Lust & Lies Box Set-Sexual Awakenings, Excess, Predator & Prey

Not good.

“Fuck you, Devin! Are you serious? Is this why you’re here? Jesus, couldn’t you have let me have my meltdown in peace? I can’t be manipulated like that anymore, haven’t you learned?” She was furious, and I felt my balls creep up slightly at her glare. I stood, coming toward her.

“You don’t honestly think I’m here for that, and you know it. You’re just scared.” I knew I struck a nerve when she threw her brush at me.

“Get out. Seriously, get out.” She pointed toward the door. “He wanted to love me, to make me happy. He want—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Nina. He can’t have you!” I felt the rage rush through me as I clenched my fists. “Stay the fuck away from him.”

“I intend to, as I do you. The land is not for sale, and if your cunt of a wife wants it, she can come get it herself.”

“So this is once again about your war with my wife.” She flinched as I said the word wife. The woman that loved me was in there somewhere. “As much as it pains me to say this, you are no match for her. I don’t know what lengths she will go to. Just let it go.”

She stomped into her closet and pulled a dress off the rack before throwing it over her head.

“Tell me what you want so I can tell you no,” she huffed.

“I want you.”

She stopped her busy hands to utter a quick “No.” She stopped at her mirror, checked her lips then grabbed her purse. “Let’s go.”

“I came here to tell you that I’m sorry. That I cared, that I still care, and that I was wrong.” Fuck, that was hard but long overdue. My heart was in her hands, and I could already see her twisting the knife in.

My eyes implored hers as I gave her the long overdue words. She had built a solid wall, and I had my sledgehammer ready.

“You know I can’t forgive you.”

“I know.”

“So how could you possibly get me?”

“Time, effort, and orgasms.” I gave her a wolfish grin, and her flying keys caught me in the jaw as I cursed the same fucking leprechaun who brought me into this room. Okay, maybe charm wasn’t the best tactic. Reminding myself that losing my temper may set me back, I tried again.

“I didn’t sleep with her that day. You walked in right after she threatened to ruin my career and you. She told me you were coming and if I wanted to protect you, I had to play along. She got naked, and I let her. You saw what she wanted you to see. And in a way, I wanted it to happen because I wasn’t fucking strong enough to let you go. I wanted you as far away from me and my bullshit as possible. I wanted to protect you. I was ambushed and made the quick decision to go along with it. I was a fool and a coward.” My balls were shrinking as the leprechaun kicked them repeatedly. “What I did, the way I acted after you found out, you know that wasn’t me.”

“I don’t know you at all.”

“You know me better than any woman ever has.” I saw the words strike her and one brick fall, but the wall remained standing.

She stopped at her doorway and turned to me, giving me a hard look. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I’ve loved you for as long as you’ve loved me, Nina.”

She dropped her shoulders, tears quickly springing in her furious eyes. “Two weeks ago, I would have forgiven you!” She walked up to me, slapping me hard as she screamed. “Two weeks ago, I could have worked to forgive you! I’ve always known she had something over you, Devin. I’m not a complete idiot. You didn’t trust me, and you didn’t love or respect me enough to let me in. Instead, you treated me like a useless whore, and I let you because I loved you that much. No more! Two weeks ago, I started dating your polar opposite, and I wanted that, Devin. I wanted Aiden. I deserved him. And now you’ve taken that from me, too.”

I gripped her arms, shaking her slightly. “Stay the fuck away from him, Nina, or I swear to God—”

“Or you’ll what?”

“Jesus, who are you exactly?”

“You should know. You helped shape me into…this.”

“No, you did that all on your own,” I snapped as I gripped her harder. “You turned into a ruthless bitch all by yourself, and it disgusts me.”

“But it was okay that you were always a lying, cheating bastard!”

I deserved that. Letting go of her arms, I shoved my hands into my pockets, our eyes staying connected.