Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Did we meet here on Heathens Hollow or Seattle?”
I pause from eating, observing the way he asks the question. He really doesn’t remember. “We met at the pier. I was a fishmonger. One of my many jobs that would pay me in cash so I could eat or pay whatever pressing bill was demanding to be paid. You were walking along the pier and we met. For some crazy reason, you and I seemed to form a connection. Regardless that I smelled of fish and poverty. You asked me to dinner, and then three months later we were married.” I rushed the story, but hopefully it’s all he’ll need to trigger his memory.
I take a drink of my wine and stare at the fireplace nearby. I don’t want to talk about my past, and even though Apollo and I seem closer than ever, I’m uncomfortable talking about our past as well. It’s almost as if a trip down memory lane will pop the perfect bubble we’ve been in.
“Tell me more,” he says, clearly not picking up on the fact this topic is like picking a scab. I don’t want to bleed when I feel like I’ve started to heal.
“Like what?”
“Did you know I was a Godwin when you met me?”
I chuckle. “Did I know I was having dinner with someone who owned the entire island of Heathens Hollow?” I laugh again. “No, or I wouldn’t have had dinner with you, no matter how hungry I was. I’d be too scared you’d ask for back rent we owed you. We were squatting on your land.” I smile, but it’s not exactly funny.
“What made you fall in love with me?”
I shrug. “I came from poverty, abuse, and neglect. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was dead—or at least that’s what he told my sister and me. So when you came along with all your money and promises, it felt like I had found my happily ever after. My fairytale I had hoped for was now a reality. But—”
“It wasn’t exactly a fairytale,” he finishes for me.
“Not at all. I had no idea what marrying you and becoming a Godwin would be like.” I see that he isn’t eating any longer, and I feel like I need to lighten the mood. I don’t want this dinner date to become a bashing session. He’s trying to make amends, and I need to allow him to be able to do so. I want him to do so. “But you still saved me from the Eastside, and I’ll forever be grateful.”
“Do you still want out of the marriage?” he asks.
I take a bite of meat so I have time to think about his question as I chew. He waits and watches me as I swallow. “I know it’s not an option. Your family never hid that fact from me. I know what I was marrying in to. I signed that contract with blood. So…no. I no longer want out of the marriage. A deal is a deal.”
“Is that how you see us? A deal?”
“How do you see us?” I counter, not wanting to really dive in and divulge all the conflicting emotions I’ve had since the accident, the betrayal, the punishment, and then what he did for my sister.
“You’re my wife. I’m your husband,” he begins. “Call it what you want, but I’m fucking obsessed with you. I can’t imagine ever letting you leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” I say softly, drinking my wine as I look over the table with hooded eyes. “I may like this obsession you speak of too much to leave.”
Apollo leans forward, his elbows resting on the table. In a low voice, he says, “I’m going to take you home, and I’m going to fuck you hard. I’m going to fuck you until you scream out my name. Not cry. Not moan. Scream.”
Chapter
Thirty-Three
Daphne
“That was the longest car ride home,” Apollo says as we both enter the kitchen. “Maybe I should have pulled the car over and fucked you in the back seat like two horny teenagers.”
The blush takes over my entire body without warning. I walk to the kitchen table and take a seat in order to try to regain my composure. This man now has a way of making me feel like a giddy little schoolgirl, and I hate it. But I don’t hate him. No, my feelings are the polar opposite of hate, but just as powerful.
Apollo smirks. “I like the way you embarrass so easily. Now that it’s just you and me, alone here, I’m noticing all the little things about you, and I’m finding I enjoy them all.”
I turn my head to look into Apollo’s smiling eyes. The soft wrinkles at the edges give his sexy charm a sense of maturity. He keeps my stare locked within his for what seems like an eternity. His gaze single-handedly melts my heart. I ooze from the inside out. He has a power over my emotions that I’m not used to allowing. His strength, his intoxicating dark demeanor, his aura just screams out, ‘Man.’