AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d never seen Mira’s legs; the errant thought struck him out of nowhere. And the unfairness of it burned.
Even as a teenager, she’d always dressed with an old-fashioned sort of modesty, covering up her plump curves in voluminous skirts and blouses, as if she could contain the sheer sensuality she held in her body. Even when he’d found her at Yana’s photo shoot in Vegas, surrounded by stunning models with every inch of skin on display, she’d stood out, regal and gorgeous in her pale pink pantsuit, wrapped up in poise and confidence and an indefinable mystery that made his skin thrum. That brought out the greedy conqueror in him.
Her innate sophistication had always been compounded by how tightly she guarded her emotions...the perfect counterpoint to his roiling extreme. The temptation that made him want to unravel all that poise and polish and perfection until she was panting with need for him. Until she was reduced to the basest desires with him. Only with him. Only for him.
He let his gaze rove back up her body, lingering on every inch of her and yet too greedy, too needy for more of her. As always.
“What a pleasant surprise to see youhere, Mira,” he said with a bow that mocked everything from the transactional nature of their relationship to her standing inside his room in what was clearly a revealing negligee to his near nakedness.
But she one-upped him as she always did.
Instead of her signature brow raise or tightly wound smile, he saw the shiver that wracked her. He noted her gaze landing and skittering away from his naked body. It was mild and breezy in the room and that shiver was not out of cold and that she let him see it...
The rubber band snapped and lust poured through him, warming up every frozen tip of his limbs, every inch of his flesh within seconds. Flesh he’d brutally punished mere minutes ago under an ice-cold shower.
She pushed off from the door with an elegant sensuality, walked to the giant bed with its invitingly cozy quilt and leaned against it, facing him. The traitorous breeze brought the scent of her to his nostrils. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with that subtly sweet rose scent, diving deep into the very abyss that beckoned him.
His body reacted as it usually did in her presence, saluting her at full mast. It had nothing to do with the uncharacteristic stretch of celibacy he’d taken since he’d seen her again in Vegas almost eighteen months ago. Once he’d cast his eyes on her again, even before she’d accepted his proposition, he wanted no other woman. He couldn’t even conjure another woman’s face or body when he jerked off. It was an obsession, a madness, and it was time he purged it from his system.
If he’d hoped his erect cock would chip away a bit of his wife’s poise, Aristos was denied the satisfaction. But she...her distinct beauty...from the arrogant blade of her nose to the thick brows that spoke so eloquently for her... It stole his breath afresh.
Her long, silky black hair had been braided and it hung over her right shoulder, the thick rope of it hanging past her breasts. Aristos had always wanted to wind that braid in his hand, to pull her closer, to hold her to him as he moved inside her from behind, to simply arrest her long enough to see what lay beneath the calm surface. Her face, freshly washed and free of makeup, gleamed with soft silkiness he wanted to test with the tips of his fingers.
Her lips, thick and plump and a light brownish pink... He wanted to sink his teeth into them. She’d liked it when he’d done it the one time they’d kissed. The only time. He’d come in his hands like a horny teenager that night just thinking of how sweet she’d tasted, of how she’d melted against him and moaned her demands.
A week later, she’d left, leaving him a note on that damned to-do pad of hers, as if he were just an item to check off.
Nanamma had a heart attack. Have to look after her and my sisters. Don’t know when I’ll be back.
That had been eight months ago. Weeks had piled into months, he’d been busy with a high-profile case, but Aristos had known as soon as he’d seen that note that she’d run again. But knowing how close she was to her sisters, how much she loved her grandfather Rao and his wife, he’d decided to give her the peace and the space before he reminded her of their agreement.
Having heard from Leo that Rao was worse—of course she’d kept in touch with his grandfather—he’d been preparing to visit when he’d learned that Rao had passed away.
Questions buzzed in his head like a swarm of bees, demanding to be asked. Demanding that she behave like a wife. Demanding that she cry and rant and vent and cajole him into acting like a husband.
That she hadn’t completely ignored him tonight, that she was here in his bedroom, dressed as she was, told Aristos something was up. Other than him, that was.
As she leaned against the bed, her brown gaze sought his, determination written into every inch of her pretty features. Except he looked deeper this time.
The pulse flickering at her neck and the ragged rush of her breath that made her chest rise and fall betrayed her tension. The dark smudged circles under those huge brown eyes, the pinched set of her lips betrayed her grief. The rawness of her emotions hit him like a stinging slap of air, shocking him.
He resisted the urge to grab her by the shoulders and soothe her with nonsensical words he didn’t even know he could utter. “I know how much you loved him,” he heard himself say, softly, in a gruff tone he couldn’t shift. “And how much he adored you.”
She nodded, tightlipped, her eyes filling with tears he was sure she hadn’t let anyone see in weeks. Because she was brave Mira. She was the strong, confident older sister that her younger sisters looked up to. Because she was a fierce nurturer at heart.
If it was madness to be jealous of one’s own as-yet-not-conceived child, Aristos was definitely a contender for it.
Suddenly, he felt like a fool who’d fallen for his own deception. Another average, powerful man who judged a strong woman and called her lacking in feelings.
Just because she didn’t seem brokenhearted about their past didn’t mean she didn’t feel them at all, did it? So why had Mira stayed away? Why had she broken their engagement fifteen years ago?
“Is there anything I can help with?” he asked next, feeling as if he was trying to find a foothold on the steep, rocky incline of her and his own emotions. Every time he thought he had a grip on what made Mira tick, she pushed him off the cliff to dangle from a lifeline, and begin the upward trek all over again.
A shake of her head this time. “Caio has it all under control.” Her lower lip trembled and she bit down on it. “I don’t know what I’d have done without him this past week.”
His jaw tightened at the hint of admiration and genuine affection in her tone. If he didn’t like the bastard Brazilian who was full of honor and integrity and all that shit Aristos had rarely seen in powerful men, he’d have invited him into the ring and beaten him to a pulp for cozying up to his wife. “Of course.”
Mira Reddy Carides...was his.
