Page 15 of Brutal Husband

Unless I beg him to.

Mom laughs without humor. “Do you really think he won’t turn on you? What a naive little girl you are, Rieta. I can barely believe you’re my daughter.”

I want to forget about Nero and focus on myself for a little while. A career has given Isabel bucketloads of confidence, and I think it could do the same for me. Shortly after graduation, a friend’s older sister told me that she could get me a job at a hotel in the center of town. Mom didn’t want me to work, so I refused,but this morning I sent Lynella a message asking if the offer still stands. She replied straight away telling me to come to the hotel at ten this morning.

I’m dressed in a demure blouse and knee-length pencil skirt, and I’m wearing the sapphire and diamond studs that one of my uncles gave me for graduation. With my hair up in a twist and kitten heels on my feet, I think I look the part for my very first job interview.

My interview is with a cheerful man in a blue blazer who explains that the hotel needs front desk staff to greet guests, hand out room keys, and process credit card payments. He doesn’t seem to mind that I have no experience. When he asks me how I would placate a difficult customer, I just think of Mom and describe how I calm her down. Job interview nailed. My first shift is at the end of the week.

I walk out of the hotel and through the parking lot feeling pleased with myself. My thoughts are filled with possibilities for my future, and I’m not paying attention to where I’m going. I may only work at the front desk now, but if I work hard, I could be promoted. I could become some kind of hotel executive, maybe even travel—

Someone grabs me.

My heart rate shoots through the stratosphere. Before I can shriek, a rough hand clamps over my mouth, and I’m lifted into the air. I briefly see the open door of an SUV before I’m tossed inside.

This is how I die. Kidnapped and strangled in broad daylight in a hotel parking lot.

The car door slams behind us, and suddenly, there’s a heavy body pinning mine to the back seat. The scent of expensive cologne fills my nose. I open my mouth to scream, but the face looming over mine isn’t that of a masked stranger. It’s Nero.

He glares through the window at the hotel and then back at me. “What were you doing in there?”

My heart is pounding a thousand beats a minute, and I gasp in relief and anger. “What am I doing? What are you doing? I thought you were a kidnapper. I thought you were going to kill me.”

“Answer the question.”

Nero must have been following me again. He probably stalked me from my house to the hotel, watched me go inside, and then waited for me to come out. If he wanted to see me so badly, why didn’t he just call?

“I’m not answering anything. Get off me.” I push against him, but he doesn’t move. As I fight him, I can feel my skirt getting rucked up as he pushes his knee between my thighs. I try to pull my skirt down, but he captures my wrist and pins it above my head. The weight of his body on mine sends ripples of heat through me. Goddammit. After I didn’t react to him even a little at our engagement party, I thought I was immune to Nero’s charms.

A slow smile spreads over Nero’s face as the fingers of my free hand clench on his muscular shoulder, and I let out a soft pant.

“But you don’t want me to get off you,cara mia. Answer the question. What were you doing in that hotel?”

His deep words vibrate through my chest and flutter against my nipples. “I had a job interview.”

“My wife doesn’t need to work.”

I hold my left hand in his face, showing him my ringless finger. “We’re not engaged. I don’t want a husband who constantly degrades me.”

He lowers his head, and his mouth presses against my throat. The kiss sends a shock wave through me as he cradles my head in his hand. His lips whisper against me, “I thought you likedit when I talked that way. You worked yourself up with your fingers thinking about me.”

Nero’s knee presses between my thighs and against my clit. I can feel myself getting wet, and I regret what I confided to him at our engagement party.

Nero’s wearing a crisp white shirt and tan pants. I glance down between us and see a telltale bulge at his zipper. I’ve never been this close to a man’s erection before. I want to reach out and explore it, fascinated to know how thick and hot he’ll feel in my hand through the fabric of his clothes.

Instead, I pin him with a sardonic look. “Your cock is surprisingly hard for a man who can’t stand liars. Isn’t that what I am? A disgusting, lying bitch in heat?”

Nero pulls back, his eyes narrowing as he glares down at me. He studies me for a moment. “I have a short temper.”

“You’re an obnoxious ass.”

The annoyance melts from his expression. “I am. I was. I’m sorry.”

His apology is more startling than his coldness. I didn’t think a man as arrogant as him had even one apology in him. “You don’t get to wind me up on a date and then throw it in my face when I reciprocate your desire.”

“That was wrong of me. I love that you’re my horny girl. Just…not around family. It’s difficult for me to relax around family. Anyone’s family.” He strokes my hair back and presses soft kisses to my face. “You forgive me, don’t you? You want your husband to kiss you and make it better,cara mia.” He runs his tongue up the column of my throat.

“I don’t…” Trying to tell him that he’s not my husband and he never will be is getting harder and harder. “We can’t.”

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