Handsome Devil

In this scene from Chapter 6, Dante is in Annabelle’s office. He told her that he accepted her offer, but he expects them to have sex once a month. 

The words rocked the room with the power of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Annabelle’s pulse shot to life at the thought of being in his strong arms again. What the hell? Why couldn’t she control her hormones around him? She hadn’t lain next to him in ten freaking years, for heaven’s sake.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. One night a month, with you, in my bed.” Dante stretched both arms across the back of the sofa.

“I’d rather be bitten by a cobra.”

“That can be arranged.”

Annabelle laughed, a jagged sound of disbelief. “Our marriage will be sexless. Unconsummated.”

“No one can live under those conditions. We should have sex at least once a month. I would prefer it more often, but…” He shrugged.

Annabelle decided to humor him. “And how would that work exactly? Will we schedule intercourse on specific days?”

“No.” He spoke calmly and with the nonchalance of a man discussing what he wanted to eat for dinner later. “Any night we choose.”

“Randomly? So you intend to dangle the sex night over my head like a cudgel?”

She wouldn’t know when or how he’d strike, but he could whenever he was ready, and she’d be at his mercy. This was a damn nightmare. She let out a humorless cackle of disbelief. When he didn’t respond with even a stitch of amusement, her eyes widened.

“You’re serious.”

He stared at her with a stony expression. She was loath to be the first to speak, but she had to disabuse him of the notion that they would bump hips at any point during the 365 days they were married.

“Absolutely not.” Annabelle shot to her feet and stalked to her desk.

“What are you afraid of?” he asked quietly behind her.

When she swung to face him again, a faint smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. How she hated that goddamn smirk. She itched to slap it off his goddamn face. “You’re the last man on Earth I’d ever want to have sex with. Do you really want me to lie in bed with you, faking it?”

“You never faked it with me. Do you no longer enjoy sex? Did Alex and Reece and the others not satisfy you?” Dante asked with exaggerated concern.

She was shocked speechless for a moment. “You’ve done your homework.”

“I know all about your ex-boyfriends and lovers, and I’m convinced none of them satisfied you the way I did.”

Goodness, he was arrogant, and one hundred percent correct. Her toes curled with Dante, and she had no shame begging for his possession. She wished she could say her experience with other men had been the same.

“Unless you’re planning to force me—”

“Please, por favor, I am not an animal.”

“Then you’re being unreasonable.”

“Am I?” Rising slowly to his feet, Dante stood with his feet planted shoulder width apart. He tilted his head to the right. “You love sex as much, maybe more than I do. I still have the scars from you clawing my back.” He rolled his shoulders as if reliving the moments.

He was exaggerating, but nonetheless, her face heated. “That’s in the past.”

“I need an answer, Anna.”

She rubbed her sweaty palms together. “Why do you want to have sex with me? You could have any woman you want, and from what I’ve heard, you often do.” She hoped the jealousy she felt didn’t seep into her voice or her face.

“We both know sleeping with other people while we’re in this pretend marriage is risky. We cannot risk the truth getting out.”

He had a point, but it didn’t mean she wanted to have sex with him. Scratch that. She apparently did want to have sex with him, but she preferred not to.

Everything about Dante screamed sex appeal. Midnight-black hair, angular face with high cheekbones and a solid, square jaw. He could charm the panties off a schoolmarm with his wicked, dimpled smile and the deep timbre of his accented voice.

“We are not having sex.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes!” Annabelle snapped.

“You’ll change your mind,” he said with infuriating confidence.

“You’re wrong.”

“I’m never wrong.”

She shot him her darkest scowl.

Her nerves were already frayed from this conversation. No way could she handle Dante touching and caressing her body. For the sake of self-preservation, she needed to keep distance between them. She had made too many mistakes when she was younger and fell in love too fast.

“All right. We’ll take regularly scheduled sex off the table, hmmm? But you will want to have sex too. You said yourself you’ll need someone to scratch your itch. When the day comes, I will be that someone. Your husband. No one else.” He moved closer and his eyes bored into hers. “While we are married, our bodies belong to each other. I will not touch another woman, and you will not touch another man. You came to me with this proposition, and I will not budge on this stipulation. You might pretend you cannot imagine being in my arms again, but I look forward to having you in mine.” His lustful gaze traveled the length of her body, clearly stripping her bare in his mind.

“I’m surprised you want me,” she whispered.

“You should not be surprised. We always had chemistry, even during the last days of our marriage when we couldn’t stand being in the same room together because of your lies.”

“I didn’t lie to you.”

“No, you simply pretended to care about me and then ran off while I was working. Sneaking out of the apartment with all your possessions as if you were escaping from a monster.” He said the last words through clenched teeth.

“I had to leave that way.”

“Why?”

“Because I—because I didn’t want you to try to convince me to stay. We weren’t happy, and a clean break was best.”

“You weren’t happy. I thought I was working hard, providing for my wife, preparing a future for us together.” Anger vibrated off him as he snarled the words.

“Is that what this is about? You want to have sex as some kind of revenge for leaving?”

“Revenge is the last thing on my mind. I want that building, and I’m willing to play your little game to get it. We need each other.”

Annabelle swallowed. He was right, they did.

“As for your exes, if you want to maintain your friendships with them, fine, but make sure you don’t embarrass me. There should be no suggestion of rekindling your romance with any of them.”

“I could say the same to you about your legion of women.”

“Legion is an exaggeration, but I promise not to embarrass you.”

Dante tread closer and looked down into her face. “I’m a very patient man, Anna. I can wait until you come to me and beg me to pry your legs apart.”

He stroked her jaw with the tip of one long finger. She froze, breath halted as he mesmerized her with his silky voice.

“You’ll be waiting a very long time,” she whispered huskily. She pushed at the wall of his chest.

He stepped back and licked his bottom lip, his dark, brooding eyes assessing her from head to toe. Her chest tightened and the inside of her thighs ached for the slide of his wet tongue. Could he see how much he had rattled her?

“I look forward to that night,” Dante said, his voice raspy and low, holding her gaze for one long, charged moment. Finally, he started toward the door. “I will have my lawyer get in touch.”

He walked out of the office, leaving the alluring scent of his cologne lingering in the air.

After the door closed, Annabelle pushed out a breath and rubbed the back of her neck under her thick hair. What have I gotten myself into?

To her horror, she felt dampness between her thighs, and her nipples tingled. Oh no, had he seen?

She glanced down at her dress, but her nipples weren’t pressed against the fabric. Thank goodness they hadn’t betrayed her.

She had run from this years ago. Back then, with very little to his name, Dante somehow managed to exude power. He overwhelmed. Now, he was more powerful. More overwhelming.

She wished there was another way to get what she wanted, but she needed him. At least he needed her too. They were stuck together in a twisted bargain.

And she had been the one to initiate the deal with the devil.