I was willing to play along yesterday. I was willing to believe I’d be okay with him being mine for a short while—and me being his—but now I’m not so sure. This thing with Phoenix feels more real with each passing day. It’s not only the explosive, mind-blowing sex. It’s also about this undeniable connection we share.
How maddeningly unfair this man I’m married to can only be mine for a year when I want more?—
Dear God, I can’t be falling for him.
Stupid, stupid, Mikki.
Get your head screwed on straight. You’re a means to an end for Phoenix König. You’re not a real wife, or a real life partner, and you’re certainly not his real queen. A year from now, you’ll be nothing more than a distant memory.
Pissed off at myself forforgetting what I’d signed up for, I untwine my legs from around his and try to get up.
Phoenix tightens his grip around my waist. “Hey, what’swrong?”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine? You just came your head off and you’re fine? My cock must be broken.”
“That’s not it. Sex was good.” His eyebrows shoot to his forehead. “It was great. It was incredible.”
“Why the frowning face, kitten?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“You said fine twice. That’s a red flag that you’re anything but,” he says. “Talk to me.”
“Never mind.”
He fixes me with a stern gaze.
I lower my gaze.
“Other than a handful of people, we’re lying to the world. We can’t lie to each other. Why the sudden change of mood, kitten?”
I shouldn’t put myself on the line like this, but his soft voice is my breaking point. I run off at the mouth and the verbal diarrhea ensues. “I went from hating you, to despising you, to swearing on a stack of bibles I’d never marry you, to walking down the aisle to save our hotel, to liking you, to—” My hands go flying in the air. “I’m not sure how I feel about you anymore.”
He stares at me.
I cringe.
“You’re not sure or you don’t want to be honest with yourself?”
My eyes snap up to his.
“I’m being silly?—”
“I’m not sure what’s going on between us either, but it’s not what I signed up for.”
Great. Just great.
I’m so fucking stupid.
“You were supposed to be a crucial chess piece in my ascent to the throne,” he says. “I wasn’t supposed to like you this much, Michaela. And it’s not just because of the off the chart sex.”
My eyes widen in shock.
