Page 91 of Lust and Honor

“That’s it,” he growls, gripping my ass harder. “Fuck, that’s my girl. Shake for me.”

Every fiber of me quakes, and he slams into me one last time, hard, spilling over the edge.

His orgasmic growls fade, and he collapses beside me on his back, eyes shutting. His chest still heaves noticeably, breaths ragged and uneven.

My ass burns like it’s been held to a flame, and I’m so drained I can’t even twitch.

He turns his head toward me, his gaze like stone.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m going out to hunt down that bastard Leonardo. When I get back, we’re getting married.”

A smirk tugs at my lips before I can stop it. From a player like Maxim, what did I expect? Roses and a candlelit proposal?

“No chance in hell I’m marrying you. You don’t know me yet. I’m leaving here. Whatever it takes, I’m gone,” I murmur as I shift back a little.

He grips my neck and drags me forward across the bed, ruthless. His mouth crashes onto mine with brutal hunger, swallowing my whimper as the metallic tang of blood coats my tongue.

When he finally pulls back, his eyes lock on mine, sharp, burning, unrelenting.

He licks the blood from my lip and threatens in a low, lethal whisper, “Don’t cross me, Ava. Trust me, you won’t like how it ends.”

Eighteen

Ava

I twist around, wearing just a bra and panties, peering over my shoulder at my ass in the full-length mirror. A faint mark from Maxim’s leather belt still lingers on my skin. My lips press together. That stupid bastard. Two weeks later, and I’m still furious enough to kill him. How dare he beat me like some defenseless child? No matter what I did, he had no right to treat my body that way.

The fitting room curtain slides open, and before I can cover up, Emily steps in. She mutters an apology under her breath at the sight of me half-naked and starts to back out, but her eyes catch the belt mark, and she freezes, eyes widening.

“My God, Ava. What happened?”

I bend down, rummaging through the pile of clothes I tried on, and quickly pull on my own. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened, and the embarrassment of Emily knowing Maxim whipped me hits me so hard that words escape me.

Emily closes the gap between us, standing right in front of me, gently stroking my arm. “Did Maxim do this?”

I just nod. She exhales sharply, full of fury, then takes my hand and pulls me out of the fitting room. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I know a cozy restaurant where we can grab lunch and talk.”

“But you haven’t finished shopping yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. Even if I show up to tonight’s date with Carlo in a sack, he won’t care. He’s only thinking about how to rip it off me anyway.”

Her playful tone draws a laugh from me. She called me this morning, begging me to go shopping with her for the romantic evening she has planned with her terrifying husband. I figured it’d distract me from Maxim, so I decided to shop for myself too, and now this happened.

The restaurant Emily mentioned really is a cozy, beautiful place. The air’s a bit chilly, so we chose a small round table by the window. Emily’s guards and Alex took a table nearby.

Emily’s face is unmistakably shadowed now, the vibrant energy from hours ago completely gone.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you too,” I murmur.

She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and gives me a faint smile. “After years of living among these stubborn, old-fashioned men, nothing they do surprises me anymore. It doesn’t hurt, but it still pisses me off. No matter what you did, Maxim had no right to lay a hand on you.”

Her blunt mention of the beating tightens the knot of embarrassment in my stomach. She takes my hand, her voice laced with raw anger.

“Sweetheart, you’re not the one who should be ashamed. That Neanderthal ought to be choking on regret for how he treated you.”

“He thinks that just because he’s a man, he can do whatever the hell he wants and get away with it.”

She scoffs. “They all do. Being a woman around men like them, or worse, being their woman, isn’t easy. Making them understand that you’re a person too, that you deserve respect, takes strength and a hell of a lot of fight. I managed it. And you can too.”