Page 33 of Contractually Wed

“He pawned off your work as your brother’s—”

“Because Vik was about to lose his job. We agreed that it would be a one-time thing. Even the black eye,” she said softly. “He didn’t know that Vik pushed me. I never told him that Vik loses his temper when he gets drunk. You can’t blame him for something he’s not aware of.”

“Ahh...you have such little expectations of the people around you,matia mou. By that measure, our marriage should hopefully last a hundred years.”

“At least he met my expectations, little as they were,” she said, tilting her chin. “Unlike you.”

Her silken thrust found a raw spot, one he wasn’t aware existed. To be compared to that man with no morals and to come away wanting...felt like the worst kind of defeat.

But then, he was discovering a lot of things hadn’t existed for him before this woman. And yes, some were to be expected because he had never been married before. But he was also aware of doubts where there was only certainty before and of a hundred little changes in his thoughts, in his actions.

He raised a brow, refusing to let her see his dilemma. Needing for her to come to him, to ask him for what she wanted. She unbalanced him so easily, that he was always looking for leverage in their relationship. He hated losing in the slightest, and the stakes were only increasing.

“You gave me three wishes. You broke the third one.”

“What would you have of me,pethi mou?”

A flicker of warmth shone in her eyes before she rubbed her eyes with her fingers. The action reminded him of how painfully young she was. “Will you help Rina out please? For me?”

He sighed, even as he felt a contracting tightness in his chest. As if his heart was too big or his body too small to contain these...feelings she evoked. He couldn’t explain it or banish it. Because he had tried to, when she lay in bed, all of her fierce vitality doused.

“I have,” he said, loathe to make her beg when it came to her damned family. “Her lover has a job with the New York branch.”

“Already?”

“You keep forgetting that I know you now, Jia. Maybe better than anyone else.”

Something soft and vulnerable sparked in her eyes before she chased it away.

“Your third condition is for you to use,” he said, knowing he was playing a very dangerous game. But then, he was a man who had taken big risks for the things he wanted. It was how he’d made a name for himself and millions for his family, how he’d risen to the top and become powerful enough to take on the man who had ruined his father. And this...this game he was playing with his wife and her as the prize, it was the biggest battle of his life. “For you, Jia. Not for anyone else.”

“Good to know,” she said, digging her teeth into her lower lip. She scooted closer, her fingers fisting his shirt in a possessive gesture that made his blood pound. “Although, anything I want from you for myself, I have a feeling you’ll give it freely.”

“Such faith,” he said, gathering her to him. She was even more slender than before and yet, somehow, if he closed his eyes, he knew he would only see her gap-toothed smile, and her vibrant attitude and the soft vulnerability she rarely showed. But he was getting little slivers of it now. “You have to do something for me in return.”

“What?”

“Get back to bed.”

“I’ve just spent two and a half weeks there. And this recovery period is worse. I’m lonely—” faint color dusted her cheeks “—and I have all this sudden energy.”

She looked so sparkly and cheerful that Apollo didn’t have the heart to point out that it was because he had agreed to help her lying, cheating coward of a sister. If she let them, her family would suck the marrow out of her. “I’ll ask Christina to join you and keep you company.”

“No.”

“Camilla, then.”

“God, no. She’ll make me drink that awful bone broth again.”

“You need it.”

“I know what I need.”

“What?”

“You, in bed, with me.” When he only watched her without replying, she pouted. “I mean, I adore your family, yes, but I want you.”

His mouth twitched, despite his resolve not to give in. But he was angry and disgruntled enough with her, disturbed enough by her revelation about her mother and her father that he wanted to be persuaded. Seduced. Wanted. He’d never before in his goddamned life wanted to be wanted.

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