Page 304 of A Vicious Love

“No.”

The answer hit me like a hand around the throat.

Possessive satisfaction came first, ugly and immediate, so strong I had to pause before speaking. Then anger, because part of me imagined every year she had spent feeling unwanted while keeping herself untouched beside a man too stupid to deserve that kind of loyalty. Fuck, she was looking at me as if the answer might disappoint me or change the way I saw her.

It changed everything.

It made me want to be gentler.

“No,” I repeated.

She shook her head. “No one.”

I exhaled slowly through my nose and lowered my forehead to hers. “Then Daddy needs to be extra gentle with my baby.”

Her eyes closed.

A little sound left her, so soft I felt it more than heard it.

Fuck, I loved the sounds my fiancée made.

“What else?” I asked, brushing my mouth along her cheek. “Tell me.”

She took a shaky breath. “I’ve kissed. Laurent, before the engagement. A few times.”

My jaw tightened on his name.

She felt it and touched my face. “You said truth.”

“I’m listening.”

“He touched me over my dress once.” Her cheeks burned. “At a garden party. He kissed my neck. I liked it, then felt awful because my father had already said the match wouldn’t go anywhere, and then the Crow announcement happened.”

I kept my hand gentle on her hip through the violent little urge to rewrite Laurent Armand’s anatomy.

“What else?”

“That’s it.”

My eyes searched hers. “No one had you in a bed?”

“No.”

“No one inside you, fingers or anything else?”

She shook her head, barely able to hold my gaze. “Just you.”

The restraint required to stay still became a living thing. It paced inside my ribs, furious and hungry.

I kissed her mouth once.

She made a tiny noise against my lips.

I kissed it from her mouth. “Such a good girl. Brave for me.”

I kissed down her throat once more, slower now, letting my hand move along her side.

Her fingers slid into my hair again.