Page 50 of His Wild Attraction

“Shut up, you guys,” Meredith said, rolling her eyes in exasperation before facing me. “Come on, you can trust us. What is it, Ellie?” she asked.

“It’s, um, well, when we go to bed at night, Andres is like the perfect gentleman?—”

“Wait, you mean you guys haven’t had sex?” Sofia asked, mouth gaping.

“What? No! I mean, yes, we have sex. Every night. But it’s me who starts it,” I confessed, and my cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

“What do you mean? Like, is he not into it?” Meredith asked carefully.

“No, I mean, he seems very into it once we get going, but like, I’m the one who initiates it. He doesn’t touch me unless I make the first move, and I wondered, does that mean there’s something wrong? Like, with me, or shit, I don’t know. I sound pathetic,” I murmured, closing my eyes.

“Hold on. First, stop that,” Sofia ordered in her best mom voice, and my eyes flicked to her. “There is nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. And fuck whoever made you feel like that. Second, if little Andres is waking up for playtime, then it doesn’t matter who touches who first. Clearly, the man wants you, too.”

“Little Andres? Somehow, I doubt that,” Destiny said, and everyone started chuckling again.

“True. I mean the guys are all big, bulky men and I know Adrik is definitely not little. So, how big we talking?” Sofia asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“You are such a horn dog, Sof,” Destiny teased.

“I am not. It’s research for the current book I’m writing,” she replied with faux haughtiness.

I snorted.

“Okay. First, there is nothing little about little Andres,” I admitted.

“Eeek! I knew it!” Sofia shouted.

The way she said it made me giggle like an idiot.

“Well, now that we solved that mystery, Ellie, let me tell you that man wants you. I mean, Marat said Andres has been more than a little distracted at work for weeks now. Also, ever since you moved in, your husband leaves work promptly at six every night,” she announced.

“Why is that strange? Six is the usual time to leave work, isn’t it?” I asked.

All three women shook their heads and rolled their eyes like I was the class dunce or something.

“Girl, do you not know a thing about your husband? He used to stay till ten every night. Serious overachiever. Adrik used to wonder if he was trying to take over the company.”

“True, Marat said the same thing. But now that they know they’re cousins?—”

“Wait. What?” I asked, interrupting.

“Andres. His birth father was Adrik and Marat’s father’s brother. He told them the day of the wedding. Sorry, I thought you knew,” Destiny said, frowning.

“Oh, right. Um, yeah. Excuse me. I’m just going to check on Sammy,” I muttered, wiping my hands free of dough on the dish towel I had sitting on my shoulder.

I was embarrassed.

I’d gotten caught not knowing something about Andres that he seemingly told a shitload of people on our wedding day.

But not me. Not his wife.

It would have been fine if he’d agreed to a fake relationship.

One just for show.

But he was the one who said he wanted this to be real. He was the one who practically demanded it.

But could a marriage be real if the couple never talked?

---