Graham lets out a low hum. He drags his lips down to kiss my bare shoulder. A shiver rips through my spine at the contact,and I curse my depraved body for its reaction. A slick pool of heat is already forming between my thighs.
Fuck him.
“Obsession is entirely too small a word for what I feel for you, Maya,” he murmurs.
His shadow completely eclipses me as his kisses trace a path from my jaw, past my ear, and back to my shoulder.
“I don’t possess normal feelings, little flower,” he confesses.“All my life, everything has been nothing but a sea of grey. Then you came along.”
“I… came along?” My brows furrow.“What do you mean? We didn’t even meet until Valeria brought you home.”
Graham buries his face deep in my hair, sniffing the scent of my scalp like it is cocaine. He lets out a ragged exhale.
“You probably won’t ever remember this,” he rasps,“but I was a recurring patron at that dingy restaurant you used to work at years ago.”
“What?!” I gasp.
I instinctively raise a hand to cover my mouth. But before I can hide, Graham clamps his teeth over my fingertips, biting down just enough to force my hand back to the mattress.
“I know you didn’t notice me, little flower,” he growls.“And to this day, it still fucking pisses me off. You walked right past my table every single time. Blind to me. But the very first moment I saw you… it was like a flash of color slammed into my life. I watched you for months, Maya.”
I swallow the thick lump of bile in my throat.
“If you wanted me… why did you marry Valeria?”
Graham bares his teeth in a dark smirk.
“Because you wouldn’t even look at me, Maya. You were too innocent. Valeria was easy to manipulate, and her greed made her predictable. I knew if I put a ring on her finger, I would get to you.”
His hot breath fans across my lips as he hovers over mine.
“You were always the prize. My one true eternal compass.”
Anger flares, mixing with the terrifying confusion already taking over my heart. I feel like an object. A plaything. A whore.
“Okay, so what the fuck am I to you?” I snap.“My sister’s husband’s mistress?”
“I divorced her,” he says casually.
I have no idea what is happening to my chest, but the pressure is so immense it feels like a heart attack.
“Huh?!” I shriek.“How? Valeria would never agree to that! There is no fucking way she signed papers from inside an asylum!”
“She didn’t have to agree, little flower. It was written explicitly into the prenuptial agreement. Severe mental instability and institutionalization are immediate grounds for dissolution of the marriage. We both signed it.”
I fling myself upright against the headboard.
“Does she… does she even know?”
He nods, completely unbothered.
“She was served and informed this morning.”
“You are a fucking monster,” I hiss as a fresh wave of hot tears spills over my lashes.
“Your monster, little flower,” he corrects, crawling up the mattress until his chest traps me against the headboard.“The monster that sucks all the light out of your life and drags it straight into mine. And the most beautiful part of it? You have absolutely no idea why you love it.”
He bites my bottom lip.
