My Dark Romeo: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance(44)

“First, I suggest you use punctuation. That was one long-ass sentence.” Romeo blinked, as if Madison had spoken in another language. “Second, I wasn’t finished.”

“That so?”

Romeo spat his gum. It was the first time I’d seen him willingly part with the thing. “Consider this my first, last, and final warning. Each time you come close to my wife, I’ll break a different bone of yours. I’m thinking of starting with the femur, though subject to change.”

Madison shot up. A blush snaked up his neck. “You have some nerve. After all you’ve done to me and Dallas—”

Stealing Madison’s seat, Romeo flicked lint from the sleeve of his shirt. “Please. This past year, there hasn’t been one event we’ve both attended where you didn’t end the night inside a leggy blonde who charges by the hour.”

Madison’s jaw tightened. He moved it back and forth. “Dallas and I had an agreement.”

Though no such agreement existed, I didn’t flinch.

“Interesting.” Romeo swathed an arm over my shoulder, his knuckles caressing the side of my throat, making my flesh warm and tingly. “Tell me, Mrs. Costa, are we going to have the same arrangement? Am I allowed to take on mistresses and parade them around town like prized horses?”

I’d rather die than give him permission to screw anyone else. Only because I didn’t want him to have fun.

“No.” I scowled. “You don’t deserve a free pass.”

“Guess I’ll have to make do with you, then, wifey.” He returned his attention to Madison. “I’ll give you one thing, Licht. You didn’t exaggerate where her looks are concerned. She is ravishing.” Romeo twisted his face to me, dragging his hot lips across my jawline. “Who could’ve guessed she is as delicious as she is spirited? My wife tells me you’ve had your fill.”

I shuddered inside my designer wedding gown, both from anger and arousal. My eyelids dropped, and I swallowed hard.

“No.” Madison’s reply reeked of resentment and frustration. “I did not.”

“Ah. Now I remember.” Romeo snapped his fingers, an evil hollow laugh escaping his throat. “She saved herself for you, didn’t she? Lucky me.”

Madison watched as Romeo scraped his teeth along my jawline, making my nipples strain against my corset.

“You may leave, Licht.” Romeo used his free hand to wave him off. “I’ve put my point across.” He scooped my chin, inhaling my neck as he buried his face in the crook. If only I had the strength to stop him, but it felt too good. “Tell me, Shortbread, will I have to wreck whatever ruins are left of poor Madison Licht’s life to ensure he keeps his hands off my bride?”

“I’m fond of him.”

He grabbed the back of my neck, angling my body down, so I hovered in the air between the banister and the thorny rose bushes below.

The only thing keeping me from falling straight into the mouth of a merciless sea of spikes was his kindness, and we both knew he was hardly familiar with the word, let alone the notion.

Sucking in a breath, my eyes fluttered open. Romeo’s face hovered less than an inch away from mine.

Madison had retired back to the ballroom sometime after Romeo’s threat to put him in a wheelchair.

“Let me be clear on one thing, Dallas Costa. You belong to me now. Deed done, contingency lifted, deal fully paid. If I catch Madison laying a finger on you again, that finger will be broken. If he kisses you, I’ll cut off his lips. If he fucks you…” He didn’t have to finish the sentence. The sour taste of bile slammed into the back of my throat. Romeo flashed his teeth. “But I trust you’ll behave. Even your stupidity has its limits.”

“And you? I suppose you’re free to run around, cheating on me with Morgan left and right.”

“As long as you fulfill your duties as a wife…” His hold on me loosened. I could feel myself almost falling. I wanted badly to clutch his shirt, but I refused to show him my vulnerability. “You won’t have to worry about anyone else.”

Forcing my muscles to loosen, I sucked in a breath. I hovered an inch away from falling. He inclined me all the way down the banister, so most of my body dangled in the air.

Smiling through the pain, I spat into his face, “Worry? I’d deliver you straight to her door as a Christmas gift, given the chance.”

“How foolish can you be?” His face was up in mine, the question delivered with genuine curiosity. “Any girl with half a brain would fall to her knees trying to appease me.”

“I have an entire brain, and every single cell in it remembers how badly I hate you.”

“Madison doesn’t love you.” He stroked the edges of my jaw. “The only reason he gave you the time of the day today was because he wants you to conspire against me.”

“I know.” I smiled at him with a lethal dose of poison. “And I’m interested.”

I could feel it.

The moment his fingers itched to let me fall.

It was only by a miracle that he pulled both of us up from the banister, righting us on our feet. I panted hard. Cold dew adorned my forehead and arms.

Stumbling as far from him as I could, I made sure he never left my line of sight. I didn’t trust him. Romeo’s face had returned to its normal princely indifference.