Be a Doll(32)

My fingers tightened around hers while another bout of anger assaulted me upon being reminded of the words my father had used to describe my wife. “He was not right. You’re not a damn prostitute and you better stop calling yourself that,’’ I said through my teeth. I breathed out slowly and loudly to try and calm down when everything inside me was reeling from the surge of anger trapped inside of me. “My father tried to get a rise out of me and it has nothing to do with you, Lila.’’

“But—‘’

“Stop.’’ My voice rang harsh in the night. I locked eyes with my wife and my glare had the desired effect on her for once. She shut up. She also glared right back at me while trying to get her hand back, but I didn’t let go. Instead, and also because toying with her had become something I enjoyed greatly, something that distracted me from everything else, I entwined our fingers as if we were lovers holding hands. “Thank you for taking my defense.’’

“Hm…’’ She tugged on her hand, but I tightened my grip around her fingers. She frowned down at our hands clasped together. I followed her lead and looked down between us. My hand, bigger and with a couple of veins visible under my pale skin swallowed almost completely her own, so thin and delicate. The smoothness of her flesh only registered now. “You’re welcome.’’ She tugged again with more strength, but she failed to extricate herself from me.

“Give up already, Lila. I’m not going to let you go,’’ I said with a smirk as the fury poisoning me receded to only leave behind mild amusement at watching my wife. But amusement wasn’t the only thing I felt. No, upon realizing how she came to my aid with my father, how she defended me, I felt something in my chest I didn’t remember feeling in a very, very long time, if at all. “You’re mine.’’

She stopped tugging on her hand and stood taller in front of me, ignoring the fact that I towered over her without much of an effort, that I held the power in that relationship. Once again, she showed me her spirit, the fire inhabiting her. It burned so bright, so hot in the adversity. I couldn’t see her ever giving up in the face of life, even when dealt with the shittiest hand. Maybe that was what fascinated me the most about her. She was resilient.

“I’m my own person even if you gave me your last name, Mathis. What happened tonight won’t change a thing.’’

When my name left her delicious looking mouth a thrill ran through my veins. I took a step to get closer to her until only our hands clasped together stopped our bodies from touching. One look at the base of her neck told me that while she wanted to show an unaffected front, her pulse was going at breakneck speed. Her pupils started to get larger as her eyes briefly fell to my mouth. Color rose in her cheeks.

My wife was breathtaking.

I inhaled deeply, not caring to hide what I was doing as I took in her scent. Her perfume complemented her perfectly, only making her more heady than she naturally was.

“You’re mistaken, Lila. Everything started changing the moment we met.’’ I brought my free hand to her face and with the tip of my finger I traced her delicate cheekbone and then her chin, and up the little dip under her lower lip. She shivered and gasped. Once again, her eyes fell to my mouth.

I craved her touch. I longed for her mouth on mine. I could very well damn myself to sink into her and make her scream my name until she submitted herself to me and let me have her until I couldn’t stand anymore.

I wanted my wife with a desperation that took me by surprise and made me release her hand and take a step back. I felt my frown returning, pushing away the signs of wonder probably visible on my face.

I expected Lila to wrap her arms around herself, both in comfort and in a protective move, but she didn’t. Once again, I underestimated her and briefly forgot what kind of person she was. Instead, she straightened up further, jutted her chin upward and glared at me.

“Ready to go now?’’ she asked with a bite that would chill a lesser man, but it only made my dick harder than it already was.

I turned around and walked to the car, not once spying over my shoulder to make sure she was following. One, because I heard her heels on the ground. Two, because I needed a moment without her in my line of sight to gather back some of my composure.

Tonight had been as bad as I expected, but Lila was the silver lining.

She was also becoming harder and harder to resist.

It only meant one thing. I needed her out of my system even sooner than I thought.

As I unlocked the car and opened the passenger door for my wife, I vowed to myself to break her stupid resolve to not have sex with me before we passed the one week mark of our marriage.

***





LILA


It’s still foreign to listen to someone’s breathing next to me in the dark of the night. It’s the second night, the second night I was a married woman and the second night spent sharing a bed with my husband. It wasn’t surprising if I had a hard time falling asleep with someone I barely knew sleeping right next to me, but what had me unable to even close my eyes wasn’t just that. The events from a couple of hours ago still circled in my head, going round and round until my emotions spiraled uncontrollably.

The fact remained that it pained me how Mathis’ father’s behavior was so harsh toward his son and how in turn it hurt Sylvie and Megan. And the fact that it pained me how it hurt my husband even if he wouldn’t let it show or say it out loud had me ready to tear out my hair and shake some sense into me.