I grab the back of her neck and bend her forward. She spreads her legs even wider. I can see how wet she is, her pussy pink and glistening. Gods, it’s like she was built to tempt me. It doesn’t matter what I think of this woman. It doesn’t matter that she’s the enemy and I resent this handfasting binding us together
All that matters is that I need to get inside her right this fucking second or I might die.
I wrap a fist around my cock but manage to stop myself. “I don’t have a condom.”
“You’re cute when you’re trying to put your leash back on.” She laughs. “I told you already—I’ve been tested, and I have an IUD. You can do anything you want to me, Broderick Paine. No brakes. No consequences.” She presses against my hold so she can meet my gaze in the mirror. “That scares you shitless, doesn’t it? Nothing holding you to that honorable mask you wear. You can be just as feral as the rest of us.”
“Shut up.”
“Prove me wrong.”
Proving her wrong means crossing half a dozen lines I’ve drawn for myself. Lines I crossed on Lammas night. I’ve been avoiding her solely to resist doing what I’m doing right now. I meet Monroe’s gaze in the mirror, and the victorious expression on her pretty face feels like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head.
I’m playing right into her hands.
I tighten my grip ever so slightly, and she shivers. No matter what else is true, she’s as affected as I am by this thing between us. I can use that. I have to use that. “It’s a shame Shiloh didn’t make you come.” Saying Shiloh’s name nearly trips me up, but I force myself to continue. “Because I’m not going to, either.”
The shock on her face is nearly as good as sinking into her tight cunt would be. Or that’s what I tell myself as I release her and step back. “Put yourself back together.”
Monroe turns around and leans against the sink. She doesn’t seem bothered by her nakedness, but why would she be? She’s perfect; at least physically. It takes everything I have to keep my attention on her face as she slowly fixes her top and then pulls up her pants. She runs her fingers through her now-messy blond hair. “You’ve really fucked things up with Shiloh.”
I suspect she’s right, but I’ll never admit as much aloud. “Stay out of it.”
“No, I don’t think I will.” She fixes her hair. Her expression goes predatory. “After all, I’m your Bride. Your business is my business.”
“Monroe.”
“Yes, husband?” She must see me clenching my jaw hard enough to shatter teeth, because she grins. “Don’t worry, Broderick. I’ll get really up close and personal with Shiloh and save your friendship.”
“By save, you mean destroy.”
She shrugs a single shoulder. “It’s not my fault you can’t get out of your own way.”
“Leave her alone.”
She pulls the door open, forcing me to move back to avoid touching her. “Fine.”
I blink. “Fine?”
“Yes, fine.” Monroe stops and looks over her shoulder. “I’ll leave your precious best friend alone.”
My feet feel like they’ve grown roots. I was so braced for a fight, I’m not sure how to react to her easy capitulation. “Oh.” I clear my throat. “Good.”
“That’s not the thing you should be focusing on, husband.”
I don’t want to ask; I already know I won’t like the answer. “What should I be focusing on?” I follow her out of the bathroom, pausing to shut the door behind me. She doesn’t answer until we’re out on the street. Shiloh is nowhere in evidence, and I’d worry about her, but she’s more than capable of taking care of herself and getting back to the compound on her own. Monroe and I fall into step through the crowd.
She gives me a sweet smile. “The fact that Shiloh is not going to leave me alone.”
I shake my head. She’s baiting me. She must be. “She won’t touch you without some meddling on your part.” Shiloh’s too good, too focused. How could she be drawn to someone like Monroe, with venom in her very blood?
How could I be drawn to Monroe?
I shove the thought away. “It won’t happen.”
“Would you like to bet on it?”
Sheer rage has me saying, “Of course.”
“If I’m correct, and Shiloh comes to me without any manipulations on my part, then you’re mine for a week.”
I stop short. “What?”
Monroe stops, too. “A week, husband, where you stop pretending you’re a good man and do what you really want.” She steps closer. Though she doesn’t touch me, the phantom memory of her nails skating up my chest has me fighting back a shiver. “Where you take what you really want.”
I’d be a fool a thousand times over to make a bet with this woman. No matter what she promises, she will cheat, lie, and steal to win. That’s just the kind of person Monroe is; she fights dirty. I open my mouth to tell her to fuck off, but that’s not what comes out. “You have yourself a deal.”
Chapter 7
Shiloh
I’m so furious, I can barely see straight. The walk back to the compound takes half the time it should. The entire time, all I can focus on is how unbelievably over-bearing Broderick has become. He’s always been over-protective, but never once in the last seven years has he tried to steamroll me. Not about my ability to do my job. Not about my dating life.
Sure, there hasn’t been much of a dating life to speak of, but ultimately that changes nothing. The man was making decrees about me as if I’m a child to be controlled.
I am not a child.
I’m a fucking adult, and he can choke on his decrees for all I care.
I shove through the front doors of the main house so hard, they bounce off the wall. A small voice inside me warns that I need to give myself time to cool off before doing anything else, but for once in my life I’m too angry to listen. There’s no room for caution here, no space to be rational.
Gabriel Paine, the youngest of the Paine brothers, jumps in surprise at my entrance. “Shiloh?” He narrows his eyes. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” I barely sound like myself. My voice is so cold, I’m half surprised it doesn’t cloud the air in front of me. “Where is Cohen?” I could try approaching Maddox, but he’ll just tell me to deal with it on my own. For all that he’s the more approachable of the two, he’s the least likely to understand how fucked this situation is. I doubt Maddox has ever been in over his head even once in his life.
Not that Cohen has ever been in over his head, but he has six brothers so surely he can sympathize when one of them gets a stick up his ass and starts making commands that are none of his damn business.
“Upstairs.”
I don’t hesitate, pushing past him and starting up the stairs. It’s only when I reach the second floor, where all the private suites are, that I realize I might still be a little drunk and have lipstick smeared on my face and neck. It would be smart to slow down, to give myself time to gather my wits and figure out a game plan, but it’s as if I have too much momentum. I can’t stop, no matter how ill-advised this is.