Lie to Me (22 page)

“You’re my wife. Eight years now. My how the time flies.”

At his sarcasm, she shot him an annoyed glare.

“That makes
her
the other woman, not you.”

Stone ignored his fiancée’s curses, his serenity surprising Kella. The sounds of an obvious tussle ensued. She guessed Satan sought to provide her and Stone with some privacy. A mental smile slithered through her mind. James’s difficulties were the only enjoyment she had in this moment.

“What about the woman in the scandal sheet?” A man cheating on his fiancée said a lot about his character.

“Her.” He tilted his head toward the door. “Our relationship is complicated and often too dram—”

“I don’t care.” Hope for freedom should’ve been grappling in her head, instead she was disenchanted to realize he’d been sexing it up in the shower with her while committed to another. She shouldn’t want to be his one and only.
I don’t want him period
. The sad reality was that Stone was the only man she’d ever wanted. “You can divorce me and keep her. Problem solved.”

Stone took the shampoo from her numb fingers and squirted some in his hand. “Turn around.”

She remained rooted in her spot with her spine nailed to the tiled shower wall. “Did you hear me, Stone. Your problem is solved. Just release me.”

“You’re not going anywhere, sunshine.” He placed the bottle on the shelf built into the wall. “I thought I made that very clear. So wipe that hopeful look off your face. Turn.” He made a swirly motion with his finger.

“Don’t mock our childhood friendship by sharing me with your future wife the way others share their X-genes with their wives.” The video evidence of Xeno mistreatment left a sick feeling churning in her belly. She couldn’t stomach the vile acts from Stone’s hands. Worse things happened between a Xeno and her owners, but this scenario was more than Kella could endure.

“You’re lack of faith in me is repulsive,
wife
.” The way his jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth hinted he was more furious than repulsed. “Turn.”

Not sure how to respond, she gave him her back. A moment later, he lathered her hair, working his fingers through her long strands and massaging her scalp with his fingertips. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her so the spray could wash the suds away. Water slid over her face, and she closed her eyes as his hands worked through her hair to rinse the locks. Instead of tugging her out of the jets once he was finished, he kissed her beneath the spray.

Once he had his fill of her mouth, he pulled her from the water and lathered her hair with conditioner. He twisted her hair into one long strand and then piled it on top of her head. A glob of body wash sputtered into his hand. His intent was clear, and she began to shake her head.

“Trust me to take care of you—”

“I trust no one.”

“—like I always have. You trust me.”

She shook her head. “Not even you.”

Stone rubbed his hands together, distributing the body wash. “You’re the prettiest liar I’ve ever met.”

Catching her shoulders, he stepped against her, and again her nipples scrubbed against his chest with each breath. His fingers and hands spread the liquid, creating suds wherever he touched. Kella no longer possessed the ability to halt his progress, but reveled in his touch and the way her body responded.

As his soapy caress cupped the cheeks of her bottom, he pulled her against him. Lowering his head, he traced her ear with his lips as he teased her with the imprint of his erection against her belly. “What I feel for you will never end,” he whispered into her ear. “It’s never gone away, and it never will.”

He dragged his tongue down her neck as he bent his knees and shifted lower to bathe her legs. Down across her collarbone he slid his tongue, and his eyes lifted to watch her as the tip flicked across her nipple before moving lower. Her knees weakened. To maintain her position, she buried a hand in his hair. Some part of her insisted this was wrong, especially with his fiancée in the other room, but she’d gone beyond caring. She’d grown up with his hugs and affection, and she’d missed his comforting touch.

Seeking further support, she gripped his shoulder with her other hand, and her eyes slid closed as she imbibed in the sensation. Her knees trembled as he kissed downward, his scruff scratchy and erotic. His tongue swirled around her belly button, all the while his hands soaped up her legs. His thumbs found the back of her knees, swished along them and moved lower as his mouth took a southerly direction.

He halted at her pelvis, and she could feel his chin press into her just above the crease of her pussy. “Look at me, Kella.” She obeyed without question. Drops of water beaded on his face, clung to his dark scruff. “If I lick your pussy, will that make it mine?”

