Page 91 of Brutal Vows

“Say it again.”

“For fuck’s sake!”

“Indulge me.”

I sigh and close my eyes, too tired to fight. “You’re not him. I know you’re not. Honestly, I do.”

When he remains silent, I add softly, “You’re ten times the man he was. That doesn’t mean my feelings about this situation are illegitimate.”

He strokes his thumb along my jaw and murmurs, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Are you ever going to look at me again?”

When I crack open an eye, he smiles at me. Then he turns serious and businesslike.

“We need to talk.”

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

Adjusting my weight in his lap, he spreads his legs wider so my butt is resting on the seat and his thighs are open around my bottom. He pushes on the mass of white chiffon so it’s out of his way and slides his hand up my thigh, pulling me closer and digging his fingers into my bare flesh.

I say drily, “My, aren’t we handsy all of a sudden.”

“I’m only getting started. But that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“I’d like to get drunk first, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind. I need you lucid for this.”

“That sounds scary.”

“I want to fuck you as soon as we get to the hotel, so we need to get this conversation out of the way first.”

My face flushes with heat. I chew on the inside of my cheek as he stares at my mouth with undisguised longing.

His voice thick, he says, “I won’t force you, I want that to be clear. Just because you’re my wife doesn’t mean you can’t say no.”

Feeling as if I’ve just been run over by a truck, I take a deep breath and blow it out.

“Are you forgetting our pleasant little chat in the back room of the church where you demanded this fake marriage had to include sex or the whole thing was a no-go?”

“I remember that you agreed to it,” comes the hard reply.

“Because my niece was about to be shot by her father.”

“Okay, let’s get into that.” He pauses to smirk at me. “You’re full of shite.”

I say hotly, “Hewould’veshot her! And Juan Pablo, too!”

“Mmhmm. And there was no way you could’ve wrestled thegun from his hand or distracted him long enough to shoot him yourself, right? Because you’resomeek and incapable.”

The sarcasm in his tone makes me stare at him in outrage. “Are you suggesting Iwantedto marry you?”

“I’m suggesting that if you really didn’t, you’d have figured out how to get a handle on your idiot brother without strutting down the aisle in a wedding dress.”

I say through clenched teeth, “I. Didn’t. Strut. Iwalked.”