Page 114 of The Sound of Temptation

“You’re not ready to have a girlfriend, much less a wife. And you have that job at Wolfe now. Once my father announces you as his successor, he can hardly take it back. Let’s just agree to go our separate ways.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t want his job. I’ve got bigger dreams and I need that money.” He steps closer to me and grabs my hands, squeezing them tightly. “Our plan is moving ahead.”

I pale and try to tug free. “What if I don’t want it to?”

His eyes grow frantic before he drops my hands as if they’re burning him. He turns his back on me, and I feel a flare of guilt. I’m pulling the rug out from beneath him. All of his prospects must feel like they’re slipping away. I try to reason with him. “Don’t you want to find someone you love? Or at least someone who loves you?” I ask him and hope that he’ll be as honest as I’m trying to be.

He turns back to face me. His eyes are bright and glazed over.

“We don’t have to be in love. We don’t have to be faithful. We just have to be committed.”

I shake my head. “Committed to what? Certainly not each other.”

“The money.” He looks at me like I’m daft.

“This can’t all be about money, can it? Is it really enough to put ourselves through this sham? It’s not for me.” I raise an eyebrow.

He looks away and shoves his hands in his pockets. ”Is this about him?” His voice is dark now. The sneer in his voice cuts through the tension around us.

I can’t hide my surprise and he laughs when it shows all over my face.

“Oh yeah. Etta told me all about what she saw in the bar. It sounded quite titillating. Made me wonder what I was missing.”

I swallow down the revulsion and dread that’s risen from the pit of my stomach to lodge into my throat. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

He eyes me, and grins. His gaze travels over my body like he owns it.

He steps toward me. “So, you love him?”

“It’s not about him.” I say, desperate that he never know how much Carter means to me.

He smiles, “I don’t care if you fuck him every day and twice on Sunday. But come home to the devil you know. I won’t mind if you’re wet for him when I fuck you.”

There’s a promise of pain in his eyes. Not just the physical kind. But the kind that you never forget. The kind that leaves stains makeup can’t hide. I recoil from him. “Why would you want that?”

He snorts in derision. “My parents married for love and now my mother can’t manage a public appearance without a snort from her little stash of coke. If we don’t care what the other is doing, we can focus on building our empires.”

“I don’t want to build an empire.”

“Life isn’t a fairytale, Elisabeth.” He throws my name the way I suspect he wants to throw the vase on the table next to us.

“I don’t expect a fairytale. But I’m sick of it being a nightmare. I don’t want to do this.”

The only warning I have as to what’s coming is the growl of frustration that rumbles in his chest before he lunges at me. He grabs me and shoves me onto the bed. He pins me down with the full weight of his body and forces all of the air out of my lungs.

My heart feels like it’s going to explode in my chest. I struggle but can barely move.

“Get off,” I huff, and then regret using the precious air the words took. I slap at him.

“Calm down.” He snarls and grabs one of my wrists in one of his huge hands and pins my arms over my head. “You think I can’t make you feel good?”

He presses his lips to mine in a bruising kiss, my teeth cut into the inside of my lip and I taste blood.

He reaches between us and tugs my towel off and snakes his free hand between my legs and puts two fingers inside of me. He drags his tongue over my neck.

My soul screams, but I don’t. I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he’s hurting me.

His eyes stay on mine; they’re full of expectant glee as he waits for my body to respond. I bite back a whimper when he shoves deeper and harder. “Don’t fight it. I’ve made you feel good before.” He winks like it’s an inside joke. I just stare at him, emotionless and disengaged.

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