Page 45 of Ashes

I was about to close the door when he halted in his steps and glanced at me over his shoulder. I watched him war with his next words.

He dipped his head and said, “Good night, Sienna.”

I gave him a small smile. “Good night, Jamal.”

I closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a soft sigh.

We’d only been married a few days and the man he was right now was completely different from the one who’d threatened to kill my family if I didn’t agree to marry him.

Maybe this is what Kai meant when he said to give him a chance.

After changing into a comfy set, I climbed into bed and pulled the soft duvet cover over my body, trying to fall asleep, but instead, I found myself staring at the ceiling, replaying what just happened on a loop in my head.

He’d taken care of me and well, I’d never been taken care of.

A deep ache settled in my chest, but I quickly shook myself out of it.

As the minutes went by, my earlier exhaustion settled back into my bones.

You were in pain. He had to help you. It doesn’t mean anything,my mind chimed in right before I dozed off.

CHAPTER 11

JAMAL

I flicked my lighter open,watching the small flame dance against the sensitive skin of my palm as I tried to burn the images of her branded in my brain. But it wasn’t working.

Nothing seemed to work.

Not even the thirty-minute cold shower I just took to calm the fire inside me.

She had been naked in my room. In my bathroom.

Under my touch.

Having to undress her had been pure torture, images of how I would have drawn pleasure out of her assaulting my mind with every brush of my fingertips against her skin.

They still did.

I stared at the ceiling, aiming curses at the universe for the situation it put me in. It took everything in me not tomemorize every inch of her, everything in me not to say ‘fuck it’ and claim her.

Especially when she stood up, water drops sluicing down her delectable body.

A need for her had scorched my veins, but I’d looked away before I did something we would both regret after.

I’d sodesperatelywantedto because she was irritatingly embedding herself under my skin, but I had to shake her away. Ineededto. She was a distraction I couldn’t afford.

No matter how much I would love to lose myself in her.

I rubbed a hand over my jaw, my aggravation at war with my blazing desire for her. I snapped the lid shut, my thumb mindlessly running over the engraving in the back.

A memory from the anniversary of my parents’ deaths crept in.

“Jamal?” Noah’s voice was getting closer.

I brought my knees closer to my chest, hoping he wouldn’t find me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, let alone him.

I knew I should be grateful for everything he’d done for me. I mean, he’d saved my life, but I was so angry at everything, I couldn’t see past it.