Page 47 of Wedlocked

Isabella stepped back. “Well, if you’re ready. Let’s go party!”

We did our best to ignore two of Ethan’s soldiers who trailed after us the moment we left Isabella’s apartment.

“Don’t worry, they’ll stay outside the nightclub once we go in,” she said airily. “They’ll escort us back when we leave.”

“Then it’s going to be a long night for them,” I murmured as we stepped out of the elevator and walked across the carpeted lobby toward the nightclub doors.

Though a long line of clubbers waited patiently to enter the nightclub, Isabella and I were given immediate access thanks to two bouncers who unhooked thick barrier ropes and ushered us through.

Ethan’s men watched us go in, their arms crossed and their faces blank, and we giggled as we hurried into the club where the band was already pumping out music, the sultry, throaty-voiced female singer giving me Tina Turner vibes.

“Let’s get a drink!” Isabella shouted in my ear.

I nodded, my energy levels high. This was so what I needed. We ordered shots, Isabella immediately getting served. We tossed them back, then ordered another one each. It wasn’t until we’d had four that we sashayed onto the dancefloor, Isabella in her white fitted mini dress with its billowing, diaphanous sleeves and white, knee-high boots and me in my black bodysuit and silver high heels.

I could only imagine how contrasting we looked with my platinum blonde hair on black, and her inky-dark hair on white. I couldn’t help but notice the many men who stopped and stared. I had no doubt if they knew I was the wife of a don and Isabella the sister of the same man they’d be looking the other way.

Isabella looked at me and we both broke into more fits of laughter. Had she read my thoughts? Somehow I knew we were both on the same wave length.

Then she closed her eyes, wiggled her hips and put her arms above her head, dancing and swaying rhythmically to the next song. I joined her, listening to the music and dancing to its beat, my body light and my mood lighter.

The dancefloor filled rapidly, strobe lights highlighting one dancer and then another, fog hissing and shrouding us intermittently as one song after another kept us on the dancefloor.

A man approached Isabella, then leaned close and said something in her ear. She shrieked and threw her arms around his neck. He was obviously someone she knew well.

Was he the reason she wanted to come here?

I was so distracted by their interaction I didn’t notice Ethan behind me until his big hands landed on my hips and he drew my back to his front. I gasped, heat immediately flooding my core. His arousal pressing against me was enormous!

Then he bent his head so that he was close to my ear and growled, “I want to fuck you right here, right now.”

Shivers cascaded through me. No matter how much I told myself I hated my husband, my body couldn’t lie. After not have sex with him for so long I was primed and ready for him now.

His dark, knowing chuckle filled my ear, then he said, “I’ve got something for you.”

I tilted my head back to look up at him. “Really?” I asked, my voice breathless, though only someone with bionic hearing would hear that with the band’s volume.

He nodded. “Come with me.”

He took my hand and led me off the dancefloor, drawing me away from the rowdy noise levels to a quieter alcove featuring a cushioned bench seat and dim lighting. He ignored all that and pushed me against the nearest wall, then branded me with his lips as he kissed me long and deep…owning me.

I got lost in his dominance, my legs so weak I had to grasp his shoulders like they were a lifeline in a stormy sea. I closed my eyes, drowning in him, anyway.

He pulled back, leaving me breathing heavily while he withdrew a velvet, drawstring pouch from his jacket pocket. He loosened the cord at the top and retrieved a long silver chain inside with an intricately carved medallion on its end.

“How lovely,” I breathed. Aside from my wedding ring, this was my first gift from him. I turned around and lifted my ponytail off my neck as he draped the chain around my throat, then secured it together, the medallion nestling right in my cleavage.

I lifted the medallion and looked at its swirling, flower-like pattern design. I’d bet its every intricate curve was carefully handcrafted. I twisted in his arms and blinked as I looked up at him. “I love it.”

“I’m glad. As soon as I saw it I knew it was yours,” he said huskily. “You’re not just my lucky charm, you’re a beautiful flower opening up to sunlight for the first time.”

I loved his analogy, but I wasn’t about to admit it. He might be my sunshine but he would also be my eternal darkness. Though I didn’t need to remind myself of that on a daily basis, I didn’t ever want to forget about it, either. I released the pendant and it dropped back into my cleavage as I asked, “Does that flower come with thorns to draw blood?”

“Naturally,” he said, looking down at me with fire in his eyes. He reached out and cupped my face, holding me in place when he added, “You’re so fucking hot.” His grip tightened fractionally. “I’m going to teach you so much tonight.”

I squirmed, burning for him…for his sexual knowledge.

Then he led me back on the dancefloor, where Isabella was dancing with the man she appeared to know. That Ethan seemed to know him as well, and wasn’t bothered by him being with his sister, made me happy for her. Maybe she’d end up with someone other than who her father wanted her to be with?

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