Page 45 of Corrupted Union

Ouch!

I smirked.

“You’ve got that look on your face again,” Keir murmured. “It’s like someone’s told a joke, but you’re the only one who knows the punchline.”

My eyes rounded. “I can’t help it. She’s pretty vocal.”

He lifted a single brow.

“Yeah, I suppose I can be too, when I want to be.”

He took a giant bite of his breadstick and stared pointedly at me.

“Well, anyone compared to you is a Chatty Cathy.”

He slowly shook his head as he finished chewing. “I swear I’ve said more to you in the past week than I’ve spoken in the past year.”

My cheeks warmed. “I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said softly.

He took another bite, his eyes darkening in a way that shouldn’t be legal.

We didn’t talk much the rest of dinner, and by the time we’d cleaned everything up, a wave of exhaustion threatened to drag me under.

“Think I’m ready to call it a night,” I told Keir.

“Same, I didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Guess you had a lot going on.” I stood and clicked off a nearby lamp.

“That, and I didn’t want to sleep while you were drugged. I finally decided in the early hours that you were in the clear.”

So that was why we’d been in the same bed. It hadn’t been a statement about our new marital status. Disappointment made each of my steps that much heavier.

“I can stay in one of the other rooms tonight,” I offered quietly. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted a little space to process things as well.

His hand snagged my hair gently and pulled me back around to face him. The intensity in his eyes caught me off guard, sucking the air from my lungs.

“My bed is your bed. I wake alone, and I willnotbe happy. Understood?”

Holy hell, why did I feel like saying yes, sir? It was there on the tip of my tongue, but I kept it at bay, nodding instead.

He made a masculine rumble deep in his chest, then swatted my ass. “Good, now keep moving.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t so tired.

I’d watchedRowan sleep the night before long enough that I should have had my fill. But every time I learned more about her, it changed the way I saw her. Yesterday, she’d unloaded a mountain of information. We’d both been exhausted after an eventful twenty-four hours and passed out early. I woke the following morning just as the sun warmed the horizon, providing me with the opportunity to watch my new wife sleep yet again.

Without makeup, she had an innocence about her. A smattering of freckles and a softness. Knowing what she’d gone through, however, made me see her in a different light. That little girl had to grow up so much faster than she should have. It was no wonder she wasn’t like other women her age. She’d had to mold herself early on for survival, stealing away her childhood.

I’d seen and done some heavy shit in my life, but my childhood had been happy. I’d never had to face personal loss until well into adulthood. I couldn’t even imagine what it had been like for her.

Alexander was a decent man, and he probably coped the best way he could at the time, but it still pissed me off that Rowan’s pain hadn’t been addressed. I got the sense she was the glue that held them together—that was why her father’s career and being Little Miss Perfect had been so damn important to her.

Her father never should have allowed her to fill that role. And letting her date Wellington like he was some sort of catch? When it came to his daughter, Alexander had his head up his ass.

My sudden irritation coaxed me up out of bed. I needed to move, to get things done. My dad would be up already. He’d always been an early riser, so it was time to check in with the family.

I threw on some clothes and went across the house to the breakfast nook, hoping my voice didn’t carry. Rowan needed all the sleep she could get.

---