Page 31 of Sunrise Malice

But still, Julien is the first person to do something about my father’s abuse.

His face twists into frustration. “You think I want that right now?”

“I mean it, Julien. This relationship is just on paper. You got me out of that house and I’m grateful, but don’t think that extends?—”

“I’m not interested in fucking you just because you think you owe me. You don’t owe me a goddamn thing.” He snarls at me, taking a step into the room. I flinch back, shocked at his anger, at the raw animalistic rage flowing from him.

Julien’s terrifying when he’s angry. There’s a darkness radiating off him. I felt it back at my father’s house when he was beating Dad into a pulp, but it’s back, and it’s intoxicating. He’s a gorgeous, dark god of a man, a demon made of flesh and sex anddeath, and I hate him as much as I want him, and maybe that’s why I’m so intent on making it clear thathe can’t have me.

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page then. You keep your hands to yourself.”

“I have enough to worry about right now than touching a woman that so clearly doesn’t want to be touched.”

“And yet you kissed me earlier today. Remember that little detail?”

“As if you didn’t love it,” he snarls, obviously frustrated. “You were practically melting on my tongue.”

I gasp in horror. “Melting? I was trying not to gag.”

“Please, wife, you were panting for more afterward. Your cheeks were flushed with desire.”

“My cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.”

He gives me a knee-melting stare filled with heat and dark promises. “When I kiss you again, my beautiful pussycat, you will beg for it first. I can promise you that. For now, I’ll keep my hands to myself, because I’m not a fucking monster. But don’t forget: youaremy fuckingwife.”

I stare at him, mouth hanging open, as he storms out of the room.

Holyshit,that was hot.

But then reality reasserts itself. He saidwhenhe kisses me again, but that isn’t happening. I’m here to fight for my freedom and to rehabilitate my family’s name with the Hayes Group.

Not for my father, and not for my dead, asshole brother, but forme.

And when this is all done, I’m out of here. I’ll build a new life on my terms and live completely free.

I won’t owe anyone anything, and I’ll be my own person.

Whoever she’ll be.

I can’t wait to freaking meet her.

For now, I’ll survive my new husband and hold on until it’s my turn to really live.

Chapter 14

Julien

Psychological warfare can be as important as killing the enemy.

Sometimes it’s easier to break their morale.

Get under their skin, prove they don’t matter, show how weak and pathetic they are to you, make them think it’s hopeless, and they’ll defeat themselves.

“Do you own this place?” Brianne asks as we head inside La Palais Gourmet. She’s holding onto my arm, mostly because I told her she had to, and I keep stealing glances down in her direction.

She’s wearing a dress contoured to her body, black and slinky, with a slit up her thigh. Her skin’s covered, but it still shows off her gorgeous body, and it makes my heart fucking race every time I catch sight of her. Three-quarter sleeves cover the bruises on her arms.

I’ve never been proud to have a woman on my arm before—there are plenty of attractive women all over Chicago—but for once in my life, I actually have a person I want to show off.

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