Wife (Betrothed Book 1) Read online

  “I think it means something. It wouldn’t worry so much if you would just admit it.”

  I didn’t know how I felt about this woman. I’d never been so coldly rejected by a woman before. She’d walked away from me so many times, was so repulsed by the idea of spending time with me that I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Women would do anything to be with me, but Sofia didn’t give a damn. I could see her perception of me every time I looked at her. I was just some cocky playboy that didn’t give a damn about anyone.

  Was she right?

  Why did I care?

  The more she pushed me away, the more I wanted her.

  And every time the clothes came off…damn. She definitely wanted me then, definitely gave me the kind of connection I could easily get addicted to. She fulfilled my fantasies. She obliterated the memory of every other woman. She was the sexiest woman in my bed, the most gorgeous woman between my sheets.

  I didn’t want anyone else but her.

  That’d never happened before.

  Damien kept watching me. “You listening, asshole?”

  “I’m always listening. Doesn’t mean I pay attention.”

  He looked away for a while, thinking to himself. When he became serious, he sighed and looked at me again. “How long have you been seeing her?”

  “About three weeks…” We just went to the hotel and hooked up. Most of the time, conversations didn’t even take place. Last night was the most I’d gotten from her, but it was like pulling teeth.

  “Three weeks… That’s a long time.”

  Really? It felt like the blink of an eye.

  “Is it more than a fling?”

  I didn’t want to stop seeing her. In fact, I wanted to see her more. I wanted to see as much of her as possible. Since the first moment I saw her at that party, I was mesmerized. I was obsessed. She was fucking beautiful. “No.”

  “Then I don’t understand—”

  “I want it to be more than that. She doesn’t.”

  Damien turned quiet, letting those words sink in. “And what do you want it to be?”

  “I don’t know…but she won’t give me a chance.”

  “Wow. A woman turned you down?”

  “She only wants sex from me. Every time I push for more, she shoots me down.”

  “And I bet that drives you crazy.”

  I didn’t like it. “A bit.”

  “Is she married or something?”

  “No.”

  “Hmm…”

  “And she doesn’t want to get married. She doesn’t want a relationship at all.”

  “I’ve never heard of that,” Damien said. “Women are always looking for something serious. At least, that’s my experience.”

  “Mine too.”

  “So Hades has fallen for the one woman who doesn’t want him.”

  That night in Morocco flooded back to me. I didn’t give it much merit at the time, even though she knew my name. And I didn’t think she was right about any of it, until I became the biggest drug dealer in the south of Europe and took a turn for the dark side. I thought it was just coincidence. Hopefully, it still was. “I’m not in love with her.”

  “It looks like you’re going in that direction.”

  “You’re jumping to conclusions.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve known you for a long time, Hades. Not once has anything like this ever happened. You talk about women like they are single-use plastic bags. They’re used and then tossed. But you’re working your ass off to get this woman to give you a few minutes of her time. You’re blowing off work… That’s not you.”

  She brought out the worst in me.

  “Maybe you should forget about her before it gets any worse.”

  That was the logical thing to do, but I couldn’t picture my life without her in it. I didn’t want to go back to the bar and pick up a random woman. I wanted to see Sofia’s face looking up at me while I drove her into the sheets. I wanted her pussy—only her pussy. “I don’t want to forget about her.”

  He chuckled. “Then I don’t know what you should do. It sounds like you can never have her.”

  I knew exactly what kind of man I was. I never gave up on anything. When I didn’t get what I wanted, I just found another way. And if there were no other way, I would make one. Sofia was no different. Maybe I couldn’t take her like I owned her.

  Maybe I had to earn her first.

  I didn’t text her before I arrived at the hotel.

  I could never turn down an invitation from her, and I knew she couldn’t turn me down either.

  I walked into the lobby and saw her standing at the counter, her black hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her high cheekbones were brushed with blush, her lips were red like a good wine, and her eyelashes were thick like a doll’s. She stood there like a queen, her shoulders back and her slender neck straight. If there were a tiara on her head, it would never fall.

  She was perfect.

  I approached her desk and ignored the stares from the women at the counter.

  When Sofia heard my footsteps, she looked up. Her polite smile was replaced by a hard stare, almost cold. But her eyes burned with fire, burned like the sight of me made her heart flutter.

  I approached the counter. “Do you have any space for two people in the restaurant?”

  She was still at first, as if she didn’t know how to react to my request. Then she went through the motions and gave me a bullshit response. “Yes, I can get you a reservation for tonight. How does nine sound?”

  “Perfect.” I walked to the elevators and went to my room.

  Room 402.

  I stripped down to my boxers and sat in the armchair near the window. The floor-to-ceiling windows provided a phenomenal view of the city, of the bright lights of the Catholic churches and the restaurants along the main street. I could see my building not too far from here.

  I held the glass of scotch in my hand and took a sip as I examined the world at my feet. At this very moment, my crystal was being sold in the alleyways between buildings, in Greek Isles while vacationers enjoyed the crystal-blue water. To anyone else, the streets seemed quiet, the people seemed innately good. But in reality…I controlled every corner of this place.

