All Chapters of I Signed a Marriage Contract, Not a Love Triangle: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

“You’re home.”Irene stopped in the doorway and looked at her sister.Belle was sitting on the couch with one leg tucked under her, scrolling through her phone.Irene closed the door behind her.“How did you get in?”“You gave me a key. Remember?”And Irene wished she hadn’t. “For emergencies.”Belle looked around the room. “This could’ve been an emergency. But, okay, I was bored.”Irene stared at her.There were moments when she wondered what it must be like to be sixteen and genuinely believe boredom counted as a reason to enter someone else’s apartment without asking.She set her bag down. “What are you doing here?”“I wanted to see you.”“Really now.”Belle rolled her eyes. “I’m your sister.”Irene walked into the kitchen and checked Mr. Mustard’s tank first.Everything looked fine.Belle had not come to feed him. Irene had learned long ago that Mr. Mustard became invisible to the rest of the family unless he was somehow inconvenient.Belle got up from the couch. “You’ve been gone

Another night, Irene came back to the estate after work, tired enough that she barely remembered the drive.She went straight upstairs, changed out of her uniform, washed her face, and pulled on a robe over her sleep clothes. All she wanted was something to drink and maybe ten quiet minutes before bed.She opened her bedroom door.Ares was standing in the hallway.She looked behind him, then back at him. “What are you doing out here?”“Waiting for you.”She tightened the belt of the robe. “I can see that. Why?”Ares looked entirely comfortable with the situation. “Can a husband not wait for his wife?”There was something in the way he said wife that made her face warm immediately. And Irene hated how easy that had become.She changed the subject before he could comment on her pulse, her blood, her blush, or any of the other things he usually and casually commented on.She remembered something, and actually, this might work.“You seem like you’re in a good mood.”Ares smiled. I’m alway

Irene dropped a cup, and it bounced once behind the counter, rolled under the espresso machine, and somehow did not break.Blythe looked over.“You okay?”“I’m fine.”“You’ve been staring at the same order for ten seconds.”It wasn’t even noon yet, and Irene already felt like she’d worked a full shift. Somehow, she still felt like she needed to do more.She looked down and checked the next order. Large iced vanilla latte. Easy enough.“Long night,” she told Blythe, which was true. Technically.She just left out the part where a vampire had boxed her against a wall, asked permission to kiss her goodnight, then put his mouth on her neck until she made a sound she was still trying very hard not to remember.The worst part was that if Ares hadn’t stopped, Irene wasn’t sure she would have. That thought had followed her all morning. She had tried to drown it with caffeine, with work, with counting change, and even listening to Blythe complain about a customer who ordered an extra-hot drink

“Do vampires actually sleep?”Ares turned his head and looked at Irene.Irene had found him on the terrace just before dusk, standing at the railing while the sky over the estate turned darker by the minute. The storm had been on every weather report since morning. Heavy rain, strong winds, and possible power outages.Irene had spent two days at home trying not to think about the dream.It had not worked.Now she was back at the estate, standing beside one of the men who had been in it, and every time Ares looked at her for longer than necessary, her mind betrayed her.Now, she had come outside because she needed air. Instead, she had found Ares.“Of all the things you could ask me,” he said, “you chose to ask me about sleep.”Irene shrugged. “It’s been bothering me.”“That is a very human concern.”“Well, sleep is important to humans. And you’re always awake.”“Not always.”Irene leaned against the railing. “So you do sleep.”“Occasionally.”“How occasionally?”Ares gave her a faintl

Ares drew back just enough to look at her when Irene didn’t answer.Immediately, heat moved up her neck that felt stupidly obvious. She tried to pull her hand back on instinct. He didn’t let her. His grip stayed light but firm around her wrist.“Careful,” he murmured against her skin. “If you keep reacting like that, I’m going to assume you want me to be less polite.”Irene tried to collect herself.“I’m not—” she swallowed. “I’m just—” She stopped again because his tongue had dragged slowly along the length of her finger, and whatever she was about to say went blank.Ares’s mouth moved, and she felt the smile more than she saw it.“You were saying?”Irene glared at him. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”Her pulse was now arguing with every attempt she made to look unaffected.Then, slowly, Ares released her finger.Irene looked at his mouth. His eyes dropped to hers.He moved closer. His bare hand settled at her waist. She felt every finger through the thin fabric of her shirt. H