“Tori—”
“And I bet you paid for it,” I went on. “That’s why she was so grateful.”
I wasn’t completely convinced what I was saying was true—not at all convinced, actually—but I was trying to get a rise out of him. Get him to react. Back him into a corner, so he’d have to tell me something true in order to prove that my accusations were false.
“You think you know everything, but the reality is, you’re completely in the dark.”
He stood up from his chair, closing the gap between us, his eyes blazing with anger.
“So enlighten me,” I said, as calmly and slowly as I could manage.
“You know nothing about what’s really going on here. Not everything is as it seems.”
“Thentalk to me. I’m on your team.”
I wanted to give him another chance. Wanted him to understand that I could help him, that I was here for him if only he’d let me be.
“I’ll say this one more time. It’s not. Your. Concern,” he said through gritted teeth.
And then he stood, and in two strides, he was in front of me. Without warning, he grabbed the front of my sweater, fisting the fabric in his fingers and pulling me hard against him. His mouth came crashing down on mine. Brutal. Intense. Perfect.
He kissed me as if he owned me, and I couldn’t resist. I never could resist him.
As I kissed him back, I put my whole heart and soul into it. I wanted to show him that I was on his side, that we wanted the same things. He had to realize that he could trust me—that he could tell me the truth. About Irina. About KZM. About everything. I could be exactly the wife he wanted me to be, if only he would let me in.
“Stefan,” I moaned.
His mouth plundered mine, cutting off my words, his hands rough on my body. I knew he was winning, that our conversation was effectively over for the time being. And I also knew that there was a good chance he was doing this on purpose.
Did he kiss me this way to distract me, to hide the truth from me? Maybe the brutal way he treated me in bed wasn’t what it seemed, either. Maybe his crudeness was a disguise for passion, a way to avoid the inherent risks of intimacy, a way to keep his true feelings buried. Knowing what I did about Stefan, it all made sense. That he would keep something vulnerable and tender protected by a coarse exterior. Did he feel more for me than I realized?
He had just told me that not everything was as it seemed. Was he only alluding to the situation with Irina, with all the models, or did he mean his behavior in the bedroom as well?
I didn’t know what to think or how to feel as his hands gripped the back of my head, his fingers tight in my hair, forcing my head back as his tongue fucked my mouth. His hips were pressed hard against mine, and I could feel his cock, hard and throbbing against my hip.
There was no denying he wanted me—and I wanted him too. I couldn’t pretend otherwise. The connection we had was so strong, the sex we had was so affirming, that I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to say no to him. I was already wet as we grappled against the doorway of his office, ready and willing to do whatever he commanded of me. But even though I couldn’t control the way my body felt toward him, I could still hear the voice in my head telling me that he was using sex as a way to hide something.
That all of this was an act, part of his master plan.
But regardless of his ulterior motives, I wouldn’t stop kissing him.
Scooping my ass into his hands, he lifted me against him, my legs wrapping around his waist. As I moaned softly into his mouth, losing myself in his kisses, he began walking us down the hall and toward the bedroom.
“I need you, Tori,” he growled.
Never had I heard him say those words to me before. I was incredibly turned on, but I also felt powerful. If he could admit that he needed me sexually, maybe it was only a matter of time before he realized that he needed me in other ways. Emotionally, yes, but also as an intellectual partner. A life partner.
But as he carried me over the threshold into our room, throwing me down on the bed with anger and force, I knew that I couldn’t just let him get away with this. As much as I wanted to lose myself in pleasure, to let him dominate my body, to take out all my stress and anger and betrayal on his cock, I had to get him to tell me about Irina. About all the women like her.
It wasn’t easy to focus with the way he hungrily made his way up my body, pressing hot, hard, biting kisses against my skin as he began to tug my clothes off me. My body screamed out for his touch, for the release I knew would be coming if I let him continue. He pulled my jeans down to my ankles and shoved my sweater up and over my head, leaving it there so it covered my face and left me in the dark, as if I was blindfolded.
I panted, unable to see him, only to feel his mouth, his skin, the heat of his breath. My nipples were aching from the kisses he left there, nipping and licking through the sheer lace of my bra with his tongue. I thrashed beneath him as he pinned my wrists over my head, wanting him so badly that I could barely maintain focus on the questions still burning in my mind.
That was how I knew I needed him to stop. Because if I let him continue to distract me with sex, then I’d never know the truth. I’d never learn who my husband really was, and what he was truly capable of.
And there was no way I could live with that.
Tori
