Chapter 11
11
T he rain lashed against the window of Aurelia’s room as she cinched the waist tighter around the short strapless dress Gita had been kind enough to leave on her bed. Gita told her it was a swimsuit cover-up from the guest supplies in the pool area, explaining its sheerness, but Aurelia didn’t care––it wouldn’t matter if it looked like a sexy negligee. She was going to bed, and anything was better than trying to sleep in that damn formal. The men’s shirts still weren’t an option since her wrists were still bound. The fact that she could do almost anything thanks to the length of rope between her wrists almost made her angrier as she yanked a brush through her long hair.
The storm outside mirrored the turbulence she felt within, though she couldn’t quite pin down its source. She threw the bush down and went back to pacing, like she’d been doing for the past three hours, replaying their last argument, telling herself she didn’t care where Michalis had gone or what he was doing.
Damn him for leaving her like this. It didn’t matter that the ropes were quite comfortable, made of a soft, silky mesh that she could almost forget were there. They didn’t hurt. They weren’t chafing. She was free to roam the estate, even outside, she’d discovered, which meant they were purely symbolic, and she didn’t like what she was beginning to suspect was the deeper message.
She was angry, yet the knot of unease in her chest refused to loosen. Michalis had been tense before he left, they all had, their faces grim, the talking and joking between the guards outside her door non-existent. Something was going on. Something dangerous. What if he got hurt? What if he didn’t come back? What if…
The door burst open with a force that made her jump, the handle slamming against the wall.
Michalis stood in the doorway, drenched from head to toe, his tailored shirt clinging to his body, rainwater dripping from the ends of his dark hair. His piercing blue eyes locked onto her, blazing with an intensity that rooted her to the spot. The walls seemed to close in around her, the air growing thick and heavy as his presence filled every corner of the room.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. Every line of his body screamed with pent-up emotion. Anger. Relief. Possessiveness. Something deeper, darker, that sent a shiver down her spine.
“Michalis—” she began, but the words died on her lips.
Before she could register what was happening, he crossed the room in three long strides and seized her face in his hands. His lips crashed against hers, his kiss fierce, demanding, consuming. There was no prelude, no gentleness—just raw, unrelenting need.
Aurelia gasped against his mouth, her hands instinctively coming up to push him away. But the moment her palms met the solid, rain-soaked plane of his chest, her resistance faltered. Heat shot through her like a live wire. She clung to his shirt instead, her fingers curling into the wet fabric as she gave in to the onslaught of his kiss.
Michalis growled low in his throat, his hands sliding down to her waist, pulling her flush against him. The cold dampness of his clothes seeped through her dress, but she barely noticed. His mouth moved over hers with a hunger that left her breathless, her pulse pounding in her ears.
He broke the kiss only to tilt her head back, his lips trailing down the column of her neck. The rough scrape of his stubble against her skin sent a shiver through her, and a small, traitorous moan escaped her lips.
The sound seemed to snap something in him. He pushed back against the hard wall. His weight pressed into her as he covered her body with his own. His hand found the hem of her dress, drawing it up with practiced ease.
Aurelia’s heart raced, her hands sliding up to his shoulders, caught between pulling him closer and pushing him away. “Michalis, wait?—”
His lips found hers again, silencing her protest. The kiss was slower this time, but no less potent. His hand slid beneath the open edges of her dress, now bunched above her hips, his touch leaving a trail of fire in its wake. She arched into him, her body responding despite the warning bells ringing in her mind.
“Stop,” she whispered against his lips, though her voice lacked conviction.
Michalis stilled; his breath ragged against her cheek. He lifted his head, his eyes locking onto hers. They were dark, stormy, filled with an emotion she couldn’t decipher.
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded, her voice trembling. “What happened?”
His jaw tightened, the vulnerability in his gaze replaced by a familiar wall of dominance. “You’re mine,” he said, his voice rough, edged with something dangerous. “No one is going to take you away from me.”
Aurelia’s chest tightened, confusion and anger battling with the raw chemistry between them. “What are you talking about? Who?—”
“Don’t lie to me,” he snapped, his grip on her waist tightening. “I can feel it every time you pull away. You’re still planning to run to him.”
She stared at him, her heart pounding. “You know how I feel, Michalis. Annulment may not be an option anymore, but you can’t force me to stay like this forever.”
His expression darkened, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “You’re not going anywhere, Aurelia. Not now, not ever.”
Her breath hitched, her emotions a tangled mess of defiance and desire. “You can’t control me, Michalis.”
He leaned closer, his lips brushing against her ear as he murmured, “Watch me.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs, the promise in his voice sending a thrill down her spine despite herself. She hated him for it—for the way he could reduce her to a trembling, breathless mess with just a touch, a word.
The tension between them crackled like the storm outside, and Aurelia knew they were standing on the edge of something they could never come back from.
Michalis gave her no chance to protest.
His lips were hot and slick against her skin, leaving a trail of moisture in their wake. She gasped, arching her back, her body betraying her.
His mouth trailed down her collarbone, his tongue flicking over the sensitive peak of her breasts. Aurelia moaned softly, her hands clenching his shoulders. He knew how to undo her, even when she didn’t want to be undone.
“Say it,” he growled, his voice dark and dangerous as he nipped at the swell of her breast through the sheer fabric. “Tell me you’re mine.”
