LOGINSophie's POVHe pressed one last soft kiss to my cl*t that made me jerk, and then he rose slowly to his feet, licking his lips, his eyes black with hunger and dark satisfaction."You taste even better when you're celebrating," he said.I laughed breathlessly, and then I reached down between us and wrapped my hand around his c*ck.He hissed through his teeth and dropped his forehead against mine. He was so hard in my hand, hot and heavy and throbbing, and I stroked him slowly from the base to the tip the way he had shown me in Italy, my thumb sliding over the slick head, and I watched his jaw clench and his breathing break apart."Sophie," he groaned. "Baby. F*ck. You're going to kill me.""You tortured me all through dinner," I said, stroking him again, slower. "It's only fair.""Is that right?" His hand closed over mine and squeezed, making me grip him harder, and his hips jerked into my fist. "You want to punish me?""Maybe a little."He la
Sophie's POVHe undressed without once taking his eyes off me. He shrugged off his jacket and dropped it on the floor. He unbuttoned his shirt slowly, one button at a time, and I watched that broad bronze chest come into view inch by inch, the dark ink over his heart, the hard ridges of muscle down his stomach, the line of dark hair that ran low and disappeared beneath his belt. He unbuckled the belt and pulled it free. Then he pushed his trousers and everything underneath down over his hips, and his c*ck sprang free, thick and long and so hard it curved up against his stomach, the tip already glistening.My mouth went dry. My p*ssy clenched around nothing.He stepped into the shower, and the glass door swung shut behind him, and for a second he just stood there in the falling water, looking down at me. The water ran over his dark hair and down his face and his chest and every hard line of his body."You're staring, little dove," he said softly."You told me
Sophie's POV"I was," I gasped. "I was thinking about this."His hand slid down from my back, slowly, over the curve of my hip, and then he gripped my ass through the thin silk and pulled me hard against him. I moaned into his mouth."There's nothing under this dress," he said, and it wasn't a question. His fingers squeezed again. "I felt it the moment I touched you at dinner. You came out with me tonight with nothing underneath, and you let me sit there with my hand on your thigh while you were bare and wet for me under that tablecloth.""I couldn't wear anything with this dress," I whispered."I know." He kissed the side of my neck, open-mouthed, and I felt his teeth graze my skin. "I'm not complaining. I'm telling you I've been thinking about it for two hours."The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open into the dark penthouse.He lifted me straight off my feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist without thinking, and the dress rode up around my hips, and he carried me through th
Sophie's POVI nearly dropped my glass.He just smiled, that slow private smile of his, and picked up his menu as if he hadn't just said the most devastating thing anyone had ever said to me. I sat there with my heart pounding and my face burning and absolutely no idea how to respond."You can't just say things like that," I finally managed."I just did.""Ares.""Order your food, little dove," he said, without looking up. "You're going to need your strength later."I glared at him over my menu, and he laughed, low and warm, and the sound went straight through me.Dinner was beautiful, and I barely tasted any of it. Somewhere between the first course and the second, he moved his chair around the small table so that he was sitting beside me instead of across from me, and his hand found my knee under the white tablecloth and stayed there. His thumb moved in slow circles against my skin. Every time the waiter came and went, his hand moved a little higher, until his fingers were resting o
Sophie's POVAres ended the call and set his phone face down on the coffee table, and for a long moment neither of us said anything.I was still sitting in his lap with my robe slipping off one shoulder and my lips still tingling from his kiss, and I couldn't stop staring at the dark screen of the phone, as if it might light up again and the lawyer might tell us he had made a mistake. Yesterday Derek had stood outside a hospital and screamed at me in front of strangers. Yesterday he had crushed those papers in his fist and sworn he would never let me go. And this morning he had picked up a pen and signed every page without a single word of protest.It didn't make sense, and in that family, things that didn't make sense had a way of hurting me later."You've gone quiet, little dove," Ares said softly. His hand moved slowly up and down my back. "Talk to me.""It's too easy," I said. "Derek doesn't give up on anything. He doesn't even give up an argument about the wine at dinner. Why wou
Derek's POVI remembered the mornings she went pale at breakfast and pressed her fingers against her temple when she thought nobody was looking. I remembered the afternoon she stood in front of me and asked me to come with her to the hospital for some test results, and I didn't even look up from my phone. Rosa's flight lands today. I never asked her what the tests were for. I never asked her anything.But Ares knew. Whatever it was, he knew, and I didn't. He was sitting beside her in hospital waiting rooms while I stood outside on the pavement like a stranger.I pulled out my phone and found the number of a man I had used twice before for problems that needed to be handled quietly. He answered on the fourth ring, half asleep."Mr. Callahan.""St. Mary's Hospital," I said. "The oncology department. My wife was there today with my uncle. I want to know who she saw, what tests she had, and why. I want everything.""Medical records are difficult, sir.""Then make them easy," I snapped. "I
Sophie’s POVBecause that is what I was. That is what she was saying. After two years of living in this house, cooking the meals and keeping the rooms and shrinking myself down to nothing, I was the help.I pressed my lips together very hard. I picked up my plate. I pushed my chair back carefully s
Sophie’s POVThe force of it snapped my head to the side and knocked me completely off balance. My back hit the kitchen cabinet and then my legs gave way and I went down to the floor. The impact jarred through my whole body and the headache that had been sitting quietly behind my eyes exploded into
Sophie’s POVI stood there in the pouring rain without an umbrella, soaking wet within seconds, and I thought about everything that had happened today from the moment I woke up to this exact moment and I almost laughed. Almost. The sound that came out wasn't quite a laugh and wasn't quite a cry. It
Sophie’s POVI walked down the corridor and I already knew something was wrong before he opened his mouth. He came in carrying my file and set it on the desk carefully, like he was buying himself extra seconds. He sat down and folded his hands."How are you feeling Mrs. Callahan? The headaches. Hav







