Page 21 of Bound to Him

I laughed, dropping my head against his chest. “It was fucking sensational.”

“But you’re right…” He stepped away from me, and I felt the cold night air wash over my body. “It’s wrong.”

“And unfair to Viola,” I said, nodding my head.

“Not that she’d care much,” he said matter-of-factly and leaned back against the balcony again, crossing one ankle over the other while I watched him.

“I think she would.”

“You do?” He smiled. “That’s cute.”

Immediately we were back to banter, as if the best kiss—no, the best few minutes of my life—hadn’t just happened. I breathed deeply to clear my head.

Here I was, standing alone with a man that my sister was betrothed to and who my brother absolutely hated. A man who I knew was a known playboy with a temper feared by most. Yet, I’d never felt better. He looked at me in a way that made me feel respected and dirty at the same time. He touched me so forcefully but without me feeling like he was forcing it on me—not the way Christian did. Christian touched me gently but forced it on me. This was all so fucked up.

Thinking it over had me reeling backwards, mentally. What the fuck were we doing? What was I doing? I’d learned my lesson before, and here I was, breaking all the rules once again.Fuck!

“I should really go,” I stated, feeling the stress hit me like a wave of humidity. Suddenly, I couldn’t think straight, and it felt like a headache was coming on.

“Hang on,” Huxley said, reaching forward to grab my hand.

“No, no I—” Avoiding his mind-controlling touch, I lifted my hands and fixed my hair. “I can’t do this. I have to go.”

“Olivia—” Huxley tried to call me back, but as soon as I opened the door, he stopped. He obviously knew what kind of trouble we could get into if anyone heard us talking like this. I strode in and shut the door as if the fresh air helped. As if I felt perfectly fine again, when in actuality, I was worse off than before I stepped foot out there.

“Sup, sis.”

I heard Viola’s voice when I turned into the ballroom. Spinning around in a flurry, I hoped the guilt wasn’t spelled across my forehead. No matter what Huxley thought, it would be a very difficult conversation—oh, yeah, I just made out with your future husband in a very sexual way. I basically fucked him through our clothes.

Jesus, Olivia, when did you become such a bitch of betrayal?

“Hey. You enjoying the party?” I replied, positioning myself next to her while staring out over the room. She had her back against the wall and her arms folded.

“Seriously? When would I ever have enjoyed this?”

Her voice exuded pure boredom. I rethought my words, remembering that she hated these things too, and she never chatted with any of our father’s business associates even when I did. “Right, sorry. I’m a little distracted.”

“I’d bet.”

“Huh?” I looked at her with wide eyes. Did she see it? Did she somehow know what I’d just been doing?

“Christian Reyes? How did that go?”

Shit, of course. Before the whole Huxley ordeal, I’d met my fucking sleazy fiancé for the first time.

“Fuck.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s a real piece of work.”

“He looked it.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this one, Viola. But I can’t marry that man.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah.” I decided not to get into details about how he’d already tried to forcefully kiss me the very moment we were left alone. God knows what he would forcefully do to me once we were married.

I noticed movement on the other side of the room, someone was saying goodbye to our father and taking their leave. It was the Moretti’s, Antonio and Mia. I watched over Viola’s shoulder and saw Huxley greet our father before sticking his hands in his pockets, stopping behind him, and blatantly winking at me, all the while chewing on a toothpick.

He was so fucking infuriating, yet so fucking sexy. I didn’t know how I was going to resist him, but I had to.

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