I didn’t let up. I wasn’t able to let go. Her breathing picked up slightly, causing her breasts to press tighter against her top. Without thinking, I lowered my mouth over hers, taking her in a deep kiss, pushing my tongue between her lips. I could tell she was unsure; she didn’t know that what she was doing would only egg me on.

I wanted to consume her.

I wanted to brand her.

The need to own her, possess her, was almost crippling.

I pulled my mouth from hers; my lips traveled down her jaw. Her body had melted into mine, so I took the opportunity to suck the skin of her neck in deep pulls that I knew would mark her for anyone to see. I needed to know that, tomorrow, when she went to work, I was going with her. I had a big case I was working on and couldn’t sit outside the bakery like I normally would, so she would be on her own, my mark a warning against any man who tried to get to close to her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Beautiful.” I kissed her neck and then her mouth again.

Her eyes were hazy, and I knew she didn’t understand what she was feeling. Her body was in control right now. I walked her into her apartment and made sure she was locked in for the night. After I knew she was safely tucked away, I went back to my limo.

“Sir,” Ricket said, opening the back door.

I nodded, getting into the car without saying a word. Once we were on our way, I called one of my men and put him on her building for the night, telling him to report to me after he followed her to work in the morning. I was a little anxious to get back to her, but I knew I had to play my cards right.

I couldn’t rush this no matter what my inner beast was telling me to do.

By the time I pulled up in front of my building across town, I was restless. So instead of going to bed, I went down to the gym. Normally when I felt like this, I would fuck until I passed out, but I couldn’t do that. Chloe was the only woman I wanted. I hit the treadmill hard, running until my legs felt weak, and then I went to the weights. I worked out until my body was exhausted.

“Mr. Nolan.”

I lifted my head at the sound of my assistant’s voice. Maxine had been with me for the last four years. I’d shut her down the first couple of times she had given me a look that said she wanted more than I would give her. She had calmed down, but seeing the appreciation in her eyes had me gritting my teeth.

“What do you need, Maxine?”

“I wanted to remind you about your meeting in the morning, and I also wanted to see if you needed to go over the notes for the case tomorrow.”

“Thank you, and no. You’re free for the rest of the night,” I told her, going back to doing crunches. I could feel her watching me, but I ignored her. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone.

“See you tomorrow, sir,” she said, and I heard the door close as she left the gym.

I finished working out before jogging upstairs and getting into the shower. My cock had been rock hard since the first time I’d seen Chloe. Just like my mind, my body had been taken over by her. I wrapped my hand around my length and pumped twice. Then I thought about how I’d be wasting my come by shooting it down the drain when I could fill Chloe’s womb with it and released myself.

I was in unchartered territory with her. When I had been married right out of law school, I’d thought I was doing the right thing. My wife, Lynda, was my father’s best friend’s daughter. I respected her and thought, at the time, that I loved her. She was beautiful and interesting, and she had a good head on her shoulders. We were married for six years when I told her I wanted to have a child with her. When she agreed, we did the normal things while planning for a baby.

When it didn’t happen after a year, I decided that we should talk to a specialist about it. I had no idea that my wife had gotten her tubes tied until I showed up to an appointment she hadn’t expected to see me at. When the doctor let it slip what she had done shortly after we’d decided to have a child, during a time when she was supposed to have been at a conference for a week, I left the office in a rage. I couldn’t believe she had gone behind my back and done something so deceiving. That’s when I decided to find out what else I didn’t know about the woman I married.

The night the investigator gave me the case file on my wife was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. I hadn’t known that women could lead double lives—at least not the kind of double life she was leading. Not only had she gotten her tubes tied, but she had also been in a long-term relationship with another man for most of our marriage. I’d never once let my eyes wander from her. I’d had plenty of opportunities to take on a mistress or two, but when I’d vowed to be faithful, I had taken it seriously.

The night I found out who I really had in my bed, I went home and handed her the file, and without a word, she went to the bedroom and began to pack.

Angry would not be an accurate representation of the emotion I was feeling. I could have killed her. I actually thought about killing her. Then I thought about the way I could really hurt her. Her father had passed away a few years before, leaving her alone since her mother was in a special hospital in upstate New York. My dear wife was on her own.

I was her only source of income since she didn’t work. She was a typical Upper East Side wife. Her boyfriend was a banker who lived in an apartment in the Bronx. His net income was around sixty thousand a year. Her lifestyle would take a drastic change, and she would never get shit from me. I had enough evidence against her that I didn’t need to worry about her. Even the best divorce attorney in the world wouldn’t have been able to force me to give her one penny.

It took six months to get my divorce finalized. Lynda tried to fight me, but in the end, she wasn’t able to get one red dime and her boyfriend dumped her. I learned later that he’d had no idea she was married and hadn’t taken kindly to her using him to cheat on another man…

A knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts about the past, and I’m just about to yell for them to go away when the door is swung open and Maxine walks in without even waiting for me to reply.

“Get the fuck out!” I roar, causing Chloe, who had fallen asleep on top of me, to jump in her sleep. I quickly pull the covers over us. I don’t give a fuck about me, but I don’t want anyone—even a woman—to see Chloe like she is now.

“Sorry,” I hear whispered as the door quickly closes.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe mumbles sleepy, raising her head to look at me.