Page 16 of The Imp Act

Tonight was absolutely surreal. People cheered for my collection, preorders began rolling in on my newly-launchedwebsite (how I’ll fulfill them is another matter—I need to hire a team immediately), and then my handsome husband swooped me up backstage.

He greeted me with a passionate kiss, an incredible bracelet, and the biggest bouquet of roses I’ve ever seen. And then he snuck me off to a tiny restaurant, where I stuffed myself with the city’s best garlic bread, pasta, and cannoli.

Now we’re back home and he’s looking at me with something in his eyes, an emotion I can’t quite name. Wonderment, maybe. Without a word, he pulls me into his arms, peppering me with soft, seductive kisses. On my neck, along my jaw, at my temple. At long last, he takes my lips, and I melt into him, sighing with pleasure.

Normally, we crash together with passion and intensity, like a hurricane. This feels more like a gentle rainstorm, tender and slow and unbearably sweet. He walks me to the bedroom and undresses me, piece by piece, murmuring the whole time how incredible I am. Then he strips out of his own clothes and settles on the bed, sitting up and lightly resting his back against the headboard without crushing his wings.

“C’mere,” he says, crooking a finger, and I crawl to him without hesitation.

I straddle him and he slides inside me with ease, filling me until my breath catches.

He feels like home.

Without breaking eye contact, he begins to move, slowly thrusting into me and making me see stars.

“You’re beautiful,” he says. “Talented. Creative. Perfect. Mine,” he growls, thrusting higher into me and making me mewl.

I can’t catch my breath. Everything about this feels different, physically and emotionally. This doesn’t feel like sex or fucking. It feels like making love.

“I am yours. And you’re mine,” I say.

“All mine. Only mine. Forever.”

I’m not sure if he’s even aware of what he’s saying, the way that he’s claiming me. But it’s making my heart do funny things, weird flips in my chest.

He notices the tears shining in my eyes, which I didn’t realize were there, and swipes at them with his thumb as they roll down my cheek. “Don’t cry,” says, his voice husky.

“I didn’t know I was,” I whisper. “Everything is so…I don’t know, potent.”

He gently pushes my hair out of my face and slowly twists his cock inside me. I buck and gasp. Even in the tenderest moments, he can rock me with pleasure. He begins to pick up his pace, and I reach out and grip his horns, just like I imagined doing the first time I saw him.

He groans and shivers, and I clue in to something new: his horns are sensitive.

I smile at him, still staring into his golden eyes, and stroke them lightly with my fingertips. He returns my grin, pushing deeper and faster until we both break, coming undone in each other’s arms.

When the aftershocks fade, we’re still sitting there, embracing so tightly we might as well be one person instead of two.

It’s so apparent now, I don’t know how I didn’t understand it sooner: I’m hopelessly, endlessly, recklessly in love with him.

Oh, no.

CHAPTER NINE

NOELLE

I officially have the crud. There’s some sort of spring flu going around, and it got me. I’m exhausted, irritable, and food is the enemy. Two months ago, I was floating along on cloud nine, happier than I’d ever been, if a little nervous about my feelings for my husband.

Now I feel like shit, I’m overwhelmed by my own success, and I can’t help but notice the clock is ticking on this marriage.

We have less than a month until our divorce. Less than a month until I pack up all my things, find a tiny apartment somewhere, and say goodbye to the man who changed my life. Without his support and encouragement, I never would have been able to launch my line so quickly. I wouldn’t be bombarded with orders and struggling to hire a team to help me. I wouldn’t be searching for office and warehouse space in the city so that I can expand my operations.

The thought of leaving him is gutting, but I’ll keep my end of the deal and set him free. Even though I’m beyond in love with him.

I’ve never been in love before, so I have nothing to compare this feeling to, but what else

could it be? I want to spend time with him, share my accomplishments with him, cheer on his successes. I don’t even mind that his mom doesn’t like me. As long as he does, her opinion doesn’t matter anymore.

Enzo…makes me happy. Happier than I could have ever imagined.

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