“What are you playing at? Are you going to seduce me in order to ask for something later? To get out so you can meet the fucker, maybe?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I never cheated on you, Adrian. I swear.”

He grabs me by a fistful of my hair and I wince as he tugs backward. “So this is your new game? Denial?”

I hold onto his wrist, not to remove it, but to touch him, to establish a connection with him so that whatever vulnerable thread exists between us doesn’t break.

“How about I treat you the same, Lia? Should I bring in a mistress, too? I’ll tie you to the bed and fuck her right in front of you while you watch. Is that what you want?”

“No!” Tears fill my eyes and a green-eyed monster rears his head from the depths of my soul.

I have no doubt he’d do it just to teach me a lesson, to hurt me as much as I hurt him, and I don’t think I would ever survive the sight of Adrian touching another woman.

It’d break me to the point of no return.

“Why not? You sent your lookalike in my direction, so isn’t that what you expected to happen? For me to fuck her?”

Bitter tears slide down my cheeks and I clamp my lips together to prevent them from trembling.

“Answer me, Lia.”

I choke on a sob before I speak. “I wasn’t thinking straight back then.”

“You weren’t thinking, but you obviously thought hard enough about having her take your place. Did you imagine her in my bed? Did you like that image?”

“No…no! No!” I dig my fingers into his skin. “Don’t torture me like this.”

“You mean, like the way you’ve been torturing me for months?”

“I didn’t cheat on you and I’d never be able to. Not when you own every part of me.”

“I own every part of you?” His eyes darken to a frightening hue.

I nod, though it isn’t very noticeable with the hold he has on my hair.

“Let’s prove it then.”

He hauls me to the bed, kicking away the carefully situated pillows I put there.

I don’t protest as he forces me to my back on the mattress. Instead, a spark of twisted excitement rushes through me like never before.

Adrian’s hand bunches the robe and he rips it off me. I haven’t been able to change into anything sexy or get fixed up.

My nakedness is completely visible to him and I revel in his darkened gaze, in the promise there.

I have that effect on him. It’s not another woman who breaks his frigid façade and yanks out the man inside, it’s me.

Only me.

My husband straddles me and grabs both of my wrists in one hand, then slams them over my head, using the sash of my robe to tie them to the bedpost. My heart shivers with each of his sure, methodical movements.

He’s melting me piece by piece, and there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to resist him.

Not that I want to.

If anything, I need this side of him. I need the unrestrained pleasure and the unstoppable passion.

I need him to not hold back.

Usually, he proceeds to punish or fuck me when my hands are tied.

Not this time.

Adrian gets off me, reaches for the nightstand, and retrieves some pieces of rope. Before I can decipher what he’s doing, he heads to the foot of the bed and ties one of my ankles to the post, then does the same to the other so that I’m spread-eagle for his view.

A foreign sense of arousal shoots through me at the position. I’m completely naked, tied, and the only one who’s able to save me from this is the same one who put me in it.

My husband stands across from me, in direct view of my pussy, as he unbuttons his shirt. The hard ridges of his chest are revealed with each button until the material is hanging open. He rips it off his body and throws it beside him.

I get an unrestricted view of his naked chest and the full sleeve tattoos that always get my nerves in a bunch.

His abdomen muscles ripple and I want to clench my thighs together, but I’m unable to due to my position.

Adrian removes his belt, but not his pants, then loops the leather around his strong veiny hand as he walks to the side of the bed.

Or more like, he stalks like a giant cat with his sights set on a prey to devour. A thousand shivers explode on my skin and the torturous anticipation makes my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.

“What are you going to do to me?”

His ash eyes feast on my nakedness as he speaks with veiled nonchalance. “What do you think I’ll do?”

“Punish me?”

“Cheaters deserve more than mere punishments.”

“I’m not a cheater.”

His belt whooshes in the air before it comes down on my hardening nipples. I shriek, the sound echoing in the silence as a searing pain explodes in my sensitive peaks.

Holy. Shit.

“With every lie out of your mouth, I’ll whip you.”

“I am not a cheater.”

He slaps my breasts again and I wail, but this time the sting doesn’t stay at the surface level, instead getting deeper and darker to reach the sick, twisted part of me that only Adrian can touch.

A sob wrenches from my throat and I choke on it. “I’m not…ahhh—”

My voice is cut off when he whips me again. I buck off the bed, but the ropes bring me right back down, preventing my escape. My nipples are blood red and pink welts spread across my breasts.

Adrian glides the tip of his belt over a tight bud and I arch my back. A jolt of pleasure rips through me and settles at the base of my stomach. Equal amount of pleasure and pain rush through me all at once. I’m delirious, sobbing and begging for more.

“Did he touch these nipples, Lia?”

“No…I swear…”

“Who do these nipples belong to?”

“You,” I let out a strangled murmur.

His belt comes down on them again. “I didn’t hear that.”

“You!” I cry out.

“Correct.” His belt glides down the hollow of my stomach and I brace myself, sucking in a breath and sniffling through my tears that leave hot streaks on my cheeks and neck.

Adrian has the ability to turn me into a mess with a mere touch. It’s insane how much he turns my body against me, then makes me enjoy his depravity.

Crave it, even.

“When did you start your affair, Lia?”

“I didn’t…there was no affair…ahhh…” My voice ends on a cry when his belt meets my stomach.

“Let’s try again. When?”

“I never…never…”

Slap!

I arch off the bed, my eyes filled with tears until my vision is blurry, but I meet his gaze head-on. “You can whip me to death, but I won’t tell a lie…I never looked at any man but you.”

“Never looked at any man but me?” Slap! “Then who was the man you were kissing, Lia?” Slap! “Who the fuck was he?”

I’m wailing and bawling by the time he finishes. Any sound I make is broken by the force of my sobs. My thighs are shaking, my nipples are throbbing, and a bizarre state of painful arousal takes hold of my entire being.

“Adrian…please…stop…”

“You’re the only one who can make this stop by giving me what I want. Stop fucking protecting him.”