Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
His hand moved into my hair, and he gently tucked it back, showing me a level of affection he rarely displayed. When he wanted sex from me, he was right to the point. He never gave me tender embraces. He fucked me like a machine rather than a person. He squirted the lube onto his length and went to town. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”
My eyes flew to his face, surprised by the sweet statement. Just three weeks ago, he’d told me I was gaining too much weight. Now I was beautiful…sipping wine in his bed.
He leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth.
Something else he’d never done before.
I had no idea what to make of it.
He took a drink of his wine then set it on the nightstand. Then he moved on top of me and kissed me everywhere, kissing the skin of my tits before he grabbed my glass of wine and slightly tipped it so it would splash all over me.
He licked the drops away and tasted me everywhere.
I lay back and let him do whatever he wanted, but I was still surprised by what was happening. He’d never been affectionate, slow, or seductive. And I think I hated this more than when he fucked me and got it over with.
But I had to lie there and take it.
When I woke up the next morning, there was a rose on the bed where he’d slept. A note had been left behind.
* * *
Beautiful,
Join me for breakfast.
* * *
We rarely spent time together. We only had sex, exchanged a few words here and there, and then I stayed out of his way. Now he was paying so much attention to me, and I had no idea why.
I put on my robe and joined him in the main dining room, where the summer sun filtered through the windows. I took a seat across from him, and he looked me over with approval, as if he liked the way I looked in my robe. “Morning, Lucian,” I said, being the polite wife I was supposed to be.
“Morning, Beautiful.”
There it was again, that nickname. He’d never called me anything but Cassini since I became his property. It was the kind of nickname he used on his whores, not his wife.
He poured me a cup of coffee then sipped his own.
I had no idea what to say to the man. We had nothing in common, not a single thing. The only thing we did together was screw, and I took it like I was supposed to. What would we have to discuss over breakfast?
“After breakfast, I thought we could take a drive to Siena. Do some shopping and have lunch.”
What the fuck? “Why?” I blurted out the question without tact, the word coming out crass and harsh. But he’d never asked me to do anything, at least not just the two of us. The only time he took me out was for public events, when he wanted to show off the wife he’d acquired.
He was about to sip his coffee again, but instead lowered his cup. “What do you mean why?” he asked, his tone darkening.
“I just assumed you had work… You always have work.”
He shrugged. “It can wait.”
I’d rather it not wait. I liked having the house to myself while he was gone. I liked pretending that he didn’t exist at all until he walked in the door later that night. I retracted my coldness. “Good…you work too much.”
“You’re right,” he said. “I do.”
I ate my breakfast and felt the weight in the pit of my stomach. I had to spend the entire day with a man I despised. Our marriage was bearable because we never spent any time together. Now I would have to spend the whole afternoon with him. We didn’t have anything to talk about now, so what would we talk about then? “You seem different, Lucian. May I ask why?” Something had come over Lucian and turned him into a different man. Weeks ago, he was cold and callous, but lately, he’d been soft, kind, and affectionate. That sweetness had escalated until he resembled a stranger.
“I just thought I should spend more time with my wife.”
Couldn’t he spend more time with one of his whores?
“Lately…it’s different.” He dropped two cubes of sugar into his coffee and stirred the contents.
“What’s different?”
“Us.”
Not as far as I could tell. We were exactly the same. I still despised him, and he was borderline indifferent to me. As with his gun collection and his jewel collection, all he cared about was collecting valuable things. I was another relic to add to his display—except I was an actual person.
“When we’re together…you want me.” He lifted his gaze and looked me in the eye.
I had no idea what he was talking about. Did he mean now? Did he mean when we had sex? That couldn’t be it because I practically recoiled at his touch.