Chapter 12 #3
I wasn’t expecting to hear laughter and music. Anton was in the front sitting room, eating a bowl of stew. He nodded at me when I walked by.
I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen to observe. Mila sat cross legged on the island while she worked on her old laptop. A tall, athletic guy with blond hair stood at the stove, stirring something. Music played from a small speaker on top of the fridge. Both of them were laughing.
It struck me that they looked like a couple. They were around the same age, and they obviously had a bond that I had never had with my wife. She seemed casual, open and happy.
Something dark and ugly washed over me.
When she caught sight of me, her eyes widened, and she scrambled off the island. The guy turned off the music and they both looked at me with varying degrees of guilt.
Which only pissed me off more. I felt like a stranger in my own home.
My tone was dry. “Well, don’t let me interrupt.”
Neither of them spoke, but then Mila found her voice. “What are you doing here?”
I didn’t know what I had expected, but it wasn’t this. “I live here.”
Jordan cleared his throat. “I’m Jordan.”
He was giving me a nervous smile, like a young man meeting his date’s father for the first time.
I stared at him with a blank expression, trying to override the jealousy that was catching me off guard. As a compromise, I turned around without speaking and moved to my office.
I was aware that she followed me, but I didn’t stop.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I walked into my office and set the computer bag on my desk.
“You could have been nicer, you know. Jordan has been really nervous to meet you.” She sounded a little salty, and that was like fuel to the fire inside me.
Something was unleashed, and it felt good to set it loose. “Excuse me?”
“Jordan, the chef you hired, was making dinner for me, and we were having fun. And you came home unexpectedly for the first time in ages, and you scared everyone.”
“You don’t seem particularly scared.”
Unlike most people in my world, Mila wasn’t afraid of me. She didn’t have a problem challenging me or pushing me, and right now was no different. She stood in the middle of my office, with her hand on one hip and the most adorable annoyed look on her face.
That was the exact energy that drove me crazy.
Saucy, fearless women who challenged me were my kryptonite. It triggered something hot and dangerous that I usually kept locked down.
I knew I should shut this down, but instead I stepped directly in front of her. I could feel heat zap up my spine when she turned her face away from me in a small act of rebellion.
I gently slid my fingertips down the side of her jawbone and watched her swallow hard. Then I cupped the side of her face and tilted her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes.
A tense, charged energy crackled between us. Her open defiance fired my lust. She was watchful, unsure of what I would do. I brushed my thumb lightly over her rapid pulse.
Her breath was controlled but shallow as she stared back at me. I noticed that she had dressed up in a long flowing skirt and a thin blouse. Had she been trying to make a good impression at her meet and greet? The thought was oddly endearing.
“What have you been up to?”
“Nothing.” I didn’t expect her to tell me the truth, but it still stung when she didn’t. It made me want to force the issue.
“You sure about that?” I dropped my hand.
She stared back but remained silent.
Her uncertainty, which came from her innocence, should have acted like a cold shower, but instead it touched something even deeper and darker within me. Something that couldn’t be allowed to come out.
As if she could sense that I was struggling, she frowned, almost annoyed. “What do you want?”
What did I want? It’d been so long since anyone, including myself, had asked that question. I needed to sleep, eat and have a decent fuck. And the fact that she was fighting back, championing herself and not taking any nonsense, made me feel things I shouldn’t have been feeling for my wife.
My silence pushed her to keep talking. “Do you want to control my life? Know all my secrets? How is that fair when you have so many of your own?
She was getting more worked up by the second.
What did I want?
For a second, my mind went somewhere it shouldn’t have.
I imagined gently persuading her to lie back on the desk, specifically so I could remind her that I was in charge.
I’d slowly push her skirt up to her waist and push aside the scrap of fabric between her legs and watch as her breath became more rapid. When I spread her legs wide and…
“You okay?”
I blinked, coming back to reality.
She stood in front of me, watching me intently. “You zoned out.”
One dirty thought about my wife, and now my body was primed. My hard dick throbbed painfully against my jeans.
I needed to shut down this sexual energy between us.
Immediately. This kind of thing derailed even the best of plans.
There were many reasons why we needed to stay platonic, but the fact that I suddenly felt an almost insane urge to do otherwise was reason number one.
I wasn’t allowed to have needs or desires in this scenario. Nothing would mess this up faster.
“Stop challenging me,” I told her, knowing full well that would make her fight me more.
“I’m not.”
I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “You just did.”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “I’m not doing anything.”
I was deliberately egging her on. “I need you to get in line.”
Why does it feel so good to boss her around?
The fire that flashed in her eyes nearly undid me. “Bullshit.”
“I’m warning you, Mila,” I told her, knowing full well I was setting her up. I just couldn’t seem to stop myself.
Her frustration spilled over. “Or what? What are you going to do when I stand up for myself? What’s the problem?”
I grabbed her hand and yanked her toward me. Her eyes widened in stunned shock when I pushed the flat of her hand over the length of my bulging erection. “This is what happens when you challenge me. This is the problem.”
She gasped, but she didn’t pull her hand away. And I nearly went down on my knees when she curled her fingers around the length of me and slid her hand up and down. In response I pressed her hand harder against me and winced as her grip tightened through my pants.
She fought to hold on to my cock while I fought to pull her hand away.
“This can never happen,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.
“You started it,” she shot back, once I’d successfully removed her hand.
That little moment of weakness had backfired completely. I realized, in that moment, that I needed to put even more distance and time between me and my wife.
“This can never happen again.”
She swallowed hard and then turned and stalked out of the office.