“You want to have sex?” The way he asks – full of incredulity – makes me blush.
“I just meant… we have to make this marriage work. For my father’s sake.”
“For your brother’s sake, you mean. You don’t want me to kill him. Do you think offering your body to me will lessen the chance of me hurting him?”
“It did cross my mind,” I admit. “But my father wants this alliance to work. He wants us to try. So… we have to try.”
“I never thought you were one to listen to your father.”
“That was before my brother tried to kill you at our wedding. You’re angry. I don’t want you to hurt him or me. So if giving you my body makes you happy then… then I’m willing to do it. If it means keeping myself and my brother safe.”
His eyes widen. “You would give yourself over to me as an act of selflessness?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I didn’t think you had any selflessness in you. Not after how you tried to get your brother to kill me.”
I huff. “I am capable of some good.”
“For your family.”
“Yes. For my family. Not for you. You’re just a stranger who…”Who confuses me.
Marco takes a step closer. “What? Say what you were going to say.”
“It’s nothing. Are we going to do this or what?”
“You really want to have sex? Fine then.” He picks me up by the waist and tosses me onto the bed. I stiffen. Marco looks down at me with intense, dark eyes that make me want to squirm. “You want this? Then prove it. Take my cock out and suck it.”
A hotness crosses my face. No one has ever spoken to me this way before. Not even the immature teenage boys I entertained dating before my dad stopped it.
I have to do this though. I have to keep Marco happy for the sake of my family.
Sitting up, I reach out to his pants with trembling fingers. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
But before I can push his pants down, Marco grabs my wrists, stopping me.
“What?” I ask, hating how afraid I sound.
For just a moment, Marco’s eyes soften. “Don’t do this.”
“Why? We have to.”
“We don’t have to have sex to be married. The alliance is in place. That’s all that matters.”
“But don’t you want to?”
“Would I love to fuck you? Yes.” His honesty makes me blush harder. “But I can see the fear in your eyes. Your hands are shaking. I’m not going to fuck you tonight just because your father thinks it needs to happen. It will be better to just co-exist with each other than to get to know one another. I only married you to get to your father. I have my alliance I wanted. We don’t need to do anything else.” He places my hands in my lap.
“But I need to keep you happy. I need to make sure you don’t kill my brother.”
“As long as he doesn’t try to kill me again, I won’t kill him. Now, go change. It’s been a long day.”
I wait for Marco to say more and when he doesn’t, I rush to my suitcase and pull out a pair of cotton pants and top. I give Marco one more look before I go into the bathroom and change. The wedding dress comes off easily. Marco would have made quickwork of it if he had decided to take my body. I’m glad he didn’t. It shows he’s not a complete monster.
Maybe this marriage won’t be so bad. We can just co-exist as he said. There doesn’t need to be anything else between us.
And yet… I’ve always wanted love in my life. My father denied me that and he’s still doing it. Marco may not want to hurt me but that doesn’t mean life will be easy with him. A life of coldness – of loneliness – is not what I want.
