Chapter 8 Family Matters #3
Despite my desire to keep my face blank, I knew my eyes were screaming out my confusion at his words.
I wasn’t sure when feelings had entered the chat but he apparently felt as though I should’ve accommodated his while he trampled on mine.
Instead of giving him the argument he seemed to want I just smiled calmly and reached for logic instead of emotion.
“You should be relieved I would think.”
He worked his neck from left to right, a cracking sound I knew probably shouldn’t occur naturally, echoing in the silence before he answered.
“Why is that?”
“Because you won’t have to pay for it the way you did at the club. You told me then that I could use you. Is the same not true now?”
“That was for the night. And then I distinctly remember the tables turning.”
“But did they?”
“What do you mean did they? I remember every stroke of your body. The way you looked above me as I made you cum. Frankly, the images have haunted me for months and I’m waiting on you to be comfortable with part two of our arrangement.”
I seethed at the fact that he thought part two was even going to happen. “Then why do my words bother you?”
“They don’t. I’m simply saying you shouldn’t really tell someone they’re just a human fuck toy. It might rub them the wrong way.”
I walked over to him and patted him on the cheek. The fact that he didn’t even flinch gave me joy because he apparently underestimated me. “It’s okay to stay a sub, Ori, I won’t let anyone in on your little secret.”
“Round one was for you, round two will be for me.”
If I didn’t know before I had confirmation now.
He was irritated that he hadn’t gotten the chance to take control.
But I could almost tell it wasn’t that simple.
Not that I’d gone back on my word, because he’d thoroughly enjoyed all the ways I avoided him getting the upper hand.
I’d snuck out while he slept because I didn’t want to become attached.
If I were that eager to be around him sexually it would spill over to other things and I couldn’t have that.
But look at your arse now. That was a load of bollocks thinking you could escape this man. Fate fixed you right up, innit?
“Was it? Because I distinctly remember you doing everything in your power to show me how good getting fucked by you could be.”
He moved closer to me but I knew he wasn’t being threatening, at least not in a way that would do me physical harm. Not in a way that wouldn’t be pleasurable for both of us. When his eyes narrowed in on me I didn’t miss the lust in them compounded by the anxious tick in his jaw.
“You think me fucking you from below is somehow the extent of my prowess? As selective as I am about who I sleep with, do you really believe I’m an amateur? I followed your rules but one day those rules are going to go out the window, Asha.”
I damn near held my breath as he spoke remembering how we were together. I wasn’t going to let him think he’d gotten the best of me so I had to lean into my anger. “In your dreams.”
That awkward grin spread across his face but it had a distinctive wolfish aspect to it. “If you existed in that realm you would be too busy getting fucked to keep coming at me like you do. In my dreams, we both give and take and I had hoped it would be the same in real life.”
“Thinking with your dick?”
His eyes flickered over my face and then down my body appreciatively before he looked me back in the eyes.
“My fiancée is a beautiful woman. I’m not ashamed to be happy about that to the extent that something so trivial could bring me joy.
But I could never be accused of being ruled by my dick.
Thinking with it isn’t such a bad thing. It’s how we ended up here.”
“So, a terrible thing actually.” My voice was lower than I wanted it to be. Raspier. Husky with lust.
I need to get a hotel room.
“You can keep fighting this however you want. I told you that I’m not about to go around with you on this.”
“Because your word is final, right?”
He smirked again my submission pleasing him.
“In this situation, yes. You don’t know what you’re walking into and contrary to what you’re trying to tell yourself, you actually trust me.
I told you that no one has a say in us but us.
Don’t get so caught up in the past that you miss out on the gift of the present and hope for the future.
I can’t promise a lot, but I can promise to do my best. Can you say the same? ”
“What part of separate lives didn’t you understand?”
“What part of married didn’t you understand?” A challenge, one I refused to allow him to win.
“I was told that the agreement was for us to go about our lives how we have been. Yet here you are trying to be a part of it. That’s not how this is supposed to work but I’m not shocked you would try something like this.”
“Something like what?”
“Being controlling. Wanting everything to line up the way you feel it should. Having no care or concern for anyone outside of yourself.”