Kella’s breath caught, and her heartbeat sped up.

Teasing her, he dragged his tongue across her lower abdomen.

Moisture surged from her core, his claim a brutal caress in ways his touch hadn’t been.

She wanted him to kiss her pussy, even though she’d never wanted anyone to touch her there, and shouldn’t want him to now. She wouldn’t confess that to him though. Her voice came out raspy when she said, “I thought you already owned me.”

“I do, sunshine.” A single finger lightly brushed across the folds of her pussy, resulting in the stuttering of her breathing. “But not the way you think or will admit to.”

Stone kissed the folds right over her clit before pushing to his feet. His mouth hovered over hers. “I’ll lick your pussy when you admit you’re mine.”

“Never.” Kella doubted the claim.

“We’ll see.” He squirted more liquid into his hand and went to work lathering her front side. As he serviced her in a platonic way, she noticed the half-moon indentions her nails had made on his shoulder.

“Sorry.” Shocked by the evidence of her unrestrained passion, she fingered the marks.

While his fingers rotated over her nipples and breasts, he turned his head and kissed her fingertips. “I like that you lost a little control with me.” He maneuvered her into the spray, the suds tickling as they roped down her body. Stone kissed the tip of her nose.

Pounding on the door wrenched her from their interlude that shouldn’t have happened to begin with.

“Stone Emmerson, if you’re fucking a skank whore, I’ll cut your dick off and shove it up your ass!” Kella winced at his fiancée’s promise. What a classy woman he’d shackled himself to there.

“James, I hold you responsible for shutting her the fuck up.” Stone moved away from Kella and went to work bathing himself.

“Everything about this is fucked up.”

“I’m sorry you’ve got to put up with Katarina.” He scrubbed at his hair. “Thought I’d be able to end things with her quietly. I should’ve known better,” he said as he rinsed his hair.

Unsure what to say or how to react, she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair and stood beneath the spray for a long time. She didn’t think Stone understood what she meant. If she put herself in his fiancée’s shoes, she’d be angry too. “When a woman loves a man, Stone, she—”

“Katarina doesn’t love me.”

Kella leaned forward enough her face came out of the water, and she opened her eyes. Stone watched her, wearing an expression she couldn’t isolate. After turning off the spray on her side, she pushed open the glass door and retrieved a towel. “Of course she loves you. You’re getting married.”

“I only agreed to marry her to make my dad happy.” He took the towel from her and patted her down with the thick cloth. The intimacy of the action alarmed her, especially since they discussed his engagement. “Dad wants an heir, I was tired of hearing about it, and she’s the daughter of a family friend. You were dead. I didn’t want anyone else, so I figured why not make someone happy since I couldn’t be with you.”

“Don’t.” Pushing him away, she took the towel from Stone and dried her hair as he rubbed himself dry. “I won’t feel guilty for your grief when I was the one mistreated.”

“I’ve already told you that’s not the way I’d planned it.” With a frustrated humph he wrapped the towel around his waist, secured it, and tossed her the fluffy, white robe hanging on the back of the door.

Keeping her gaze lowered, she pulled the robe on and tied the sash. “Doesn’t matter what you say. I don’t believe a word of your lies.”

“You’re as frustrating now as you were as a child.”

“Guess some things never change.”

Stone inclined his head as if he acceded that fact. “For your safety, don’t discredit the story I’m about to give Katarina. It’s the official one I’ll use for Regent Jones and the press.”

Combing her hair with her fingers, she asked, “Why do we need an official story?”

“You can’t die, create a new illegal life, and expect Regent Jones not to demand punishment for your sins. Doesn’t matter who you are to me, he’ll want retribution in some way for duping him. That man’s jonesing for you”—Stone didn’t know the half of it—“and I won’t watch him punish you again. I’ll kill him first.”

Her fingers went suddenly cold. “About Jones, you should know he already knows I’m your wife.”

Murder darkened his gaze. “Go on.”

“When he was delivering the last of his lashes before I passed out, he admitted he knew my real identity. He commanded me to agree to becoming his fuck-toy or he’d tell you my real identity.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s it? Just a thanks?” She’d expected more from him. A fellow Regent betrayed him and while she didn’t understand the hierarchy of Regents, she knew this behavior to be intolerable.

