Scandalous Arrangement

Chapter10

BARBARA

My breathing was uneven, my chest rising and falling like waves crashing against jagged rocks.

He smiled—and my heart clenched in protest.

Damn him.

Damn that smile.

It was infuriating how easily my body betrayed me.

I wanted him.

I wanted his hands on me again, his mouth on my skin.

I wanted to be touched, claimed, dominated, tamed by him—but I’d be damned before I let him know that.

Not after what he did the night before—drawing me in with a smoldering look, touching me just enough to make me ache, then pulling away with the arrogance of a man who could resist. Unlike me.

I hated him for it. I hated myself more.

He reached for me, but I stepped back, widening the space between us. I needed distance to think. He’d take what he wanted, leave me needy and frustrated, then vanish without apology. Well, two could play that game.

I smiled to myself, a wicked, private little smile.

Presley would still have me. He’d always wanted me. I still had his number. I could finally give him what he wanted instead of giving my virginity to this asshole. I didn’t need Lorenzo to make me feel desirable—or satisfied.

“What are you smiling about?” Lorenzo asked, his voice edged with suspicion.

I arched a brow.

“It’s none of your business,” I said smoothly. “I have plans, that’s all. And they don’t involve you.”

I sauntered back to the bed, grabbed my phone, and began texting. My thumbs moved deliberately. I didn’t glance up, didn’t care whether he was watching.

“BARBARA!”

The force of his voice and the anger behind it made me look up.

“Are you texting another man in my presence?”

Before I could reply—before I could even steady my heartbeat—he crossed the room in three long strides and snatched the phone from my hands.

“Lorenzo!” I shouted, leaping to my feet. “Give me my phone back! What I do with it is not your concern!”

He held it high, well out of my reach.

I climbed off the bed without even realizing it. My bare feet padded across the cold floor as I closed the distance between us and jabbed a finger hard against his bare chest. His gaze finally dropped to mine.

It burned with fury as he gripped my phone tightly.

“I’ve told you already—I’m no more thrilled about this marriage than you are. Still, I won’t back down. Not now. Not when you speak to me with such insolence... such disrespect. You are a little girl. You should learn respect. Watch what you say and do around me, or I will punish you. Hmm. That fire you have... I will tame it.”

“Fire?” I spat. “Is that what you think? That you can tame me, huh?”

My voice cracked. My chest heaved. I felt my emotions spill over, threatening tears I refused to let him see. I wanted to kill this man.

I swung my hand up to jab him again, but this time he caught both my wrists in one firm grip. His eyes locked onto mine with a heat that both terrified and thrilled me.

Then, just as suddenly, he lowered his head.

“No—don’t,” I said, twisting my face away. “Don’t you dare—”

But he was already there.

One hand slid from my wrists to my chin, his fingers gentle but unyielding as they tilted my face toward him. His lips crashed onto mine—firm, claiming, unapologetic, possessive. They invaded my mouth, my senses, my defenses, as though determined to tame every ounce of fire inside me.

I didn’t kiss him back. I didn’t move at all. But he didn’t let me pull away either. He held me as though I were something wild that needed breaking—tender and brutal all at once.

A soft moan escaped into his mouth before I could stop it. My hands found his chest without my permission, and then he pulled back. My heart began racing, every part of me pulsing with awareness.

Then the anger returned.

“Y-you are crazy,” I said through clenched teeth, struggling against him. “You... you can’t just kiss me whenever you want—”

“Oh, stop pretending you don’t want me,” he murmured. He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me against him, his breath fanning across my lips. “Maybe this is exactly what you’ve needed all this while to stop that madness.”

His voice was low, rough, and far too close. Before I could answer, his mouth found mine again, kissing me deeper this time. His tongue brushed lightly against my lips, coaxing, testing.

I tried to resist, tried to turn my face away, but my body betrayed me.

My lips parted.

Just slightly.

That was all the permission he needed.

His tongue swept into my mouth, tasting me, claiming me. His grip on my wrists loosened just enough for me to realize how effortlessly he could overpower me if he chose. Yet he didn’t force more than I gave. He kissed me like a man who wanted everything but was willing to wait for my surrender.

“You’re so sweet,” he whispered against my lips, breathing me in. “Too sweet to taste only once. I don’t want to have you and walk away, Barbara. I want you over and over again.”

My eyes flew open, my heart pounding violently against my ribs.

I am not going to marry him.

I stepped away from him, trying to calm my racing heart, and arranged my face into the strictest expression I could manage, though my lips still tingled from his kiss.

“I don’t care what you do with your phone...”

A sharp beep cut through my words.

My breath caught.

No.

My eyes snapped to the screen in Lorenzo’s hand, my pulse exploding the instant I recognized the notification.

Presley.

Every muscle in my body locked.

A dozen thoughts collided at once. I wanted to snatch the phone from him before he could read it. At the same time, a reckless part of me wanted him to see it—to be jealous, to realize the world did not revolve around him.

But beneath all of that lay one undeniable truth.

There was no way I was getting that phone back by force.

Still, instinct overruled reason.

“Lorenzo—”