“That’s not what we agreed upon.”
I folded my arms over my chest defiantly. “Not by me.”
“Well, that’s just too damn bad isn’t it!” He looked at me frustrated, as though he felt this was going to be something easy and I was fucking up his plans.
Good.
“I’m not some simpering miss. I imagine—”
“I imagined we would work through things like adults.” The tone of his voice gave me pause because he sounded… frustrated. Wounded. Genuinely confused by my hesitation.
“What on earth gave you that idea when you won’t talk to me about any of this? Or about anything, if I’m being perfectly honest. You simply dictate.”
“Talk to you?”
“Yes! You know the thing you do when you use your mouth and allow your vocal cords to make sounds.” I used my fingers to open and close my hands simulating a conversation hoping it would break some of the tension.
It didn’t.
“Talk to you about what?”
“About what?! What is all this?” I waved my hand around the room before looking back at him.
“My things.”
It was like speaking to a brick wall.
“Right you’re happy to be here invading my personal space—”
“Ours.” The emphasis on ours grated my nerves to no end and I had no issue telling him so.
I wagged my finger not caring if he thought I was a harpy.
Maybe if I nagged him enough he would rethink doing all of this.
“No. See, that. That right there! That declaration of possession of something I hold dear is not going to fly. This is my sanctuary and having it colonized by you isn’t how this was supposed to play out at all. ”
“Colonized!” He seemed outraged at my characterization but that’s the only word that he would understand. Being from the islands I knew that word would be as offensive to him as his actions were to me.
“If you think you’re moving in here-”
“I don’t think, I know. I don’t have the type of lifestyle that allows the luxury of having the people that I care about be far away from me.
Thankfully, most of them are well-protected and well-guarded no matter where they are on this earth.
But you’ve made it into that very small number and there’s no better protection for you than me. This is your consequence.”
“Consequence? It most certainly feels like one.”
“It can’t all be bad.”
“It doesn’t feel good.”
“What worries you? Hmm? That the shell that you put up for everyone is going to crack again? That the soft underbelly that I saw when you came apart as you creamed all over my dick is going to continue to show itself when I’m around?
” His finger rose to touch the side of my face before it ran slowly down the curve of my cheek.
The move was intimate and it annoyed me how easily he disarmed me.
“There is nothing soft about me.” My voice was hushed and I attempted to keep the anger that I’d displayed earlier to the forefront.
I was annoyed but being this close to him had my mind going to places it shouldn’t be.
The effect he had on my body was instant and desire always broke through despite how angry I was.
“I’d have to vehemently disagree with that, Ka’iulani. I know from experience there’s plenty about you that’s soft. Supple. Inviting. Damn near intoxicating and most definitely addictive.” His hand lifted my chin delicately as he brought his face closer to mine.
Why did I tell him to speak? I thought he’d left that persona in the past but it was clear that he loved to tease it out when he was around me. I knew manipulation when I saw it and this most definitely felt like it. Damn him and damn me for not keeping my mouth shut.
“Is that what it is?”
The awkward smile was back on his face as he released my chin my body instantly feeling his loss.
“Do I need to remind you I’m more than happy to fulfill my husbandly duties to see that side of you? To get you to yield?”
“Yield? I don’t know the meaning of the word.”
“Shame. University would probably want its degrees back if the public found out.”
“You’re quick. I’m quicker. Your wit is not going to save you. Don’t underestimate me, Agent. Nakoa.” Space. We needed space to navigate all of this.
“On the contrary, dear wife, your wit is one of the things I admire most about you. Not as a means to dominate you or see if I can outsmart you. This banter between us couldn’t be called witty if you were an idiot. A beautiful face with nothing behind it doesn’t tempt me.”
“And I do?” From the way his nostrils flared, I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
“You, my dear, are temptation in its purest and deadliest form. Someone who can draw me out of the place I’ve been residing for years and push me to be something I’m not sure I’m ready for.
And right now, with everything on the line, I can’t do that.
So as much as you want to…hell, I don’t even know what you want to do I can’t.
I promised you a partnership but that is something that has to come later.
There are too many balls in the air and—”