Page 75 of Surrendering to the Obsession

Mia stiffened slightly at his words.

She lowered her gaze. “Mr. Graves, don’t ask me for that right now.”

Alexander’s fingers tightened around her neck—not harsh, but firm enough that she felt his desperation. “Just once,” he murmured, voice rough and pleading. “Just once… please.”

Mia’s lips parted, but no sound came out. She stared at him, face flushed, breath trembling, heart thudding so loud she wondered if he could hear it.

Alexander’s gaze roamed all over her face, slow and hungry, before he exhaled, “It’s alright. I will have patience for my wife.”

Mia shivered instantly—her whole body tightening when he saidmy wifein that deep, soft, unbearably intense voice. It rolled through her, straight to her spine.

“Mr. Graves…” she protested weakly, her voice barely a breath. “Don’t call me that.”

Alexander looked at her again—slowly—his dark eyes locking onto hers.

“I shouldn’t call you my wife?” His voice dropped, low and dangerous. “Youaremy wife. What else should I call you?” His gaze sharpened. “You don’t want to be my wife anymore, Mia?”

“No!” she answered immediately, panicked. “That’s not what I meant. I just—I don’t want to leave you. But… we haven’t officially become husband and wife yet. We haven’t had a wedding yet.”

He leaned in, crowding her space, his hand sliding from her waist down to her hip. His fingers tightened, gripping her, and in one sharp pull he dragged her down onto him so she was sitting directly on the hard, throbbing length straining against him.

Mia stiffened, a quiet gasp falling from her lips as heat punched through her.

“Mrs. Graves,” he murmured, his mouth brushing her cheek, his breath hot against her skin. “Is this your way of telling me…”

His grip tightened on her hips, forcing her closer, locking her to him.

“…that you think I haven’t been fulfilling my husband duties to you all these months?”

Mia froze, stunned, breath trapped somewhere between her lungs and her throat.

But he wasn’t waiting for an answer.

Alexander moved.

His hands slid from her hips to the back of her thighs, fingers spreading, gripping and in one fluid, overpowering motion, he shifted his weight and flipped their positions completely.

One second she was straddling him…

The next—

Her back hit the couch cushions with a soft thud, air rushing out of her as he came over her, caging her beneath the solid heat of his body.

His palms planted on either side of her head, the muscles in his arms flexing as he hovered above her, staring down like she belonged nowhere else but right there. Beneath him, breathless and his.

His lips descended to her neck before she could even think.

He kissed her roughly—open-mouthed, hungry—then bit down just enough to drag a sharp gasp from her throat. Her fingers pushed weakly at his shoulder, trembling with panic, desire—everything.

He caught her hand instantly, his grip tight.

Before she could pull away, his other hand dropped to his belt.

Leather slid free in one swift, clean motion, a soft whisper through the loops. The sound made her eyes widen, breath stalling.

In seconds, her wrists were gathered, lifted, and bound, his belt wrapping around them as his fingers tightened the knot with a calmness that was far too controlled for the storm burning in his eyes.

“Now that Mrs. Graves has learned to hide things from me,” he said slowly, his voice dark, steady, terrifyingly calm, “it’s my duty to remind her how important it is to be completely transparent with herhusband… especially when the matter is life and death.”