Page 35 of Unchained

He nods slowly, and then a cocky grin tugs at his lip. “That’s a deal I’ll accept. I knew we should have taken you up on your offer the first time.”

I shrug, picking up his hand and shoving it back on his own lap. “I told you, I’m better to have as a friend than as an enemy, Colt. You and your brothers didn’t listen to me.”

He chews on the inside of his mouth and stretches his neck as the truck bumps along on the gravel. “Yeah,” he grunts. “Well, I’m good with making a deal with the enemy today.”

I smile. “I never was your enemy, Colt. Don’t blame me for something my idiotic brother did to you. Remember what I did to him,” I say, letting the words land as brutally as I intended.

That is what I do when I’m hurt. I hurt them back ten times harder without blinking.

“I bet you had to pay your therapist triple to deal with that one. Killing your own brother in cold blood?” he says, but I hear the layer underneath his voice.

He’s impressed I had the balls to do it.

“I heard you guys killed one of your own recently?” I counter.

“Beau did the same thing to us.”

I tilt my head to the side. “Looks like we aren’t too dissimilar after all, hmm.”

He doesn’t reply; instead, he parks up outside his house. It’s a hell of a lot bigger than the ranch house they’ve stuck me in. This one is more like a mansion. It’s beautiful. Dark wood, a porch with a swing. Almost like a cute family home.

Except, it’s for a lone cowboy.

“Do you have a dog?” I ask as he unclips my seatbelt.

“Yeah, I got a couple. Although they’ll be roaming around the land at the moment.”

“I want to learn to ride a horse,” I blurt out.

He laughs. “Yeah, and I want to fuck your brains out, Gianna. Let’s tackle one bucket list item at a time.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “I was on your bucket list?”

“Damn right. As soon as you turned up here in that power suit and sat across from me makin’ demands, all I could think about was bending you over my brother's dining table and fuckin’ that attitude right out of you.”

My heart rate kicks up a notch as he leans in, his hungry eyes on my lips. His hand wraps around my throat so tight I can feel my pulse in my head.

“Shut up and kiss me, wife,” he growls.

For a split second, time stands still. His dark brown eyes burn into mine, and there’s only one thing left to say…

“Fuck it,” I whisper, as my lips seize his. My fingers tangle in his hair, dragging him closer.

I had one assignment to complete today that solidifies this marriage to my family… getting my husband to rail me.

But as his hands cup my cheeks and his tongue slides into my mouth, I realize that this isn’t about doing what I’ve been asked.

For the first time in my life, I’m taking what I want, for me.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Colten

She doesn’t just kiss me. She absolutely consumes me. Our teeth clatter as I slide my hand down her side and grip her waist.

“I’m seconds away from fucking you in here, Gianna,” I grunt.

I yank her over the console, and she straddles my lap.