Shit.
I barely got her downstairs last night, how the fuck am I to get her down tonight? Throw her over my shoulder and take her there myself?
Now that I think of it…
“What’s that grin for?!” Abe frowns.
“Just thinking about how much you’re going to like her,” I pat him on the shoulder, “Go freshen up, I’llmake sure you meet her this evening.”
It’s a little past three in the afternoon when Olivia returns to the estate. She appears lighter in herself than yesterday, the constant scowl isn’t on her face and there’s a pretty tilt to her lips as she walks through the front door.
It immediately drops when she spots me waiting for her.
“I assume you got everything you need,” I say, even though I know she did. It’s all waiting for her in her room ready for tomorrow.
“I spent your money, if that’s what you’re asking,” She gives me a fake smile, “About five hundred grand of it.”
“Good,” I throw back, “It’s yours.”
Her eyes narrow, “Well that’ll be the first and last time, Malakai,” She starts to unravel her scarf, eyes never straying from me, like I’m a predator she needs to keep an eye on. Show her back and she might just get eaten. “Figured I’d rather use your money over mine when it’s for something I don’t want.”
“You wound me, kitten,” I purr. “And here I thought you were besides yourself to get married to me.”
She rolls her eyes but then she begins to walk toward me, cocking her head as she looks at me from beneath her lashes. Her heels clip on the floor and her tongue peeks out to trace across her bottom lip. Once she’s in front of me, she walks her fingers up my chest, the feel of her this close stuttering my breath in mythroat. She smells too damn good, and with those dark eyes, and those thick lashes fluttering delicately she looks like the perfect amount of innocent and sinful.
“Malakai,” she whispers my name, a slight rasp edging her tone, and I swallow, blood shooting straight to my cock. Surely it hasn’t beenthatlong since I last got laid that the mere close proximity of a woman will leave me hard. But I guess it’s justher, this gorgeous specimen of a woman staring up at me with those doe eyes and plump lips.
“It will be a cold day in hell when I want a man like you.”
Her words should be like an ice-cold bucket of water but if anything, it just heats my blood more. What a delicious challenge she’s laying out for me, and she doesn’t even know it.
“You’re playing with fire, darling,” I rasp, “Careful not to get burned.”
Her nails scrape down the front of my throat as she drops her innocent mask, eyes narrowing as she stares through her lashes at me, “You may scare everyone else, Malakai, but you don’t scare me. I vowed to make your life hell and I’ve never not kept a promise.”
“I look forward to it, wife,” I whisper.
“I still have twenty-four hours of not being your wife,” She steps away from me, plastering on that fake smile once more, “You don’t get to use it yet and by the time I’m done, the last thing you’re going to want me to be is your wife.”
I quirk a brow, reveling in this fire she’s burning inmy direction. I’m basking in the glow of it, these little verbal sparring matches feeling a little like foreplay. I can only imagine how it’ll be when we get past all these walls.
Explosivecomes to mind.
“I’m going to watch a movie in my bedroom. Unless the house is falling down around me, leave me alone.” She wiggles her fingers as her goodbye and struts away, her hips swaying hypnotically in those tight as fuck blue jeans.
I’m a simple man at heart and the sight of a plump round ass will leave me a little dumb.
She’s long gone by the time I snap out of it.
Chapter Nine
The dining room is set, my grandfather is in there chatting with Miranda – he seems to be the only one who can get her to smile – and I’m waiting for Olivia to come downstairs.
She was called on over thirty minutes ago and while I’d decided to give her time, I knew she wasn’t coming.
So just like the evening prior, I go up to fetch her.
I find her just like the night before, tucked into the mammoth bed, still dressed, which is a surprise, drinking wine out of a cup, but she’s snacking on Cheetos now, the orange dust staining her fingers.
