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I grabbed one of the chrome drawer pulls and tugged it open. “What the —?” Everything in the drawer was silky and lacy, and there was absolutely no way that I was going to wear any of it.
I pawed through a few more of the drawers until I found something that seemed safe: a pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt. I walked back into the bedroom and heard Angel cursing in Spanish. He sounded like he was in pain.
Throwing the clothes toward the bed, I made my way to the hallway.He probably stubbed his toe or something, I thought, but my feet kept moving until I was standing just outside that massive bathroom. “Mierda,” Angel swore, and I turned the door’s handle, half-expecting that he would have locked the door.
The door swung open, and there was a shirtless Angel, standing before the mirror. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, thankfully, but the rest of him was bare to my view. At first, all I could see was miles of skin and broad shoulders and...I gasped.
Angel was covered in mottled bruises. Across his abs, wrapped around his ribs; it looked like someone had taken a bat to him. “Isthatwhat your father did?” I asked. “What you didn’t want me to see before?”
He let out a deep sigh; he didn’t seem at all startled that I was standing there. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m healing.” He shifted to face me, and I got to see the whole of his chest.Holy sweet God, I thought, dragging my eyes across the chiseled planes of his torso. My eyes got caught on the v-cuts peeking out of his towel and the patch of dark hair beneath his belly button.
But, for all of his loveliness, he was still covered in yellowing bruises. “Like what you see, Emma?” he asked, and I tried not to like how my name sounded in his mouth.You’re scared of him, remember?
It was hard to decipher if the tightness low in my belly was actually fear…or arousal. “I heard you,” I said, forcing myself to meet his gaze. “You sounded like you’re in a lot of pain…you should be checked out by a doctor with bruises like that.”
“You’re worried about me?” The way he sounded, so incredulous, like he couldn’t imagine anyone worrying about him, made my hands curl into fists. What the hell was wrong with this family?
“I’m your wife now, right?” I asked him. “Isn’t it my job to worry about you?”
Angel smirked at me, dangerous and sharp. “You really want me to feel better?” he asked. “There’s only one thing I need. I think I’m owed a wedding night, am I not?” He took a step in my direction, and I backed up, nearly out into the hall again. Angel stopped; the smirk dropped off of his face, and he stopped his advance. “I won’t force you,” he said. All of the sharp tease was gone from his voice. “But if you actually want fidelity, sex is a part of that.” He closed the distance between us. “Considering that kiss earlier, I don’t think chemistry is going to be a problem between us.”
“Angel —” He circled my waist with his hands. They were big and warm; I could feel the burn of them through the fabric of my dress. I jerked like he’d struck me. My breathing suddenly sounded far too loud in my ears. “I’m not worried about that,” I forced out.
“Then what are you worried about?” He squeezed me gently. “I’ve never gotten any complaints about being a selfish lover.”
I huffed out a laugh. “I doubt even if a woman had a complaint about that, she wouldn’t say it out loud.”
“Emma.”
My name rolling off his tongue shouldnotbe hot. Especially in that tone, like he was barely holding back how annoyed he was with me. “I’m not worried aboutyounot being good,” I said, looking at his chin because I couldn’t look him full in the face. “I’m worried that I won’t be.”
One hand let go of my waist so that he could grab my chin. He applied a little pressure, and I was suddenly drowning in the dark of his eyes. “I’m not sure if you’re insulting yourself or calling me some kind of man-whore,” he said. “I don’t like either option.”
I tried to shake off his fingers, but he tightened his hold, practically forcing me to bare my throat for him. It was too vulnerable. The survival part of my brain kicked in hard, and it was screaming at me to run away from this predator creature who had me trapped. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
His tongue darted out across his bottom lip, and a shiver ran down my spine. “Never what, Emma?” he asked, and I trembled again. He was playing with me now, and I shouldn’t have found it as exciting as I did.
“I’m a virgin,” I whispered.
Angel stilled. I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. “No one has ever touched you?” I shook my head slowly. “Why?”
How could I explain that taking care of my mother took precedence? That by the time she was gone, I hadn’t had any desire to let anyone touch me, romantically or otherwise? Flirting might have been fun, and I had gone on a few dates, but no one I wanted to get close to. “I didn’t want them to touch me,” I finally said.
Angel lookedfartoo pleased at that. “What about me?” he asked. “Can I touch you?”
“Are you —?” I swallowed. “Are you going to hurt me?”
He shook his head. “I’ll do my best not to.”
CHAPTER8
Emma
Iturned my head when Angel leaned in to kiss me; his lips landed on my cheek instead. I didn’t even make the decision that I wasn’t going to kiss him…I just couldn’t. Not when the kiss at the courthouse was so intense. I wouldn’t survive doing it again.
Angel’s face did that terrifying blank thing that it did. “Is that a no?” he asked.
I shook my head. “It’s notno,” I murmured. “I just don’t want you to kiss me.”
