“Come in.”
The door pushed open and I was ready to shout at him, to tell him what an asshole he was being, how he couldn’t just refuse to divorce me, but it all just died on my lips. I stared in at him as he continued to do his sit-ups.
He was shirtless and had a thin sheen of sweat. I remembered that body very, very well from all those months ago. Tattoos snaked up his skin, and his muscles were ripped and tough. I wanted to tell him what a dick he was being, except it was hard when I also wanted to lick every inch of his exposed torso.
He finished his set and looked over at me. “What can I do for you, wife? Come to spend some time in our marriage bed?”
That snapped me out of it. “Are you stalking me?”
He gave me an innocent look. “What do you mean?”
“Twitter. I know you saw my tweets.”
“Not my fault your profile is public.”
My jaw dropped. It really was him. I couldn’t believe he had the gall to like a tweet that was so clearly making fun of him.
“How did you find me?”
“You used your real name.”
I let out a thin breath. Of course. All he needed to do was search for my name.
“So you refuse to let me divorce you and now you’re cyber stalking me.”
“Not exactly. You’re the one insulting me publically.”
“I wouldn’t have to do that if you would just divorce me.”
He stood up and stretched, grinning. “Why would I do that? I want to try and make our marriage work.”
“We don’t have a marriage.”
“Call me old fashioned, but I think the state would disagree with you.”
“Legally, fine. But, Cole, we’re not married and you know it.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we could give it a try.”
He moved across the room, and I could practically feel my pussy go from normal to dripping in six seconds. He was ripped and smooth and slightly sweaty in an incredible way. It wasn’t fair at all. How was I supposed to win this argument when he looked like that?
How was I supposed to divorce him when he made me feel that way?
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered.
“Because I can.” He grabbed my waist suddenly and pulled me against him.
I didn’t fight.
“Because I want to,” he continued, talking into my ear. I felt a shiver run down my spine. “Because I want to take you again, Alex, make you feel things you thought you forgot about. I want to take it further.”
“And I just want to move on with my life, maybe not be married to my stepbrother.”
He paused and then laughed and moved away from me. I took a sharp breath, wishing he’d come back.
“Yeah, that is inconvenient.”
“Seriously, we can’t do this. If somebody found out, our parents would be screwed.”
He walked over to the bed and pulled his shirt back over his chest. I wished he hadn’t done that, but it did make it easier to talk to him.
“Maybe I don’t much care about Cindy’s career anymore.”
I rolled my eyes. “Typical. Rebelling against mommy.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Isn’t it? You’re staying married to me to get back at your mom.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Exactly. That’s why we shouldn’t be married.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re a clever one, Alex, but you’re my wife.”
“What am I going to have to do to get a divorce?” I said, desperate and angry.
He looked at me for a second. “How about this. For starters, you have to come see an MMA fight with me.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Are you joking? I have no interest in that.”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Fine,” I said quickly. “Fine. But I’m bringing a friend.”
He shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”
“If this is your way of trying to prove that MMA isn’t lame, you’re going to be disappointed.”
He gave me a wicked grin and turned away. “I doubt that.”
The next night, we stood outside of the venue and I did not want to go in at all.
It was crowded, way more crowded than I would have guessed was possible for an MMA fight. I knew it was popular with some people, but figured it was still pretty small.
But the place looked packed. Like, hundreds of people packed. I had expected a lot of old fat men and bros, but it was a strange mix of people. There were even a few young kids in the crowd, which freaked me out. Who would bring a kid to a violent fight?
“This is crazy,” Lacey whispered in my ear. “So many people!”
“I know, right?”
“And I half expected to get murdered.”