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I stripped and stepped under the hot water, letting it swallow some of the tension. Once out of my bath, I found the outfit Vixen left for me waiting on the bed. It was a sort of cloth made of black elastic bands, wrapping around my body and framing the swell of my breasts. It left my nipples bare in the cold air. Thin bands dipped between my hips, parting just enough to expose my pussy. It had every detail crafted to restrain nothing and reveal everything.

I adjusted the straps and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting. Itdidn’t take long before the door creaked open.

A tall, broad man stepped inside, masked, his silhouette filling the room. His stride was slow, certain, and predatory. The air shifted around him the way it had last night. His presence only made my stomach drop.

Standing up, I moved a few steps toward him, bracing myself. “What are you doing here?” I snapped. “I asked for someone new. Get out. I don’t need your services tonight.”

He moved without hesitation, crossing the space in three steady steps. His hand came up to my throat in one firm motion, the pressure guiding me back against the wall.

“If you think I’m letting you hand my pussy to another man, you’re out of your damn mind, Venus. You’remine. And I’m going to fuck you so hard tonight you’ll learn exactly who you belong to,” he said, his voice menacing and full of hunger.

And just like that, my whole body felt it. My pussy clenched, and my insides went wet. I knew right then I would never resist this man.

Chapter Ten

KONFLICT KORVEN

Hurt people hurt people. I knew how true that was because I couldn’t stop myself from saying the most fucked up things every time I talked to her. It was like I was programmed to cut her, even when some part of me, deep inside, was begging to do the opposite.

Before slipping out of Vixen’s house in the morning, I paused in the doorway and watched Serenity sleeping. She was knocked out, breathing soft and deep after a night I knew she would never forget. She looked so damn peaceful—her face soft and body tangled in the sheets I’d ruined—and for a second I wanted nothing more than to crawl into that bed, pull her into my arms and hold her there until the sun lit up her face. I wanted to be the first thing she saw in the morning. But I couldn’t be. I didn’t have the right. I had to leave her, delicious and spent, after starving for her for so long.

When I got home, the first thing I did was use the solution Vixen had given me to scrub the makeup off all the tattoos I’d kept hidden so Serenity wouldn’t recognize me. Then I showered and attempted to crash in bed for a few minutes, but sleep was a joke. I was exhausted, every muscle sapped from everything I’d done to her, but I couldn’t chase Serenity out of my head enough to rest. I kept seeing her mouth, lips parted, eyes wild, screaming my name when she came all over my dick. Fuck, just the memory made me hard all over again, as if my body was begging for another taste. I’d buried my hunger for her for years, locked it down the whole time we’d been married by staying the fuck away from her. Now that I’d finally had her, it was an addiction I couldn’t escape. I wanted her every goddamn second.

That itch to have her in my arms again was what dragged me back to the Korven estate. The need to see her, just to look at her, overpowered everything else. I’d never felt so split in two. I needed to see her, like I needed to breathe.

But all those questions disappeared the second I saw her in the dining room. She looked radiant, alive in a way that made my heart pound so hard in my chest I had to grip the table to keep from reaching for her. The urge to pull her in and kiss her until we both forgot who we were, almost broke me. All I could think about was her lips, the way she’d dragged them down every inch of my body, wrapped them so tight around my dick, swallowing me down until I lost my mind. God, I wanted her so bad it hurt.

I was half a second away from blurting out the truth, from telling her I was the man who ruined her last night, made her come over and over until she passed out, but I bit it back. I matched her coldness, her distance, because after everything I’d done, I couldn’t just flip a switch and be gentle. I’d spent eleven months telling her she meant nothing, that I wanted her dead and was counting the days until her bloodline disappeared. That wasn’t something I could undo with a smile and a kiss.

So I kept my armor on, refusing to let a single ounce of softness or desire slip out, even as every cell in my body screamed to possess her. But when she mentioned going back to Vixen’s, something real and ugly snapped inside me. After everything I gave her last night, I thought she’d be done. What burned worse was hearing her talk about wanting to fuck other men, like what we had was nothing special. As if she could take my dick all night and then go hunting for the next. I wasthisclose to losing it, fists and jaw clenched so tightly I could barely breathe, but I forced myself to play it cool. Still, hell would freeze over before I let another man touch what belonged to me. Especially now that I knew exactly how divine she was, how she tasted, how her body was built for my hands and my mouth.

The rest of my day was nothing but chaos. I kept wondering if she was fucking with me, just trying to get under my skin, or if she was serious about letting another man inside her tonight. I couldn’t focus on shit, couldn’t work, just kept waiting for her next move. When my phone finally rang and her name lit up the screen, it was the first time in our whole marriage—hell, the first time since I’d known her—that my heart flipped in my chest and I lunged for the phone like a lovesick idiot. Even Krash shot me a look. And for what? The call was nothing but disappointment. She was furious after she found out I’d been to the casino. I gave her the same old venom, even though my heart was racing just from hearing her voice.

The tension never left me, not until Vixen called. Serenity was really trying to fuck me up. She’d actually requested a different escort, telling Vixen she didn’t want to see me again. I got dressed fast and stormed over to the house, because if there’s one thing this woman was still too delusional to get, it was that nobody was going to touch her but me. Not now, not ever.

Vixen prepared me quick—tattoos covered, green contacts in, black mask and voice modulator set.

“She’s in the shower. I set her up in one of the darker rooms with more toys since she wanted to push things further tonight. She said last night was nice, but she doesn’t want nice today.”

I chuckled, my eyes going dark. “She surprises me every day. I never knew she had this in her. If she wants dirty and hard, I’ll give her everything she’s begging for. And I don’t give a fuck what she thinks she wants tonight. My dick is the only one she’ll ever taste.”

I headed toward the room where my wife was waiting for me.

“If you need anything, come find me. There are basic cuffs and whips in there, but if you want something special, let me know,” Vixen said as I reached for the door.

I nodded again and stepped into the room. My eyes found Serenity right away. She was sprawled out in nothing but those tight bands wrapped around her body, every curve on display, every inch of skin begging for my hands and mouth. The sight of her, so open and waiting, made my chest tighten with anticipation. I barely had time to enjoy the view before she recognized me and her face twisted in shock.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped. “I asked for someone new. Get out. I don’t need your services tonight.”

I closed the space between us in three strides, my eyes never leaving hers. My hand wrapped around her throat, pressing her back against the wall.

“If you think I’m letting you hand my pussy to another man, you’re out of your damn mind, Venus. I’m going to fuck you so hard tonight you’ll understand exactly who you belong to.” My voice was a hungry whisper in her ear.

My eyes locked on her as my lips brushed over hers, slow at first, then softer, more tender. The touch was more desperate than I meant it to be. There was a sweetness in the kiss I hadn’t planned, a longing that felt like it’d been waiting forever to come out. Her lips met mine with the same wild ache, our breathsmixing, our bodies pressed so close nothing else existed between us. When we pulled apart just to breathe, her hands slid up to my chest and pushed me away, gently but determined.

“No… Knox, I don’t want to have only you. You don’t get it. If I keep you, I’ll get too attached and lose my chance to taste anyone else. I need more. I want to try every dick I can before… before I—”

She couldn’t finish the sentence. Her voice broke there, the words dying in her throat, chin bowed as if the truth was too heavy to say out loud.