Page 46 of Sinner's Salvation

“Violet, I’m not in the mood.”

“And I’m not here to sense your moods and accommodate you.”

“Ah, right. Because all your life, everyone had to tiptoe around the precious porcelain princess. Well, that’s over.”

With my palms on the table, I move to stand up.

“I’ll count to three. If you don’t sit your ass down...” Before he can finish, I run from the room and straight upstairs. He chases me and slips his foot in the crack, blocking my attempt to close the door.

He barges in, and I take a step back.

He tsks, and a wild desire to bring him down ignites in me.

“Now that I have your attention.” With every word, he takes a step toward me. I might be dead by the time he reaches me with how hard my heart hammers. He backs me into the wall behind me, caging me in. I close my eyes, and all my other senses pick up. His alluring scent, his hypnotic nearness, the visceral reaction to him—it all overwhelms me.

Cameron caresses a strand of my hair, and my eyes shoot open. He knows no boundaries when it comes to violating my personal space. Yet, I have no desire to push him away.

Squinting his eyes at me, he cocks his head to the side.

“Is that your real color?”

“Yes.”

He pushes himself off me. I raise my hand and stop midway, dragging it back down.

“I expect you in my office. Now.”

“I don’t follow your orders.”

“Are you really ready to see what happens if you keep challenging me?”

“Whatever. Let’s get it over with. I have a game to play.”

My gaze trails down her slender body. She’s so easily breakable that everything in me wants to protect her. No woman has ever ignited this feeling in me. Now I have a wife. I don’t even remember ever having a girlfriend. Since I started having sex at fourteen, fucking was just to let off steam. I itch to fuck the aggression overpowering my sanity. Violet does things to me and shakes my composure like no one else.

The stiff silence and tension ping-pongs between us.

We reach my office. I pour myself a glass and point to the upholstered chair and small table in the corner next to the window.

My little freak remains where she is, rolling her eyes at me—those pale green eyes. I am desperate to see her real hair beneath that wig and the skin beneath her black clothes.

I snap out of my trance. Our eyes lock in a battle of stares. She wears her fears as if they have lives of their own, and, in her case, I know they do. I’m almost tempted to ask her what happened. What do I care? She’s a means to an end. Even so, I need to make this marriage work.

How am I going to turn her into a functional adult who can handle herself in a social setting?

“Rules.” A tremble rocks her, as if I boomed that word. Did she expect total control like at her parents’ place? The sooner she learns I’m the one in control, the better. I should start telling her what I expect of her when the full reality of today hits me.

I am married and now living with a woman. My wife.

Violet is a gamer, a successful one. I don’t know why that impresses me so much. I should have expected that of her. She’s living a virtual life to compensate for the fact that she has no real one. I smile, thinking of her anger when I hijacked her focus. That Noah guy shot daggers with his eyes at me. He likes her. I’m not even sorry I did it. Violet is the only thing that ignites a fleeting spark of something I can’t define in my life.

“Rules.” She snaps her fingers to get my attention, as if she’s in a rush.

That doesn’t sit well with me. What the fuck is happening here?

“Rules.”

“Are you having a stroke?”

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