THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance, Elena Monroe [have you read this book .txt] 📗

Letting go of the grip on the counter, I dropped my hand down while my fingertips grazed her exposed thigh in her provocative panties that made her look even more delicate. Even if it was wrinkled with regret, pent up frustration, and the tension between us.

Dragging my fingertips up her thigh, I watched her reserve crumble. This was how I was going to break her, the exact way she was trying to break me—with her body.

So why was the strategy working on me too?

My head sunk down, and I whispered against the shell of her ear, “You know you want to, Eve. Just tell me to fuck off.” My lips dragged against her ear the same way my fingers traced little stars on her exposed thighs while she shuddered.

It was taking everything in me to keep my dick at bay with her ass fitting perfectly against my crotch.

Unwinding herself between me and the bathroom counter, she faced me with glossy eyes when she said it and meant it. “Fuck you, Bowen... Are you happy now that Pretty Princess is gone? Fuck. You.”

It stung the exact way I wanted it to as I stared back at her, seeing only Eve, not one ounce of the facade. I had broken the last piece holding onto her with just one touch.

So why didn’t it feel good?

Fear is more powerful than love—than any other emotion.

I force fed her fear and got Eve in return.

It was a steep price to pay.

I still hadn’t pulled away when I forced myself to stand there and take the blow while she resented me for breaking her.

Leaning into my palms, the counter imprinting on me like some false second coming, I leaned far enough to let my lips plant a single kiss on her neck. A poor consolation prize, but it was all I had to give her, even though the friction of her ass against how much I was throbbing made it difficult to convince myself that any of me was still off limits.

“You’re so much more beautiful when you hate me because that’s what I deserve.” She gasped when her ass accidently pushed back into me and she could feel every hard inch. “Hate me forever and I might give in.”

I wanted this Eve, the one who wasn’t afraid to fuck, bleed, and fight if it was how she felt.

My hand was still dancing against her thigh when I tugged the end of the robe, exposing her chest while watching in the mirror. My lips found her neck while her mouth fell open.

“I’ll never hate you. How can I hate you when you were always my only lifeline? Not only here, but in that hell too, Bowen.” Her hands pushed against my chest as she twisted around still between me and the vanity. She pushed me hard enough to move my almost drunk ass that was distracted by how good her body felt against my cock.

Standing in front of my bed, she forced my eyes to follow her as the lingerie fell from her shoulders and the delicate panties slipped down her legs. Sitting ass naked on the edge of my bed, she crossed her legs. “Is this better for you? Easier to fuck the broken girl instead of the princess they tried to force me to be?”

Leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom, I watched her hand trace down her breasts with labored breathing. “I’d take broken over fake any day, Eve. I want you not the bullshit you were pretending to be.”

I stayed in place as she uncrossed her legs and laid back, continuing to tease me and her body with her fingertips. Her head shifted to the side to find my eyes right as those fingers made their way down to her pussy. “Doesn’t matter who did the breaking, huh? As long as I’m just as damaged as you are. Did you pay for the extra damage?”

She wasn’t wrong. Her filters were a blatant reminder that I didn’t deserve the perfect wife they taught her to be. It magnified how evil I am and how good she is.

Her being right didn’t stop my mind from shouting the name Elias and the way she toyed with being damaged made my mind already come up with ways to kill whoever hurt her.

I didn’t even know what to say… All I knew was that I had to bridge the goddamn gap and watch out for the cracks of her darkness that only made me love her more.

She was equally as broken and nothing made my dick harder.

Standing at the end of my bed, I let my hands grab the backs of her legs, pulling her down to me. “I’m taking all the credit for all your damage, Eve. I can take it. You want to take it out on me? Do it. Tell me to go fuck myself until you feel better.”

Sitting up, she wiggled out of my hands, crawling across my bed like I was supposed to chase her. She was comfortable in my bed all over again like when we were kids and it had me starting to unbutton my dress shirt. A small laugh came from her pouty lips. “That’s supposed to fix me? Tell you to go fuck yourself a few times like Hail Marys?”

“How am I supposed to know what will fix you when it’s a secret, Eve? You won’t be honest with me. Who is Elias?” Undoing my belt, I left my clothing undone while I kicked my shoes off.

Enough to play with her reserve in the same way she tortured mine.

She wanted me to give up. That wasn’t going to happen. We were going shot for shot and we could take it because of all our baggage.

“What