Don’t You Dare Do That Again

Aurora Brooks POV

My eyes fell on a photo inside a wooden frame covered with glass. It was a woman with black eyes and short dark hair. Her hair was deep black, almost like night itself. Yet she was… beautiful in a quiet way.

"Who is this?"

He slowly sat up, barely opening his sleepy eyes. His voice came out rough.

"Who?"

I turned toward him coldly, then lifted the picture in front of his face. A provoking smile spread across my lips.

He spoke through clenched teeth.

"Damn it."

He stormed toward me with wild steps. For a moment, I truly thought I was in danger. He looked like a raging bull the moment he saw the picture. As if I had waved a red cloth in front of him.

"What is wrong with you? Are you going to kill me?"

I stepped back instinctively. The moment he reached me, he snatched the frame from my hand.

His neck straightened sharply, making him look almost like a human beast.

"You keep bringing out the worst in me."

I noticed the tremor in his hand as it gripped the frame. Then he shouted in my face, his teeth pressed together.

"What do you think you are doing, digging through my private things?"

He threw the picture against the wall. The glass shattered instantly.

My terrified eyes locked onto his burning ones.

"I did not mean to invade your privacy."

I had never seen him like this before. Only twice. That night… and now.

He grabbed my arm roughly. But his hand was shaking so badly that his grip could not fully hold me.

"Did I tell you to open that drawer? Did you ask my permission?"

Even my hair felt loose, like it was afraid with me. But I gathered my courage and pulled my arm away.

"Please do not shout at me."

His voice exploded in a deep roar that made my body tremble.

"I will shout at you however I want. I am the only one allowed to shout here because you are far too curious."

I pushed his chest, misery pouring across my face.

"I can shout too. Who do you think you are, raising your savage voice at me like that?"

My voice rose with fierce anger. I did not even notice my fists flying toward his chest, striking his heart again and again.

"No one has been born yet who can insult me in such a disgusting way. To hell with you, that picture, and whoever is in it."

He did not move.

He stood still with his eyes closed as pain spread across his body. When his hand pressed against his heart, his face tightened.

"Stop, Aurora."

I did not stop. I was hysterical.

It felt like I had found a punching bag where I could throw all my anger. All the rage I had buried for years.

"You bastard. Who do you think you are? Just because you are rich, you think you can crush me with your money?"

His mouth opened as he tried to breathe smoothly.

When he failed, he suddenly caught both of my wrists and slammed me against the wall. The force bent my spine painfully.

He leaned down to my mouth and sealed his trembling lips over mine.

I felt the way they shook against my own lips, like they were standing at the edge of death.

He pinned my arms above my head and plunged into a brutal kiss. He devoured my lips without mercy.

I could barely breathe. It felt like I was trying to inhale through the eye of a needle.

He stole every breath from my lungs as if he needed my air just to stay alive.

He broke the kiss when the air between us ran out.

His drunken eyes burned into my weakened gaze.

His voice dropped low.

"That is my wife."

I froze in shock at the way he said it while still lost in that wild heat.

Then he kissed me again as if he had said nothing.

He sucked my upper lip slowly. The sensation dragged half my awareness away.

He broke the kiss again when he noticed how weak my cheeks had become.

For a moment I wanted a little kindness, and somehow I found it inside that kiss.

"She is dead."

My eyes widened even more.

So he was a widower.

That meant his daughter and Ethan had lost their mother.

A wave of sadness rushed through me. But it faded the moment his lips returned gently to mine.

His chest rose and fell violently against my breasts.

He released my wrists, letting my arms wrap around his neck.

The height difference between us was huge, but it excited him.

He continued kissing me again and again. Endless kisses that drowned the frantic beating of my heart.

The wet sound of our mouths filled the air. Thick strands of saliva stretched between our lips when they parted.

He rested his forehead against mine.

His voice trembled.

"You almost gave me a heart attack. I had to stop you like that."

My breathing turned wild. My chest tightened as if I had committed a terrible sin.

And maybe I had.

Because he had not respected the memory of his wife.

He seemed careless with love. Like it meant nothing to him.

He stole my first kiss by force.

I almost wished he had slapped me instead.

My hand rose quickly. Tears burned in my eyes.

Then I slapped him hard across the face.

"Do not you dare do that again. This is the fifth time you have tried to get close to me. Next time I will not talk. You will regret it."

He touched the mark of my slap with a strange smile.

His black eyes looked like a crow's wings in the night.

"You are lucky you were born a woman. I will deal with you later."

He tilted his head toward the door and ordered arrogantly.

"Run."

I walked past him with a look full of disgust and left the room.

My breathing was tight. My chest felt like it was choking.

But I endured everything that had just happened.

For myself.