Page 28 of Contractually Wed

And yet, she sought his approval in other ways. Didn’t she see that? “So what happened?”

“It never took off to last.” Then she pulled back and searched his eyes. “You really want to know?”

“Yes,” he said, grabbing her by the tight indent of her waist. “The sooner you tell me, the sooner I will give you what you want.”

“That’s sexual blackmail,” she said, grinning. Then she sobered. “Jax...was a decade older than me. He wanted to travel the world. Travel and music were his passions and he wanted me to leave with him.”

“That’s quite an ultimatum to issue to an eighteen-year-old,” Apollo said, immensely glad she hadn’t left with him. But it also meant that her martyr-like need to save her family had not only been present then too, but it had alienated a man who might have cared for her.

Apollo didn’t understand it; she was so smart, worldly and tough in every aspect of life. But with her leeching family, it was like she willingly put on blinders.

“He...changed his plans for me. Even got a job to show me that he could do boring nine-to-five. He waited for me to be ready for a lot of things. But when we actually started seeing each other regularly, all we did was fight. He thought I should move out, stop coddling Rina, stop...” A sigh rattled through her. “He thought my family was a shackle and that he was nothing but entertainment on the side for me. That last time it blew up, we were in the middle of it, literally. He stopped, dressed and left. Never looked back.”

“Do you regret it?” Apollo asked. “Not leaving with him?”

This time, Jia hid her face in his throat again. “It’s pointless to look back. And he should have known better than to ask me to choose him over them.”

“Is that a warning, Jia?”

“You’re a clever man, Apollo Galanis. You figure it out.”

It provoked him to no end. Before, Apollo didn’t want them to have her loyalty, because he wanted to be the victor in this little game. Because he wanted everything she had to give for himself.

But now he wanted her to see for herself how blind and undeserving her devotion was. How she had limited herself all these years, for them. That it was that very trait that had brought her to him...threw him into confusion.

He lifted her gently and slid his fingers to her center.Dios mio, she was wet and ready for him. “Should I remind you that you have thrown your lot in with me?” he said, finding her clit and flicking at the bundle.

She jerked and arched against him, the plump points of her nipples sliding deliciously against his chest.

“Do you need a reminder that your stock in the company in three years, your talent, your work,youare all mine?” he said, pumping one and then two fingers inside her.

Mouth lax, eyelashes fluttering, she threw her head back and let out a moan. His cock became painfully hard as her muscles squeezed tight around his fingers deep inside her.

“Or maybe you want to argue a little more about this and I should stop?”

She stilled and then in a violet fury of movement that splashed the water around them, cupped his cheek and took his mouth in a filthy, possessive kiss that said everything he had without using words. “All I want,” she said, nibbling at his lips, “for myself is this—” something fierce and feral glowed in her eyes “—and if you deny me this, Apollo, if you take this away from me...”

“I won’t,” he vowed, cherishing how freely and easily she gave of herself here. How from the first moment, she had honestly and bravely faced this attraction. It was the most arousing thing about her—that fierce attitude and that honest, scorching desire for him. For now, it was enough. That she wanted this with that fiery need was enough. The rest he would have soon.

“Come for me, Tornado,” he said, pinching her clit between his fingers.

She wrapped her fingers around his cock and squeezed, licking the shell of his ear.

“For tonight,” she said, nipping at his earlobe, “can we come like this? Together? Tomorrow, I’ll be less sore—”

“This is all I’ve been thinking of all day,agapi. You falling apart for me. You not hiding anything from me.”

And then they were kissing again, and their hands were everywhere, their bodies weaving together and retreating in the water, and Apollo thought he’d never been more eager and desperate, never tasted such bliss before.

Already familiar with his body and his want, she stroked him harder and faster. He gritted his teeth, fighting the oncoming wave. He wanted, needed, to push her over first.

She was writhing and twisting around his fingers, but her eyes, so wide and clear and penetrating, never left his. As if that was the thing that would send her to the edge she was seeking.

“This is going to get messy,” she said, arching into his touch, and the stubborn thing that she was, she never let her own strokes falter.

Apollo grinned and laved at her lower lip. “I had a feeling about that when I found you snoring in my armchair.”

She laughed then, and that’s how they came together and came apart and Apollo wondered at how addictive this woman could become.

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