“How dare I?” Matteo’s voice was smooth.
The air around me moved as he stepped into my back. He was so close that another inch closer, and he would have pressed against me.
How many times had we stood like this in our brief but passionate relationship? Back then, he would have put his arms around my waist and pulled me back against him, but not now.
How things had changed. It was like being next to a stranger who knew me intimately.
His breath blew against the back of my neck and I shivered. It was like a stranger my body knew and craved him.
“You’re not a virgin, Sophia.” His breath whispered against my skin. “And in my position—"
I whirled on him. Lifting my chin, I glared at him. “The only man I have been with is—"
Reaching out, he slid his fingers across my cheek and under my hair. “Oh I know who you have been with.” Lashing out, he caught my ponytail and yanked my head back, baring my throat to him. I held my breath as he lowered his lips.
Only his kiss never came.
“I remember how you feel trembling under me, how…” he paused, “you begged for it. I am a little surprised you haven’t opened your pretty little legs for others, though.”
“You’re an asshole.” I stared up into his face without blinking.
“And what are you?” His fingers flexed in my hair. “You are not wife material, Sophia. You never had been, which is why you let me pluck your cherry even though you were engaged. You used me, beautiful. In more ways than one.” Fingertips scraped against my scalp and my hair tie snapped.
My long, dark hair tumbled free, and he made a groaning noise in the back of his throat.
I held my breath, my eyes never leaving his.
There it was: the heat, the attraction. Even after six years, it was still as intense as it had always been.
I hated him, but that didn’t stop my body from wanting him.
“I think it’s time I got to use you.” His other hand reached out and closed around my hip, yanking me into his body.
Thick hardness pressed into my stomach.
“Maybe I should use you now. See if you remember just how I like—"
Laughter floated around me.
“Let go of me, Matteo,” I said through gritted teeth. The heat in my stomach was melting away. “I am not the kind of woman you can talk to like that.”
More laughter. “You’re exactly that kind of woman. A whore. Maybe I should see how good a whore you can be right now. Maybe on your knees.”
Tearing my way out of his grasp, I slapped him straight across the face and he was too busy laughing at me to see it coming.
The sound of my hand making contact was loud and his laughter died completely.
Pressing a hand to his cheek, he glared at me. “That was a mistake.”
Matteo had always been intense, but he had never been cruel. Not to me anyway.
Never to me.
He really had changed.
“I’ll bite your dick off,” I said between gritted teeth. “You touch me against my will, and I will end you.”
Staring up into his face, I forced each word out. But I didn’t once break eye contact. I wanted him to know that I meant every single word.
