MY HUSBAND'S SECRET SIDE CHICK

THE SAFE-HOUSE REIGNITION

The private safe-house was hidden on the top floor of an elite, high-security boutique hotel owned entirely under one of Ethan's cleanest corporate aliases. The room was dark, quiet and wrapped in minimalist luxury, a sharp, surreal contrast to the burning tomb of the underground garage we had just escaped. After making sure Natalie and Evelyn were safely locked into the adjoining suit with round-the-clock private security, Ethan finally closed the heavy mahogany door to our bedroom, sealing the two of us inside. The silence between us was thick, heavy and burning with a sudden, suffocating tension.

Ethan stood by the door, his chest heaving under his torn, blood-stained shirt. The expensive fabric was completely ruined, clinging to the hard sculpted planes of his chest. His jaw was tight, his knuckles bruised and his dark eyes were fixed entirely on me, tracking my every breath like a predator waiting in the shadows. "You need to wash that blood of your shoulder," I whispered, my voice trembling slightly as I stood by the edge of the king-sized bed. The adrenaline from the escape was fading, leaving behind a raw, aching vulnerability that made my skin flush with heat.

"Its not my blood," Ethan growled out, his raspy voice sending a delicious, treacherous shiver down my spine. He didn't move toward the bathroom, instead he took a slow heavy step toward me, his possessive gaze never breaking from mine. "I don't care about the blood, Laura. I don't care about the Matriarch or the Sterlings, or the files Natalie is holding in the next room. All I could think about was the fact that I haven't held you or touched you properly in three months."

"You were the one who created that distance, Ethan," I said, my chest tightened as the lingering ache of his past silence rushed back. "You left our bed cold, you made me believe you were sleeping with my best friend. You made me feel like a stranger in my own marriage."

"Because I was a coward who thought he could shield his wife from monsters," Ethan roared softly, closing the distance between us in a single, predatory stride. He stopped inches from me, his towering frame completely eclipsing the dim light of the room. The scent of him, smoke, rain and raw, masculine heat, wrapped around my senses like an intoxicating cloud. He reached out, his large hands cupping the sides of my face. His thumbs brushed over my cheekbones, wiping away the faint traces of ash from the garage explosion. His palms were burning hot against my skin.

"I thought if I kept you innocent, if I kept you away from my mother's filth, I was protecting you," he murmured, his forehead resting against mine as his dark eyes burned into my soul. "But watching that car crash under the concrete... realizing you could have died believing I didn't love you...it nearly killed me, Laura. I'd rather burn this entire city to the ground than spend another night sleeping in a bed without you."

The raw, unfiltered honesty in his voice shattered the last wall of defense around my heart. The anger, the grief and the terrifying revelation of my fake identity didn't matter right now in this room. The only thing that was real, the only thing that had ever been real was the consuming, magnetic fire between the two of us. "Then don't leave me out in the cold again, Ethan," I whispered against his lips. That was all the permission I needed.

With a low, possessive groan, he pulled me against his hard chest, his mouth crashing down onto mine with a fierce, desperate hunger that stole the breath straight from my lungs. It wasn't the gentle, careful kiss of a husband greeting his housewife; it was the raw, demanding claim of an Alpha king reclaiming his queen.

His tongue parted my lips effortlessly, tasting me with a wild intoxicating passion that made my knees shake. I wrapped my arm around his neck, my fingers fondling and tangling in his messy hair, pulling him closer until there wasn't a single millimeter of space left between our bodies.

Ethan's hands moved down to my waist, lifting me up effortlessly off the floor, I wrapped my legs around his hips as he carried me across the room, pressing my back gently but firmly against the mattress of the massive bed. He followed me down, pinning me beneath his heavy, muscular frame without breaking the kiss. His hands were frantic, tearing at the buttons of his ruined shirt, discarding it onto the floor before his warm, bare chest pressed directly against mine. The contact of his skin sent a jolt of pure electricity through my veins.

"You're mine, Laura," Ethan growled against my throat, his lips leaving a trail of fire down my neck to my collar bone, making me arch into his touch with a breathless gasp. His fingers gripped my hips with a possessive strength, anchoring me to him. "No one but, no one owns you, you belong to me and I belong to you forever."

"Show me," I cried out, as I traced the hard, bleeding muscles of his shoulders with my hands, completely unbothered by the stain of our war. "Make me forget everything else, Ethan."

In the shadows of that secure luxury suite, the ice of the past three months completely melted away into a raging storm of passion. Every touch was an apology; every raged breath was a vow. He worshipped my body with a fierce, protective intensity that re-ignited the soul of the woman I was supposed to be. I wasn't a stolen child and I wasn't a submissive victim. I was a woman loved by a man who would tear the world apart to keep me safe.

Hours later, the storm finally slowed into a warm, heavy peace. I lay with my head resting against Ethan's bare chest, the steady comforting beat of his heart vibrated against my cheek. His large arm was wrapped securely around my waist, pulling me so close against his flank that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. His fingers his fingers were lazily tracing patterns on my bare shoulder. Suddenly, a sharp, metallic buzz shattered the quiet. It wasn't Ethan's phone, it was the internal security intercom mounted on the wall beside the bed. The small screen flickered to life, flashing a bright, aggressive red light that illuminated our tangled sheets. Ethan went completely still, his muscles instantly hardening into stone beneath me. He slipped out of bed, pulling a dark silk robe over his shoulders as he strode over to the wall panel, pressing the receive button.

"I told you not to disturb us until the perimeter was breeched." Ethan hissed into the speaker, his voice deadly cold. Natalie's frantic, trembling voice came through the intercom speaker, sending a sudden chill straight through my chest.

"Ethan... Laura... you need to come out here right now," Natalie gasped, her breath catching in a sob. "Evelyn, she's gone. She slipped past the guards through the service doors ten minutes ago. And she left a note on the table."

I sat up in bed, pulling my the duvet over my chest as my heart began to hammer all over again. "What does the note say, Natalie? I asked curious.

There was a heavy, agonizing pause over the line before Natalie finally read the words aloud. "I'm going to finish this, the Blackwood Matriarch has called a sudden meeting at the grand palace hotel. In one hour to legally dissolve Ethan's company and seize your biological birthright. I am going to sign the confession in front of the press, if you want to burn their empire down, Laura... bring the files and meet me in the boardroom. Don't be late."

Ethan's eyes snapped to mine in the dark, a dangerous, predatory glint suddenly flaring up in his gaze. The hour of hiding was officially over. The stage of our final retribution was set.