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“It’s a contract, Elia. The only thing protecting me from you and my father.”
That’s the wrong thing to say; his eyes harden, deep-seated anger branching out over the contours of his perfect face.How can someone look so delectable and so frightening at the same time?
“Why the fuck do you need protection from me? I’m not the one leaving bruises on you.”
He’s right, but I don’t say it. “I just mean my reputation. My namesake. I want to make sure that when all this is over, I’m not left completely bro—defenseless.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he glares at me, studying my face. “Right.Whenall this is over. Got it.”
“Elia, come on. We aren’t—”
He shakes his head, turning away from me. “I came here tonight because I felt like an asshole, leaving you here for a few days while I took care of things at work. I thought you’d be scared, confused, maybe even a little needy. Silly me, I married a girl that doesn’t fuckingneedanyone.”
“Why are you acting like you suddenly want more than what we agreed on?” My heart stutters, fear clogging its chambers. “Oh, God...”
Scoffing, he turns, showing off his profile, backlit by the pool lights outside. “Don’t be fucking stupid, Caroline. I was just hoping you’d warm my bed tonight.”
Heat scorches my cheeks, and I set my pipette down, rubbing my thighs together in an attempt to relieve the ache between them.God, I so want to.“I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
“You’re probably right.”
As he stalks away from me, feet pounding against the stairs on his ascent, my head throbs, wishing I could answer him from before. Tell him what I really need protecting from when it comes to him; that I think he might leave bruises on my heart.
Elia
Get a grip, Elia.
If I’d stayed downstairs even a second longer, I would’ve ended up bending Caroline over the dining room table and showing her exactly what she should be afraid of.
How badly my body wants her, how itknowswe’d fit together like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
But the fear and confusion in her eyes, coupled with the bewildering feelings soaring in my heart, gave me pause. Pissed me off, because all I fucking wanted in the first place was to spend a little time with her, get a glimpse of the girl beneath that hard shell. Still, she shut me out. Not that she has much reason to give me an edge inside, considering I’ve been M.I.A. since our wedding.
Pulling on a pair of flannel sleep pants and a white t-shirt, I travel across the hall and knock on her bedroom door. She pulls it open, rubbing sleep from her pretty blue eyes, and I inhale, trying to seal her scent into my lungs.
Jesus, you’ve got it bad, man.
“Elia?” She blinks up at me, then looks over her shoulder. “It’s midnight. Is something wrong?”
I shake my head, reaching out and cupping her chin. Because fuck me, I just can’t refrain from touching her. “I think I owe you an apology.”
She leans into me, her skin cool against mine. “You don’t. This is a weird situation we’re in, and it makes sense. We don’t know each other, don’t know if we even like each other. I get it, trust me.”
A confession eats away at my skin like a necrotizing bacterium, revealing my darkest secret—that I’ve been frustratingly enamored by Caroline since the moment I laid eyes on her.
Blood rushes between my ears in time to the pulse jumping in my neck. “I like you,” I whisper, the sound so soft I’m not sure she even catches it at first. When she pulls back, I know she heard it.
“Elia…”
“I don’t know why, or how. And I know things are new and weird between us, but God help me, I do.”
She looks down, scuffing her bare toe against the floor. “We should get some sleep.”
Disappointment heats my veins, and my hand drops from her to my side, deflated. I open my mouth to say more, but the turmoil on her face stops me. “Right… goodnight, Caroline.”
She eases the door shut as I turn and go back to my room. As I push mine closed, I watch her watching me through the crack before she caves and closes hers entirely, barring me from her life.
Which, all things considered, shouldn’t irritate me. Unfortunately, it’s quickly becoming apparent that whatever the hell I feel for Caroline is clouding my judgment, making me hunger for her.
