Page 66 of Lust and Honor

“I already told you, you’re free.” There’s venom in his voice.

“So there’s no consequences?”

“Not for you.”

That’s exactly what Enrico warned me about. “What do you mean, not for me?”

He props himself up on his elbow, leaning over me, his face inches from mine. His chest rises and falls faster than normal, and his breaths are heavy and audible. “I mean I’ll tolerate that bastard coming up to you, offering you a cigarette. I’ll stand by while he leans over your body to light it. I’ll keep my mouth shut when he drapes his jacket over your shoulders to charm you.”

He pulls the towel off me. His finger presses between the curves of my breasts, dragging slowly over the wet satin clinging to my skin. A shiver runs through me, but I don’t protest.

His voice grows heated, tinged with anger. “I’ll let him touch your soft skin.” His hand reaches my ass, caressing the line between my cheeks, down to the slit between my legs. My breath catches, and I squirm under his touch, my inner walls tightening involuntarily.

“I’ll tolerate him wringing every filthy pleasure out of this body.” His hand moves up, his thumb settling on my lips, rubbing them not-so-gently.

“I won’t do a thing. I’ll let him kiss you for a warm, passionate goodbye, thanking you for a night every man dreams of and begging for another taste of you.”

His touch moves to my chin, tracing along my jaw to my ear. I can barely swallow around the knot in my throat.

“Then what?” I whisper.

He grabs my earlobe between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing hard enough to make me wince. His heavy breath washes over my face as he answers in a deadly tone, “Then I hunt him down. For touching the woman who’s mine, I break every fucking bone in his body. The hand that touched you? I cut it off. The lips that kissed you? I crush them. I kill him, Ava.”

So Enrico was right.

I gently pull his hand away from my ear. “You don’t care if you kill an innocent man?”

“By your law, he’s innocent. By my code, he’s guilty of a crime that only death can answer for.”

“How am I supposed to live with myself knowing I got an innocent man killed?”

A satisfied look flashes across his face. He’s got me exactly where he wanted. “Stay away from innocent men, Ava. Because when I say something, it stays said.”

By limiting my options, he’s left me with only one choice, himself. He claims I’m free, but in reality, he’s caged me with invisible chains, shackled me to him so tightly there’s no escape. I need to see a shrink because this stirs a thrilling, indescribable excitement in me. Maxim’s claimed me by force, and that should infuriate me, but what I feel is the exact opposite.

I try to hide it, forcing righteousness into my tone. “So you’re free to run off and have a threesome with two of the country’s hottest actresses the second I turn you down, but if I do the same, you’ll kill someone I might actually care about and pin the guilt on me? What kind of justice is that?”

He sits up beside me, his eyes narrowing. “Who told you where I was and who I was with?”

“Does it change the point? Answer the question.”

“Was it Emily?”

I scoff. “So Emily knew and dodged me when I called asking about you?”

His eyes glint with amusement. “You called Emily to check on me?”

My hand clenches into a fist at my slip-up. Why do I forget how opportunistic he is? I stand from the lounger in a huff, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back down. This time, he gets up, heading to his wardrobe.

He pulls a cigarette from a jacket and lights it. Standing near the pool, he exhales a cloud of smoke. “Don’t pay too much attention to the things people say about me. Women tend to exaggerate, especially when there’s a man and his dick involved.”

“So you’re pure as Jesus Christ, right?”

He flashes a devilish smirk. “Don’t believe the talk about that poor guy either. If I were him, I’d be pissed that people think of me as some impotent saint.”

I glare at him, but he goes on, voice serious. “You made yourself very clear you didn’t want me. I don’t owe you an explanation, but I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

“I didn’t ask because I was hurt,” I retort.