Twisting in the mirror, I lifted the hem of his shirt, which swamped my body, and glanced at my ass. There were marks. Not quite handprints, but definiteredness that quickly matched the blush on my cheeks. I ran my fingers over them and bit my lip as memories of his hands, his words, his groans of approval surfaced, along with a fluttering ache between my legs.
Somewhere inside, a sensible version of me was screaming to get myself together. So what if he was sexy as sin, kind of funny, and the best sex I’d ever had, even though we hadn’t gone all the way yet? NO. Notyet. Never.
I needed a way out of this marriage before I did something utterly stupid, like believing the man had a single good intention. He almost had me convinced last night. Soulmates? That was his excuse for blackmailing me into this? He’d picked the wrong girl if he thought love-bombing and swoon-worthy speeches would work on me. Men lied, especially to get what they wanted. That was my mum’s life motto. He wanted to blackmail my father, and I was his best resource. Clearly, he was hell-bent on humiliating me in the process.
I glared at the woman in the mirror. Messy hair, most of which had fallen out of the wedding updo and tangled around my shoulders, smudged makeup, and flushed cheeks. I may have looked broken, but I wasn't. It would take more than a spanking.
My phone started ringing somewhere in the bedroom, and my eyes widened. My phone! Santino had taken it from Allegra at the reception. I dashed into the bedroom, searching for it, and found it in his suit trouser pocket, draped over the chaise by the window.
“Ally!” I whisper-yelled, accepting the call and running back into the bathroom.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice strained. “Yourpapihas been phoning me all morning, asking whether I’d heard from you yet.”
“Si, I’m fine.”Slightly hysterical, but fine. “Are you okay? Did they get you home safely? I thought Raffaele threw your phone out of the car window?”
“He did. But that little shit turned up at my door at the crack of dawn with a replacement. Still no bloody apology though. So… what happened after you left with Santino? I’ve been so worried. He didn’t force himself on you or anything?”
“God no! Nothing like that.” My chest tightened with guilt that she and my father had been so worried. I bet they didn’t sleep a wink while I fell into an orgasm-induced coma. “I’m… okay. Nothing happened.”
“Nothing?”
I pressed my lips together and shook my head, even though she couldn’t see. Was I ready to admit it out loud and make it real? Hell no. But I didn’t want to lie to her, and she was the one person I could truly confide in without judgment. Well, a healthy amount of it.
“Ari?”
“He might have stripped in front of me and taken a shower. Then dared me toget in and fuck him. When I stood frozen, only eye-fucking him instead, he took it as me ignoring him again and… bound my wrists and legs and… spanked me, then finger-fucked me until I came. Oh, and then ate me out until I fell into a sated, comatose state. Clearly, a devious plan, so I couldn’t run away in the night.”
Deafening silence. Then...
“You… lucky fucking bitch.”
I burst out laughing, slamming my hand over my face.
“I have never been more jealous of you in my life.”
“Stop,” I half-laughed, half-cried, feeling like I was losing my mind. “You are supposed to talk some sense into me. Tell me I’m stronger than my insane attraction to him, to stop being a slutty whore and keep my legs shut so I can use my brain to escape this nightmare.”
“Escape? Why the hell would you want to escape? I’ll switch places with you happily.”
The thought of Santino doing what he did to my best friend last night had the laughter dying in my throat, and my hand gripping the phone a little tighter.
“I’m joking,” she scoffed. “Oooh, did that make you jealous?”
“A little,” I groaned. “But that’s why this is dangerous. Last night was a mistake. I can’t let it happen again.”
“Just like the bathroom and the balcony and the massage–”
“Yes, I know! I’ve been making a lot of mistakes recently, but it ends now. I need out of this marriage, Ally. God knows what he’s going to force my father to do if I don’t find a way out of this.”
“Ah, yeah. That’s a sobering thought. Olivia said that Santino has genuine feelings for you, right? Do you not believe her?”
“You’re forgetting whose side she’s on.”
“True, but could you test the theory? He’s already promised not to hurt your father if you married him. Why don’t you, I don’t know, ask him to stop being a criminal so you can give this marriage a real go?”
I barked out a laugh. “I love you, but that’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said.”
“Why is it?”
