Chapter Four

I was told my husband had a very strong sexual appetite. They said it's a good thing that I didn't end up with a Billionaire who was twice my age or worse, my father's age.

As I was counting all the blessings that came with our marriage, I realized they meant nothing if I'm unable to keep my husband in my bed. I was as obligated to make our marriage work as much as him.

If he needed to mine his share of riches from the Rutherford family treasure, he was to remain in his father's goodwill. And if I wanted a financially secure life for myself and my ailing father, I needed to do my husband's bidding. So, if it was by spreading my legs for his taking then I would. Afterall, that's why his father had paid me and would keep paying for me if I just did my duty as Daniel Rutherford's wife.

The problem was- the anticipation of what was to come from my cold husband's side as romance was kind of wrecking my nerves. I was beyond nervous and my lips were quivering by the time my husband walked into the room.

It was much, much later into the night. l might've drifted off, so when he closed the door to our suite, I jolted up, looking at him groggily.

It was hard to dot the expression on his face due to the darkness inside the room. I liked it that way, not ready to show him my pale face. He had seen me vulnerable the entirety of the day, I didn't want to carry that to our marriage bed. I would like to give him all the power but not my vulnerabilities.

I stood beside the bed, my hip digging against the edge and watched him undress in silence.

The drink in his hand sloshed as he placed it roughly on the nightstand and moved across the room to switch on the lights inside the bathroom. I could finally see the cold expression on his face. He didn't look up at me as he got rid of his tuxedo angrily, all the way until he was standing in front of me in his boxer briefs, his back flexing with each of his movements.

Daniel turned around to face me with a predatory glint in his eyes. I went red at the sight of the sizable bulge in them and turned my back on him.

I didn't sense any movement from my husband, just the small sounds of him downing the drink he brought in. My heart galloped like a mad horse with the anticipation of his touch. When it didn't come for a long time, I guessed he was waiting for me to replicate his actions. So, I reached behind and tugged at the zipper of my dress with terribly trembling fingers. I was messing it up because the zip stuck and I couldn't pull it down.

"Stop!" My husband's deep voice paused my fingers instantly and with my hand on the zipper, I remained frozen on the spot.

He placed the tumbler back on the nightstand and brushed my fingers off my zipper. I fisted my hands on my sides as he tugged down the zip of my dress in a slow, smooth pull, all the way till my lower back. The room appeared colder than it was a moment ago as a shiver ran down my exposed back. I bit my lips hard when his knuckles brushed my skin lightly. I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to ease my panic.

"My father told me I was to marry the most beautiful woman the Rutherford family could possess as my wife."

He said that I was a possession, as if I was a thing, a decoration. I dug my teeth into my tongue to stop the come back hanging in my throat.

"At first I didn't take his words seriously." He stepped closer to my back and grabbed my waist. I swallowed a gasp and forced myself to look at the wall in front of me. I felt his tall frame crowding my back. He leaned down until his mouth was less than an inch from my neck. "But I guess, he wasn't wrong. He didn't pay a fortune for just being a virgin. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, just I wish you were not putting a price on this beauty. I think I would have grown to like you."

"You don't have to like me." My god Lily shut the fuck up.

"Then I guess, we don't have a problem." He grasped my shoulders and I closed my eyes. I stayed still, unmoving and quiet. I had to fight myself not to cry. My husband slid his hand to my collarbone, then down to the edge of my sleeveless dress.

And hell broke free. My lips quivered and tears betrayed me, dropping from my chin to his forearm. Daniel tensed against my body. Neither of us said a thing or moved.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked, his hand easing the vise grip on the bodice of my dress.

"No." I mumbled in a barely audible voice.

It wasn't enough.

"No to what, Lily?" He gritted out, a string of curses drew out of his lips, his breath hot on my ear. "Tell me what are you saying no to? Do you want me to stop or you don't want me to stop?"

That was it. He was giving me an out. My cold, heartless husband was giving me a choice. Once I desperately wanted to take it but I simply couldn't.

"I don't want you to stop," I replied, enunciating every syllable clearly and loud enough for him to hear.

"Your tears state otherwise," he added, turning me around to face him and pushing my chin up. His deep charcoal eyes scanned my face, glaring at my wet eyelashes.

"That's because it's my first time." I responded with all the calm I can infuse in my worlds.

"Yeah, of course it is." He said bitterly, letting my chin go.

I swallowed hard, my face turning a deep shade of red. My cheeks flushed with the humiliation that I put myself into. "They would know if we didn't... didn't..."

"If we didn't fuck." He completed my sentence with a heated glare. "Of course, they would. I'm sure my mother is sending someone to check the sheets in the morning or even worse check you."

I nodded. My mother-in-law had told me this piece of info way before our wedding, in a way preparing me for that exact moment.

His heavily lashed, stormy eyes searched mine for any signs of hesitation. I pushed the uncertainties just like I was trained to and showed him exactly what he needed from his newly wed wife. My cheeks were wet with silent tears but I gave him my confident smile. He dropped his hand that reached to wipe my salty trails, jerked back with a string of crude curses and then he drove his fist into the wall.

I gasped loudly, and my heart jumped inside my chest and I pressed my lips together. I stared at his tense back, his naked glory nothing short of pure perfection. He was facing the wall, shoulders heaving. He brushed his hair, giving me a flash of his bleeding knuckles. 

"Well, go ahead then. Get undressed, lay down on the bed and spread your legs." He said, the words cutting out of him angrily and something ugly growing underneath them. "Let's have our wedding night."