  I had enemies like everyone else. The Skull Kings wanted a cut of my profits in exchange for territory, but I refused to give in. They were the middlemen in the transaction, and that shit didn’t fly. But they didn’t move against me because that was a war neither one of us would win. They stayed out of my business—and I stayed out of theirs.

  Sofia was too innocent for this shit. She was a grown woman who could handle herself, but she had unrealistic expectations of the world. She assumed her hotel operated as an honest business, but it was flooded with blood money. With the kind of integrity she had, she should be doing something else with her time. Maybe I should tell her…or maybe Gustavo would chase her off somehow.

  I’d just started to fantasize about fucking her from behind, her ass in my hands, when the door opened.

  She stepped inside, her stilettos tapping lightly against the floor as she entered the room. She stripped off her jacket and hung it over the back of the chair, her seductive gaze on me. Her stare started at my muscular thighs and slowly moved up my frame, gradually taking in my chiseled appearance.

  The only thing on her mind was sex.

  Nothing more, nothing less.

  It was the exact same way I’d looked at so many women in the past. I wanted silent conversations and loud moans. I wanted to have the most passionate sex possible then walk away like it never happened in the first place. The last thing I wanted to do was listen to a woman’s daddy problems, listen to them confess their deepest feelings.

  I didn’t give a damn.

  That was exactly how this woman felt about me. I was just a hard dick that got her off.

  I set my glass down and rose to my feet, keeping my mouth shut like she wanted. I moved closer to her and located the zipper along her ass. I unzipped i
t while keeping my eyes on her, listening to her skirt fall to the floor. My fingers attacked her shirt next, stripping it off and taking her bra with it.

  I pulled her into my chest then grabbed the band in her hair. I yanked it free, causing her smooth hair to cascade around her shoulders. The hair tie snapped in half and fell to the floor along with her clothes.

  She stayed still, letting me have her however I wanted.

  I stared down into her hair, my fingers playing with the strands as I kept her close to me. Our foreheads came together as we stood in front of the window, naked and close together like we were a single person.

  Her arms hooked around my neck, and her lips hovered near mine, plump and red from her favorite shade of lipstick. Without feeling my mouth or my cock, she moaned…like she’d been looking forward to this since the moment she saw me in the lobby…maybe even before that.

  A woman’s desire was the sexiest thing in the world, but for the last ten years, I’d been taking it for granted. All women wanted me, so it didn’t matter. Watching Sofia tremble for me, visibly go weak because she was in my arms, was a different kind of reward. It made me feel like a man…to please the woman I actually gave a damn about. Sex was the only thing anchoring her to me, keeping her coming back for more. Once I lost that, I lost her.

  I didn’t want to lose her.

  We’d been fucking for a while, so I knew exactly what she liked. I knew what really drove her wild, what made her so weak she could barely say a few words. I wanted to fuck her like a dog and stare at that sexy asshole, but she loved having me on top, loved digging her nails into my back while I did all the work. It made her bottom lip tremble like she was about to cry, made her whimper hysterically.

  A real man knew what his woman liked without asking. And he always gave it to her as much as she wanted, because pleasing her was better than any dirty fantasy he had. I backed her up to the bed then fell onto the sheets with her. The comforter was already pulled down, and the extra pillows were put to the side. It was ready for fucking. I lay on top of her, her hair stretching across the pillow. Her lips were parted with her deep breaths, and her eyes were so bright with their beautiful fire. I hadn’t kissed her once, and she was practically begging for it. The last time we were together was a shitshow, but she seemed to have forgotten it.

  My body got into the perfect position for fucking, keeping her legs wide apart so my dick had perfect access to her wet cunt. My shaft pressed against her pussy and felt the slickness already oozing.

  She’d come within at least a minute. She was so hard up, I wasn’t sure what she needed me for. Her clit was a button, and all I had to do was press it to make her explode.

  When I didn’t pull on a condom and slide inside her, she groaned in frustration. “Fuck me already.” She bit her bottom lip because the command turned her on a little more. She didn’t hide her enthusiasm even if it humiliated her.

  “I’m fucking you without a condom.”

  “What?” she blurted, still under the haze of desire.

  “No condom.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “I’m clean. Just got tested. You?”

  Her nails scratched my back as she squeezed my hips with her thighs. She was such a pragmatic person who could make the best decisions, but since her nipples were hard as diamonds because she was so horny, she couldn’t think straight. “Just put on a condom and fuck me.”

  “No.”

  “Jesus Christ, Hades. When has a woman ever asked you to fuck her and you ignored her?”

  “Are you seeing anyone else?” This was the only way I would get what I wanted out of her. If we skipped protection, that meant there would be no one else, just us two. It wouldn’t be a relationship, but it would be something. At least she would be mine.

  “What kind of question is that? I don’t ask you that.”

  “I’m not seeing anyone. And if you aren’t either, let’s do this right. I want to come inside you.” I pressed my forehead to hers and ground my shaft against her sensitive clit. “I want to keep going…fill your pussy with so much come that we stain these sheets. I want your panties to smell like me for days. I want you to feel me explode inside you, feel how much I want you.”