The room spun around her, a firestorm of lust and anger colliding within her. “No,” she gasped through clenched teeth. “I won’t say it?—”
He bit down harder, sending a jolt of pleasure-pain straight to her core. “Say it.”
Aurelia writhed against him, both fighting and succumbing to the pleasure he inflicted on her. Her nails scored into his shoulders as she panted, fueling the fire between them.
With a growl, Michalis tore the dress, leaving her naked and vulnerable. His eyes raked over her body, hot and possessive. He slid two fingers inside her effortlessly, his thumb finding the most sensitive spot on her body without searching.
Aurelia screamed his name as waves of pleasure crashed over her but still clung to the shreds of resistance that remained.
“Who do you belong to?” he growled against her skin as he continued to plunder her senseless with his mouth and hands.
Her vision blurred, stars exploding behind her eyelids as she teetered on the edge of reason. Her defenses crumbled beneath his merciless onslaught as he plundered every inch of her body with single-minded determination. She was drowning in sensation—the feel of his wet clothes against her bare skin, his tormenting caresses sending shockwaves through every nerve ending until she could think of nothing else but him.
“Y-you,” she gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’m yours.”
Another jolt of pleasure coursed through her as he rewarded her words by sucking hard on her nipple, then biting it lightly. Aurelia arched off the wall, her nails digging into his back as she let out a strangled moan.
“Mine,” he growled against her skin, his fingers probing deeper, more insistent now. “Say it again.”
“Yours,” she gasped, her willpower shattering like the shards of control she’d desperately clung to earlier.
“Michalis, please—please.”
“Tell me you want this, agápe mou.”
“Yes…damn it, and I hate you for making me say it.”
A dark hunger ignited within him at her words. In a single, powerful movement, he lifted her up against the wall, her thighs gripping his waist, as he dropped his pants to the ground with a low snarl of impatience. He plunged into her with a force that left Aurelia breathless, filling her in ways she never thought possible.
He kept her pinned against the wall with his upper body, her nails digging deep into his flesh as he pounded into her relentlessly, each thrust pushing her closer to the edge. Waves of pleasure crashed over her like a storm, threatening to consume every inch of her until all that existed was the overwhelming heat between them. Their bodies moved together with primal urgency, marking each other with bruising kisses and savage bites as they surrendered themselves completely to the intoxicating rhythm of their shared desire.
“Say it again,” he panted in her ear, his voice thick with lust and determination. “Tell me you’re mine.”
“Yes,” Aurelia moaned, her sanity slipping away with each powerful thrust.
“That’s right. You’re mine,” he breathed, his voice a hoarse whisper in the heated room. “Beg for more.”
“Please. More.”
With her words, something inside Michalis snapped. He growled low in his throat before placing his hand at her throat, his hips pistoning even harder as he drove them both over the edge together.
Aurelia cried out his name as the world around her shattered into a million shards of blinding white light. He joined her in the abyss, emptying himself within her, marking her as his in the most primitive, all-consuming way possible.
As they both came down from their respective highs, Michalis slid to the floor, taking her with him. He untied her wrists as they lay tangled in an entwined mess of limbs, their breaths ragged and uneven.
Panting heavily, Michalis leaned his forehead against hers, his heart pounding in symphony with hers. “I’ll never let anyone take you away from me,” he vowed, his voice low and menacing.
The room was eerily quiet except for the rhythmic patter of rain against the window. Aurelia lay tangled with Michalis on the floor, her breathing still uneven, her body trembling with the aftershocks of what had just transpired. The storm outside was nothing compared to the chaos raging inside her.
Michalis shifted, his arms tightening around her as if he feared she might vanish. His lips brushed against her temple; an almost tender gesture that starkly contrasted the dominance he’d just displayed. “Come to my room,” he murmured, his voice low, rough. It wasn’t a question—it was an order.
Aurelia stiffened in his hold. “No,” she whispered, her voice wavering but resolute.
His jaw tightened. “You’re my wife. You belong in my bed.”
“I don’t belong anywhere,” she snapped, wriggling free of his embrace and standing, hastily pulling the torn dress around herself as best she could. Her hands trembled as she tucked the edges in, his gaze on her making her feel naked despite the thin barrier. “And this doesn’t change anything.”
“It changes everything,” Michalis countered, his voice hardening. He stood in one smooth motion, his towering presence filling the room. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t deny what just happened.”
Her chin lifted, defiance flickering in her eyes. “I’ll sleep in my own bed.”
The tension crackled between them like a live wire, but Michalis didn’t argue further. He jammed his legs back into his pants, pulled them over his hips but left them open, then stalked toward the door, his movements controlled, deliberate. “Have it your way,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet. “But we both know you wanted this as much as I did, and you’re going to want it again. You know where I’ll be.”
The door shut with a muted click, leaving Aurelia alone in the room. The air seemed heavier in his absence, the echoes of his words lingering like a dark promise.
She sank onto the edge of the bed, her legs shaky, her mind a whirlwind of emotions. What had she done? She pressed a hand to her lips, still swollen from his kisses, her body still aching with the memory of his touch.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to want him, to crave him, to give herself to him so completely. But the way he looked at her, the way he touched her—it unraveled her defenses, piece by fragile piece. And that terrified her.
Curling into the bed, she stared at the rain-slicked window, the storm outside mirroring the storm within. Sleep didn’t come easily that night, her thoughts tangled with questions she wasn’t ready to answer.