’s wearing it not because she wants to tease me but because she wants to make it completely clear to Kit what transpired here.
“I’m sorry,” she says, most likely to Kit. But it feels like a part of her is apologizing to me too.
“I don’t believe you,” Kit says, his eyes widen as he glances past me shirtless to her wearing only my shirt. He pushes under my arm, gripping the doorframe, and goes to her.
She backs away, determined not to let him touch her. She doesn’t have to worry; he stops immediately when he gets a whiff of her.
Kit knows exactly what happened. He can smell me on her.
He backs away. “You’re a fucking slut. I can’t believe I ever loved you. I can’t believe—”
I grab him by the neck and drag him out of my apartment. “If you ever talk to my wife like that again, it will be with your last breath.” I don’t kill him now because he’s just a heartbroken, silly fool. And Rialta still cares about him as much as she won’t admit it. “Now leave.”
I don’t have to tell him twice. He practically runs down the hall away from me.
I shut the door and face Rialta, who doesn’t look the least bit ashamed by what she did. She folds her arms across her chest and holds her head high.
“I’m impressed. But I knew you were lying when you said you had already broken up with him. I just didn’t know why. It turns out you’re trying to keep him safe by letting him go.”
I step closer into her personal space. She doesn’t back up or surrender. I tuck a long thick strip of her flowing brown hair behind her ear.
“But what you don’t know is saying you wanted me was more truthful than anything else you’ve ever said to me. You can think you love him all you want, but the truth is you want me. You crave me. And soon, you’ll be addicted to me. Love is a silly emotion that always ends up leaving you broken. But want, desire, need—those emotions are something you can have power over. They won’t hurt you like he just did.”
“He didn’t hurt me.”
“Then why did you wince when he called you a slut? Why did your heart break a little when he ran out that door less than a minute after he walked in and didn’t fight for you?”
She doesn’t answer.
“Exactly—it hurt you. I won’t hurt you, my dear wife. At least not emotionally. Now physically, sexually—I plan on tormenting you, pushing you to the edge of tolerance to see where your limits are. I’ll make you stronger when I’m done with you. I won’t leave you broken and hurt.”
I take her hand and kiss her wrist, where there is still a little redness from where I tied her up. “I’ll just leave my mark. And now that you’re mine completely, I plan on letting everyone know by marking every inch of your body as mine.”
“I’m not yours. I surrendered. I just lost a bet because I loved a man more than I cared about winning the bet.”
I give her a sly smile. “That’s what you say, but deep down, you know the truth. When I fucked you, it changed things. Not just between us. It changed you. It changed what you want. And soon you’ll realize that.”
Chapter28
Rialta
“How are you doing?”I ask Hayes as I walk over to the chair next to his bed.
Hayes grins at me with a bright, charming smile. Nothing ever gets him down, even being unable to get out of bed and in incredible pain from that bullet wound.
Gage said it will take him at least a week before he should be getting out of bed, longer than that to get back into the shape he was before. I can already tell it’s driving him crazy to be stuck in bed and not be able to help and plan.
“Fantastic, thanks to you.”
I shake my head as I sink into my seat. “You saved me first; it was only fair I repaid the favor.”
His grin widens. “And that kiss was something, sweetheart. Care to try again? Now that I’m awake, I can show how well I can really kiss.”
His eyes twinkle mischievously, and I know he’s just teasing me. He’s trying to figure out what’s going on between Lennox and me.
Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on with Lennox and me. After Lennox found out the truth about my plan with Kit, he hasn’t spoken to me since. And I haven’t pushed him.