  Her eyes glazed over when she imagined everything I described.

  “Now, answer me.” I kissed her softly on the mouth, our lips moving together in a gentle dance. I slowly ground against her, giving her a taste of how I would feel if we were just skin-to-skin, if we were nothing but man and woman.

  “No…” She spoke between kisses. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

  My cock twitched as it continued to pulse against her. I got the answer I wanted, got a commitment from her that she didn’t want to give me. I had to use sex as a weapon, but it worked. I pressed my fingers against the top of my shaft then guided the head of my dick inside her.

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  My crown was introduced to her salty slickness, and the millions of nerves at the tip fired off in pleasure. The head squeezed as I moved in, feeling the tightness and the moisture suffocate it immediately.

  Her nails started to dig as she moaned.

  I could slide inside so easily because I’d been fucking her for almost a month, but I took my sweet-ass time because it felt so damn good. This pussy was so sweet, tight, and fuckable. My dick moved right in, claiming the territory as his in perpetuity. My ass tightened as I sank a little deeper, as my balls came into contact with the wetness that was now slathered all over my shaft.

  Fuck.

  Her fingers dug into my hair, and she breathed against my mouth, so far gone in this bliss that she could barely breathe. Her legs wrapped around my waist and anchored me against her, forming a rope that bound me to her forever. Her thighs shook slightly against me, her body overtaken by shivers.

  I could feel it too…that connection that brought us together over and over. It was red-hot heat and addictive desire. I was so damn hot for her, and she was scorching for me. Combined together, we were every addictive drug on the market mixed together. Potent and dangerous, it had the ability to kill us both if we weren’t careful.

  But she squeezed me to her like she didn’t want me to be careful.

  I started to thrust, using regular strokes to drive deep inside her. I was pushing myself into the most addictive pussy I’d ever had, so tight and so wet. I intended to be there all night, giving her load after load, not catching a moment of sleep because I’d rather be here…fucking this pussy.

  It only took her a couple seconds to climax, to squeeze my hips with her thighs and shiver from her head to her toes. Her nails sliced my back, and she whimpered against my lips, a few tears springing from her eyes because it felt so good.

  Fuck. My hips bucked harder all on their own, and I drove myself into a climax I couldn’t prevent. My biological imperative as a man took over, so now I needed to come after watching her get off. I needed to fill that pussy with seed.

  I kept myself deep inside her and released, giving an involuntary grunt of pleasure. I’d come inside her before, but the tip of the condom always caught my deposit. Now I was adding my stickiness to her own, mixing our come together. I pushed her deeper into the mattress as I finished, knowing I gave her more than she could possibly handle.

  When I finished, she brought my mouth to hers and kissed me harder, as if my come turned her on all over again. Her hand went to my ass, and she pressed me deeper into her, making me fuck her even at half-mast. “I want more…give me more.”

  “It’s four in the morning. I have to go…” She sat up and tried to move out of bed.

  I’d just gotten hard again, so she wasn’t going anywhere. “No.” I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back to me. My hand slid into her hair, and I kissed her, using my best moves to get her to stay. Within a minute, she softened for me, giving up the fight because she couldn’t possibly win.

  I pulled her onto my lap and guided her up and down.

  She moaned when
she felt my large dick move in and out, sliding through all the loads I’d already given her throughout the night. Her palms pressed against my chest for balance, and she rolled her hips over and over, taking that dick like a whore who needed cash.

  I touched her tits as she fucked me, enjoyed the sight of this beautiful woman dancing on my lap. She bounced up and down then rolled her hips, giving me a show I could jerk off to a million times.

  I rubbed her clit with my thumb and brought her to orgasm before I followed.

  Now, I was done.

  She rolled over and lay beside me, her eyes immediately closing because we’d only slept a couple hours since we’d met at nine the evening before. Her hair wasn’t as shiny as it had been earlier because it was soaked with sweat like she’d gone to the gym.

  Her pussy was full, though.

  After a minute of relaxing, she sat up and looked at the time. “Shit…”

  If she would just come to my place, this would be easier. She wouldn’t have to sneak out of the hotel without being seen. She could sleep in and take a couple days off so she would be in bed by the time I finished work for the day.

  “My mother’s gonna get a kick out of this.” She picked up her clothes off the floor and started to get dressed.

  “How does your mother know if you haven’t been home all night?”

  “Because that woman knows everything.”

  I sat up and leaned against the headboard. “And did you tell her about me?”

  “No.” She pulled on her bra and panties then zipped up her skirt.

  “She thinks you’re out with different guys?”

  “I don’t know what she thinks. She doesn’t ask questions.”

  That was interesting.

  She put on her blouse and smoothed out the wrinkles against her chest. “She’s encouraging me to get this out of my system now. That’s her one regret in life…marrying too young and not fucking around enough.”

  A slow grin stretched across my face. “She seems wise.”

  She rolled her eyes in a playful way. “She says it’ll be easier for me to marry someone appropriate if I get all this out of my system, so she doesn’t care.” She walked to the mirror on the wall and started fixing her appearance, starting with her crazy hair.