Damien leaned into my ear and whistled quietly. “Damn. I think I get it now.”
My eyes never moved from her face, never moved from her outstanding beauty. She was divine, commanding the envy of every single person in that room. The young men wanted to be her lover. The women wanted to look like her. Everyone wanted something…because she was so magnetic.
And now she was mine.
When her mother arrived, she placed Sofia’s hand in mine.
I took an involuntary breath as the static moved through my veins. My fingers closed around hers because I never wanted to let her go. Now that I had her, I wanted to bust my ass so she would never leave.
I wanted her to love me…somehow.
I lifted the small veil from her face and looked at her, stared at her in a paralyzed state. And to my joy, she smiled at me.
And it was fucking perfect.
I took her hands in mine.
Then married the woman I loved.
5
Sofia
Hades took my hand and guided me into the center of the room. Our song played overhead, and he wrapped his arm around my waist and held my hand as we danced back and forth, slowly rocking, looking at each other and forgetting everyone else in the room existed.
“It’s ironic. I said no, but I married you anyway.”
His eyes didn’t narrow in anger. They stayed neutral, that dreamy look in his eyes. “It’s not ironic. It happened exactly the way it was supposed to happen.” His hand gripped the fabric of my dress, and he pulled us tighter together, our foreheads touching.
The music continued to play, and we swayed together, everyone watching us while they drank champagne and dined. Maybe everyone thought we were in love. Maybe they knew it was just an arranged marriage.
Hades was handsome in his wedding suit, with a freshly shaven face and beautiful brown eyes. He kept staring at me like I was the sexiest thing in the world. He gripped me like he didn’t want anyone to steal me away from him. Despite our differences and the times he annoyed me, I knew he would be a good man to me. I knew he would be honest with me. That he would protect me. And he would give me beautiful children. Come on, look at him. If I had to be forced to marry someone…there were definitely worse options.
“What are you thinking about?” he whispered, his eyes trained on me the entire time.
“You.”
“And?”
“I’ve only been married to you for a few hours…and it’s not so bad.”
It was so warm in the ballroom that I went outside to feel the cool air. It was almost midnight, and most people had already left. Hades got tied up making small talk with the people he knew, probably talking about business…because he never stopped talking about business.
I let the air lick away my sweat, let the quietness of the night slow my racing heart. Another band had been added to my wedding finger, and I was officially a married woman. Sofia Lombardi…it had a nice ring to it.
I walked across the patio and stared at the spot where Hades and I had first spoken. A cigarette had been in my mouth, and I’d forced a bad girl attitude I couldn’t pull off. I’d laid eyes on Hades and wouldn’t let him go until I had a piece of him. Then we fucked right against the wall years later.
And now I’d married him.
This man had been haunting me for a long time; I didn’t realize it until now.
Hands wrapped around my waist and a hard chest pressed against my back. His familiar cologne enveloped me, smothered me with his smell. His arms squeezed my frame, reminding me I was his.
His face rested against my neck, and he held me close, no longer putting on a show because there were no witnesses. Now he grabbed me because he wanted to, pressed the firmness of his dick into my back so I would know what came next. “Let’s go home.”
He drove us to his place.
I mean, our place.
With one hand on the steering wheel and the other in his lap, he drove down the quiet streets and parked in the underground garage underneath his building.
My heart started to pump harder the closer we came to our destination. I’d slept with him before so there would be no surprises, but a part of me was still afraid of what it would mean. It would consummate our union. It would bond me to him, make me permanently his. I wouldn’t go home afterward like I usually did. That was my home…that was my bed.
I would never sleep with someone new again.
The engine died, and I continued to stare out the windshield, my enormous dress filling up all the free space in the car. My veil had been left behind, but I was certain my mother got it. When our children were grown, they would ask me about this night.