“Yeah, thanks.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers, and she saw a slight crack in his impassive features.

The hardness in Regent Stone Emmerson’s eyes scared her. In that moment, she admitted only a fool would cuckold him. So what’d that make her when she had every intention of ditching him at the first opportunity that presented itself?

His kiss jerked her from her musings. She would’ve pulled away but for his hand clutching the back of her head. Kella responded by clenching her jaw. No way was she allowing him back inside her.

“Open for my kiss,” he said against her lips.

She shook her head.

“You’ll cave, but in the meantime I’ll enjoy the challenge.” He strode out of the bathroom wearing nothing but his towel cinched around his waist and sporting a very big erection if the tenting of his towel was any indication. The man had no shame.

––––––––

S
tone stepped out of the bathroom to find Katarina pacing, her gait agitated. Her blonde hair was secured in a crisp side bun, with diamond beads of some sort in her hair that drew the eyes to the golden strands. She was publicized as a beauty, Stone recognized her loveliness, but he was immune to it. She’d been a means to an end for him, a way to satisfy his parents, and nothing more. They weren’t friends, and he couldn’t even say he liked her.

Why hadn’t he seen before how miserable they would’ve made one another? He couldn’t even get excited about the prospect of fucking her. In fact, the idea nauseated him. Proposing had been unfair to her, even though she coveted his status and not him.

Stone glanced at James, and his friend rolled his eyes. James alleged Katarina a drama queen in need of a heavy hand to her ass. Stone agreed, but he hadn’t cared enough to attempt to curb her behavior. And her ill-mannered behavior only bothered him while in a public setting and she threw one of her ‘bratty fits’, as James called them.

“We had an engagement party
today,
and you skipped it to shack up with a slut eleven Quads away.” His fiancée came to an abrupt halt, planted her hands on her hips, and glared over his shoulder at Kella. “Her very presence offends me.”

“You offend me,” James muttered beneath his breath.

Either Katarina didn’t hear him or she chose to ignore him. “Remove her from my sight at once, James.”

“You overstep your station, Katarina.” Stone could sense Kella’s presence behind him and couldn’t begin to guess what she thought about this situation.

“I am to be your wife. That makes my station above James
and
her.” Katarina canted her head so that she looked down her nose at Kella.

Giving a mental sigh and wishing he could’ve spared Kella this drama, he elected for a united front and held his hand out and a little behind him toward his wife. A moment’s hesitation, then a slight shuffling noise of movement before Kella slid her hand into his. Katarina’s nose flared, and her jaw tightened, her lips whitening with her displeasure.

James turned a smirk on Stone’s fiancée. His friend would enjoy Katarina’s set down.

“Katarina, please meet my
wife
, Mackella Starke Emmerson.”

Katarina’s pale features grew even more pallid. “She’s a fraud.” She hugged herself, as if she sought comfort. “Your wife died years ago. Don’t let her dupe you, Stone. She probably has a vanity chip.”

“Wishful thinking, diva girl.” James leaned against the arm of the sofa. The leer his buddy wore testified to how much he enjoyed Katarina’s distress.

Cheeks going bright red, Katarina pointed at James and shook her finger. “Stay out of it, James! Stone,” she faced him once again, “I demand you DNA test her.”

“Watch yourself, Katarina,” his voice came out terser than he’d intended. “You’re in no position to make demands.”

Stone frowned at Kella when she tugged her hand free of his grasp.

Kella clasped her hands together behind her back but distanced herself from the conflict by peering toward the windows. “This is a private matter. I should go and let you two sort this out.”

There was nowhere for Kella to hide, unless she retreated to their bedroom or James’s room. Although he very much liked the idea of spooning with her in their bed, he wouldn’t allow her to withdraw from the dilemma related to her escaping him either.
She
was indirectly to blame for the current spectacle. Had she made different choices eight years ago, their life would be very different at the moment.

“Yes, tuck your tail and skedaddle while your betters establish your web of lies.” Of course Katarina would sense blood and go for the throat.