“There were no cameras in the bathroom and none in the passage leading to the room either. There’s no proof. The man caught on security leaving through the back door of the café was hooded. We can’t pin it on him.” Lucien’s jaw tightens, a muscle ticking dangerously. When he speaks, venom edges his voice. “He keeps slipping through my fingers.”
The tone makes the hair rise at the back of my neck. He sounds like a man choosing which weapon will make the cleanest cut. “I don’t want you doing anything that jeopardizes your life or everything you’ve worked hard for. Not for me.” I swallow hard. “I’m certain we can get him back into police custody—or at least if he’s served with a restraining order, he won’t risk breaking it.”
A small, almost mocking smile twitches at Lucien’s mouth. “Briar, he’s not going to stop.” His fingers brush lightly over my back, but his voice is ice. “He’s the type of man who believes if he can’t have you, no one can. And that kind of man doesn’t stop until someone is dead. I promise you that.”
A full-body shiver runs through me. I know he’s right. I felt it today. I saw the madness in Matteo’s eyes, the absolute certainty that I still belonged to him. The chilling calm before he struck me. The rage behind the way he squeezed my jaw. I know he would kill me if he got the chance, especially if I didn’t do as he wanted.
Lucien frowns, like he’s wrestling with something. “What really happened in that bathroom stall?” he asks. His voice is soft, but there’s an edge beneath it. “What else did he do?”
I swallow, the words sticking in my throat like stones. My hands tremble against his chest. “He—ahh…” My voice cracks. “I was going into the stall and before I knew it he had forced the door open, and it hit me in the mouth. It all happened so fast. I told him to leave, to get out and he started yelling at me for being with you. He made me apologize for sleeping with another man behind his back. Made me promise I’d go back to him.”
Tears burn hot and sudden, spilling before I can stop them. Lucien’s thumb sweeps over my cheekbone, wiping them away. “There’s something else,” I whisper. “Something I need to tell you.”
His body stills beneath me—rigid, bracing, like he’s preparing for a physical blow. Fear and fire flicker in his eyes, battling silently. “What is it?”
I swallow my fear, not wanting to lie. “Matteo forced me to kiss him.” The words scrape out of me. “He made me beg for forgiveness. Made me say I still loved him. That I wanted him. He—he made me kiss him like I meant it, and he got angry when I didn’t.”
Lucien’s eyes close. His chest rises in a slow, agonized breath, and he turns his face away slightly. I don’t know if he’s disgusted by me. I don’t know if he can stand to look at me now that he knows how weak I was.
God, please don’t hate me.
“Say something,” I choke, wiping my nose with the back of my hand. “Say you forgive me. Say something.”
His eyes open, and the expression there steals the breath from my lungs. There is no jealousy. No anger. Only devastation and longing—and something deeper, something that looks dangerously like love.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Briar.” His fingers slide to cup my cheek gently. “None of this was your fault. You did what anyone would do to survive. To stay alive. I will never judge you for doing what you had to do to come home to me.”
The last three words hit me fair in the chest.Home to me.
I nod, but no words come. I move into him instead, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing myself against his body, holding him like he’s the only thing tethering me to reality.
He pulls me close, strong arms banding around me, and presses a kiss to the top of my head. Despite the fire burning across my split lip and the aching bruises on my jaw, I want him.
I need him.
I tilt my head back, meeting his gaze, and feel the heat between us shift—darkening, deepening, swallowing the space that pain and fear once filled.
And I forget for a moment that the world outside this room is full of monsters. One in particular whom I was once married to.
But not anymore.
Lucien moves first, taking my lips in a searing kiss that steals my breath. He’s gentle, but firm, and I kiss him back, needing to taste him, know that he’s real, even if pain shoots through my face.
He must realize what’s occurred and he breaks the kiss, moving to bestow little kisses against my jaw, my neck. He rolls me onto my back and comes over me. My body aches for him, I wrap my legs about his hips, inviting him, wanting his strength to inspire my own.
“Briar…” The need in his voice as he slips my panties off makes me wet. It’s deep, full of longing and heat and I ache with the need for him to take me. To make me forget. To only have this memory for today and nothing else.
I reach between us, pushing down his boxers. His large, thick cock presses into my hand and I stroke him. He groans and all I want is to please him, to feel him inside me. “I want you so much, Lucien.”
He pulls back, kneels between my legs and watches me. His eyes are dark, hooded, they devour every part of me, and I have the feeling even with my long t-shirt on, he’s picturing every naked bit of me beneath my makeshift pajamas.
He reaches over to the bedside cabinet and grabs a condom, ripping it with an expertise that bubbles up the jealous part of me. He clasps his cock, rolling it onto his hard length, watching me.
I lick my lips and pain shoots through my mouth, reminding me of today.
Before I can think much more of what happened, Lucien clasps my ass, lifting me a little as he slides inside of me, filling me up. I moan, breathe through the wicked pleasure that rocks through me.
He’s so large, long, and it’s all I can do to not lose control. He thrusts hard, and I reach for him. He comes down, kisses me softly on the lips, while his body takes mine with a savageness that’s at odds with his sweetness.
