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“What’s wrong?” My chest tightened as his evergreen eyes focused on me. I couldn’t look away.
“Nothing.”
He tilted his head, an intensity in his expression. “You’re lying.”
My heart beat an erratic rhythm because I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to lie again. Say I was fine. But when he looked at me like that, I couldn’t.
His gaze stripped down my barriers. The walls I’d erected to protect myself. His warm hand holding mine felt comforting instead of controlling. “I… It just feels the same.”
“What does?”
“Going out. Being on display. The good little wife.”
His jaw tightened. Oh god, what was he going to do? I should have stayed quiet.
Yes, Vander gave me space. And he said he’d never hurt me. But he’d also forced this marriage. And he was still a criminal.
My stomach went rock hard with fear as he reached into his pocket. Instead of pulling the knife he always kept there, he grabbed his phone.
His thumbs brushed the back of my hand as he brought it to his ear. It only rang for a moment before he was talking to someone. “Hey, we can’t make it.”
My mouth popped open in disbelief. Worry clawing at my chest.
“Vander.” I straightened in my seat, but his stern look held me in place.
“No, because I’m taking my wife out.” There was a pause where he listened to the other person. He squeezed my fingers. “You can handle it without me.”
He kept a grasp on my hand as he put his phone away and pressed the button to lower the partition to speak to the driver. “Change of plans. We’re going somewhere else.”
I didn’t hear the address because I was in a haze of confusion. “Where?”
“Are you still enjoying your dance classes?” He asked, changing the subject.
I wanted to push, but he brought my hand back to his lips, and my thoughts scattered. His mouth was warm and firm against my skin. It made me want to rub them all over me. To have his hands holding me while he kissed my neck. My breasts. My lips.
When he was this close, and I smelled the sandalwood of his cologne, I remembered that day in his office. How he’d touched me so gently. How it made me feel alive. Full. Then he’d looked at me like I hung the stars.
That had been happening a lot. My mind wandering back to that night. My body humming with memories. I wondered if he’d shown me the truth then. Each day spent with him, he revealed more of that man. It stripped away my fear like peeling wallpaper.
“Grace?” His deep voice ripped me from my thoughts. “Your classes?”
“Oh, good.” I nodded, ignoring the blush on my cheeks. “I like it a lot.”
He’d been too busy to come with me the last week, and Mike had waited outside for me under order of death if he saw me dancing. My lips twitched, but it was wrong. Vander’s possessiveness shouldn’t make me happy.
Possession led to seeing me as an object. To ordering me around. To thinking he owned me.
But as the car stopped, I was too distracted to say anything. He exited before me, holding the door open as I slid across the seat. Even with the snow coming down, people filled the street, waiting to get inside.
He grasped my hand again, bypassing them all. His warmth seeped up my arm until I didn’t feel the chill. My heels clicked as he rushed me towards the entrance.
“Vander Kent.” He said to the security guard outside before his gaze turned to me. A smile toyed with the corners of his full lips. “And wife.”
I never liked being a wife. But when Vander said it like that, in his deep voice, with a dark smile on his face, it made my stomach all warm and soft.
“Nice to see you, sir.” The guard lifted the rope, quickly ushering us inside.
Loud pop music assaulted me as soon as we entered. Lights moved in sync with the bass, shining all around. Vander led me through the crush of bodies. People lined up at the bar to our right, waiting for drinks in their high heels and fancy clothes. Others writhed on the dance floor in front of us, screaming the words to the song.
