“I need to go back to the hotel,” she says eventually.
“Why?”
“It’smyhotel. It isn’t going to run itself.”
“You have a board. And staff. Of course, it’s going to run itself.”
“Is this something you’re going to take from me too?” She captures the inside of her cheek between her teeth as she glares at me from across the table.
“Go ahead, Olivia.” I lean back, “You want to work, work.”
Her brows drop into a frown, “That easy?”
“You’re not a prisoner. You’re my wife.”
“And the Winter Ball?” She asks, “Were you going to tell me about that? Or that my hotel is hosting it?”
I shrug, “Figured it would give you something to do.” I lie.
“Liar.” She calls me out immediately.
I chuckle, “I figured it would be a good event to use as our first official public appearance. At a hotel you own, where you’re known.”
“I guess so,” she says quietly.
The meal between us is done so silently, no conversation, no eye contact and it’s becoming harder to figure out how to win this woman over.
Despite the tension and the sexual chemistry, it’s pretty clear she hates me. You can want to fuck someone and still despise them.
And I am not completely opposed to a little hate fucking.
Chapter Twenty-four
Just because he forced me to go shopping with him after I ruined his shoes, doesn’t mean I’m not going to continue to fuck with him.
It’s why I have a pair of scissors in my hand and I’m cutting off all the buttons on his shirts with a satisfied little grin on my face.
But I am sad I’m not going to be able to see his reaction because sure to his word yesterday, Dennis is taking me to my hotel this afternoon. Malakai is out somewhere, I didn’t ask, and he didn’t tell me where, but he had left with a stern, “don’t fuck with my shit.” So naturally, I’m fucking with his shit.
With the final shirt now buttonless, I hang it back up in the closet and smooth my hands down my pencil skirt, slipping my feet into the nude heels I forgot I even owned. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve been back to the hotel, and I’m nervous to go. The staff know who I am, they know I’m now the boss andthey didn’t treat me any differently the last time I was there, but I’m now married to Malakai, and I’m worried about what they might think about me.
It's not like they know he was involved in my father’s death or that he threatened my sister. For all they know, Malakai swooped me off my feet and we couldn’t wait to get married.
The thought makes me want to gag. I can’t imagine Malakai swooping anyone off their feet, not with his constant scowl and severe need to have everything in control. But then his chuckle is to die for, this deep, warming sound and he smells like sex and sin, an intoxicating aroma that has made me brainless a couple of times.
And the way he talks, the deep baritone of his voice strips you bare, and those neon blue eyes that feel as if they’re looking right through you, seeing all of you. And his hands, his skilled hands, long fingers and –
What the fuck am I doing?
I shake my head to clear the thoughts and turn, walking out of the bedroom. My heels clip against the floors and when I get to the foyer, Dennis is already waiting.
“Mrs. Farrow,” He greets professionally.
“Just Olivia is fine,” I tell him.
He doesn’t answer me or even move his face out of that stoic expression, so I just follow him out to the waiting car.
“Do you always drive around whoever Malakai tells you to?” I ask him after he’s closed my door andclimbed into the front. His eyes flick to me in the mirror before focusing back on the road.
