Page 8 of The Wrong Husband

I didn't have a very good excuse. I had an explanation. I got scared. She'd been a virgin and I'd taken her. Not only that, but I also loved that I was her first and the thought that plagued me was that I wanted to be her last.

What was wrong with me? I was not an old-fashioned alpha male. I was a mature and worldly man.

But I couldn’t help how my dick was hard again, just thinking about how I'd claimed Emilia's untouched pussy. How her eyes had gone wide with each orgasm. She made me feel like a fucking king and that terrified the life out of me.

Damian Archer, the CEO of the most ruthless art auctioneer in the business was afraid of his very recently virginal wife. I had trouble believing it and I was living it.

Compared to Bianca, Emilia was…well, different.

She wasn't vivacious. She was small and thin, curve-less. But when I touched her, I could feel she worked out. Those feminine arms were strong. I felt their strength when she held me while I pounded into her.

God, her cunt almost strangled my dick. It felt so fucking good. She was so damned responsive. I barely touched her tits, and she was wet. I had no choice but to taste her. And that's when I knew I was in trouble. But there was no way I'd stop. I wanted her. It was like a fever inside me.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

I didn't mind going down on women, but it wasn't a regular on my repertoire. But I couldn’t resist it with Em. My Emilia.

The last woman I'd made come with my mouth and hands was Bianca. A part of me felt I was cheating on her—and what a joke that was.

Bianca didn’t know that I knew about her affair with Matt Stanton. That was why there would be no reconciliation, ever. There was no world in which I'd forgive her for cheating on me.

Our relationship was tempestuous. We fought. Of course, we did. We were two passionate people with hot tempers. We argued. We fucked. And no matter how many times we broke up, we ended up back together. But not this time.

Anger had propelled me to go after the one woman I knew that Bianca disliked, the one that would hurt her the most to see me with. I had only thought of fucking Emilia. But then we were at that stupid chapel, and I thought this would be another way to show Bianca that I was off the fucking market.

I ran a hand through my hair, staring into my eyes in the mirror. I was married. What the fuck had I done? Fucking Em would have been one thing but marriage? And she'd given me an out when she started talking about an annulment—the fact that she mentioned it made me angry. What, she was too good for me? Is that what she thought?

But you don't want to be married to Plain Jane Invisible Emilia, Damian.

No, I didn't. She had just been a tool to hurt Bianca the way she'd hurt me. I hadn't thought about the consequences.

I had a meeting with Gideon right after reviewing the report from the private investigator I had hired. Recklessly, I asked Gideon, Bianca, and Emilia's father where his younger daughter was. He told me and I chased her down.

Finding her hadn't been difficult. I knew Vegas well. A few phone calls and I knew the exact hotel she was at; and a few more told me where she'd just run her credit card.

My phone buzzed and I grimaced. It was a message from Bianca: Baby, where are you? Don't do this, Damian. I miss you. I love you, damn you.

I loved her too. Loved her so fucking much. But she'd been sleeping with Stanton for four months when she'd been mine. The fact was that while she was texting me, proclaiming her love, she was still sleeping with him.

I understood why she was panicked. We usually broke up for a few days and got back together. This time we'd ended a month ago, and I hadn't picked up the phone once when she called. I hadn't texted her back. I had suspected an affair, which was why I'd stayed away and when my investigator confirmed it, well that had been the last nail on the proverbial coffin.

It would have been painful if she fucked Stanton after we broke up; but the fact that she'd been sleeping with him before, that was a deal breaker.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Yes?"

"Damian, ah…it's Emilia."

I sighed. Who the fuck else would it be but her?

"Yeah?"

"I'm leaving."

I should go out. I should say something. I married her, took her goddamn virginity. She bled. I'd had the sheets changed because I couldn't stand seeing the aftermath of the crime I'd committed. I married a woman because I wanted to hurt her sister. Anger drove me to this—that and cold manipulation. I knew how Emilia felt about me. Bianca had mentioned it. Maeve, Bianca's mother made fun of Emilia about it. Even Gideon, usually quite somber, had once snapped at Emilia in front of everyone, telling her to stop making eyes at her sister's man.

My mother who usually wouldn't allow any woman to be disrespected hadn’t been amused though, she'd asked Gideon to stop making his daughter uncomfortable. My parents co-chaired the Archer Galleries board. They were the power center of our family business and Gideon knew not to fuck with them. He'd made it sound like he'd been joking but we all knew he wasn't.