Deception (Infidelity #3)

I shrugged. “Maybe I want to.”

His lips twitched and his eyes twinkled with traces of his menacing grin. “Then, princess, we may have to revisit some of your more recent likes. Because biting is a punishable offense.” His touch skirted my arms, before he tucked me back against his chest. “Thank you for sharing some of your shadows with me. By the way, I’d like to teach your stepfather what happens to men who hurt women and little girls.”

“I don’t want that. I want to forget it happened, but I can’t forget that my mother still lives with it.”

“Why? Why doesn’t she leave him?”

“To her, divorce is worse. What happens in the halls and shadows of Montague Manor goes unspoken. To the world, they’re a happy couple. It’s usually at night. I used to hide in my room as their voices carried. I never knew if I was going to be first or second. I’d stare at my door and pray that it wouldn’t open.

“Some children are afraid of the boogeyman. I didn’t wonder if he was a myth. I knew he lived down the hall.”

The words kept pouring out. “He travels. He always has. My father was killed in an accident while traveling. I was only three, but I remember praying that Alton would meet the same fate. I didn’t understand how it could happen to my father, a man who I really can’t remember, but it wouldn’t happen to a monster like Alton.”

Nox stiffened and turned, hovering above me, his arms on both sides of me, like a shield. “You don’t have to worry or pray for his demise. Not anymore. I told you before: I’m the only bad I want near you.”

Readjusting his weight, Nox reached for the buttons on my blouse and one by one began to undo them. “Princess, I’m feeling a little more like sweet and amazing. We’ll save the vibrator for another day.”

I didn’t argue. After my blouse was gone, Nox unbuttoned his shirt and eased it over his shoulders revealing his muscular chest. As my fingertips grazed his warm skin, he unlatched my bra. Skin to skin, our flesh united. His warmth pinned me to the mattress as his tone turned to velvet, coaxing and soothing, taking my mind from the past and keeping it in the present. Tenderly he filled me with more than hope for shadow-free tomorrows. In his arms I felt safe, as if my secrets were no longer burdens but links connecting and holding us together.

Because in his capable hands, we fit perfectly together with no room for shadows.





IT WASN’T MY normal gathering. Thirty thousand dollars a plate was steep, no matter how much money Demetri Enterprises was grossing. Nevertheless, I was here, dressed to kill in a custom tuxedo. One simply didn’t rent a tuxedo for such an affair.

The convention hall was filled with white lights and Christmas decorations, creating a chic and festive atmosphere. Maybe it was because this was my first Christmas as a divorced man. Maybe it was that Lennox would be staying with his mother for the holidays. No matter the reason, I’d accepted the invitation to this fundraiser. My gift to myself.

Merry fucking Christmas.

When I received the invitation, I decided that attending the fundraiser was my chance to show my success in my own backyard, prove that Demetri belonged among the other names in attendance.

I’d avoided most social gatherings, especially large ones, since my divorce. It wasn’t for lack of a companion. I could easily have someone on my arm. It was that I didn’t have the energy. My focus was the business. Angelina was better at the social graces. She could mesmerize a table of people with her stories and carry on a conversation with anyone about anything.

In hindsight, I realized it was probably because she was starved for adult conversation. Though Lennox was about to graduate high school and Silvia was somewhere in her early twenties, conversations with them, in my opinion, weren’t exactly stimulating. That could be why I avoided those too.

As I glanced at the growing crowd, I wondered with whom I would start. I may not hold a table captive with talk about the latest movie but I could talk business with the best of them. It was all I ever discussed anymore. Stocks and shares. The fluctuations of the market and the impending shitstorm as interest rates continued to fall.

Conversation and networking were why I hadn’t brought a companion to this event. I could talk shop with the other men, put a face with the Demetri name, and make my mark in a legitimate business climate away from the chains that bound me in Brooklyn.

I didn’t want, nor did I have the energy, to coddle a woman with small talk. I’d grown tired of doing that with Angelina, and I knew her. Indulging a relative stranger, even with the promise of sex afterward, was a nauseating proposition.

The tart champagne constricted the muscles in my throat as I sipped from the tall fluted glass. I’d arrived in time for the cocktail hour. The time before the meal. The time to introduce myself and assess the multitude of opportunities. I scanned the room seeing the usual suspects as well as others I’d never met.

I had a good idea who’d be present. The price tag alone made the guest list elite.

It was then that I saw her.

A vision across the room.

Though it had been years since I’d seen her in Savannah, I immediately recognized Adelaide Montague. Even in my subconscious I avoided the name Collins.

She was stunning, slender and petite, yet despite her small stature, in my eyes she was a glowing pinnacle surrounded by a sea of frivolity. The way she stood, holding herself as the regal lady she unquestionably was—well, it was mesmerizing. I tried to look away, tried to refocus on the crowd, on the business at hand, but I couldn’t. There was something about her presence that drew me closer. Overwhelming and enticing, she was beauty and class personified, and yet there was an aura of sadness around her that tore at my heart.

Could I be the cause?

I had to know.

Three strides or was it five? I didn’t care, because once they were complete, she was looking directly at me. Blue eyes filled with a sparkle that broke through the sadness. In the eyes of an angel was a ravishing hunger. She captivated me by her complexity before she uttered a word.

I wanted to know more. To know her thoughts and her dreams. To hear her sorrows and share in her joys. Somehow this beautiful lady before me was more complicated than any other woman I’d ever known. I longed to peel back her layers, knowing in my heart that her perfected exterior, as stunning as it was, paled in comparison to what lay beneath.

“Hello.” The greeting rolled off my tongue as I reached for her small, soft hand, bowed ever so slightly at the hip, and lifted her delicate fingers to my lips. The faintest scent of perfume graced the air as her pulse beneath my touch thumped in beat with her racing heart. It was floral—jasmine and lavender. The aroma entered my breath, filled my lungs, and marked my memory for eternity.

“I’m Oren, and you are?”

Our gazes held steady. The dance of unfed hunger that swayed and moved beneath the surface of her stare wouldn’t allow me to look away. I didn’t want to blink, to close my eyes, or lose a millisecond of her presence. I wanted the vision before me etched in my mind forever.

“Adelaide.”

Her voice sang to me like a siren calling to a sailor from the depths of the ocean.

With only one word, I knew that like the mythological creatures, this woman was dangerous. First, she was married. If I hadn’t known that already, it was glaringly obvious by the gigantic rock on her left hand. Second, I was confident that despite the success of Demetri Enterprises, she was out of my league. I was less than nothing to the likes of a Montague.

Could fate change perceptions?