I arrived at the lunch meeting alone. She and I fought for a good hour because she kept insisting on joining me. But I simply wouldn’t let her. Not when she was in great pain. Gisele had a bad case of cramps. It was a rather severe, to the point that she was hunched, squirming in agony. She couldn’t even go to the bathroom without vehemently hissing and groaning. And even though she’d taken some aspirin, she hadn’t fully recovered yet. So, after ensuring that all the food I had ordered from room service was laid out on the table, I kissed her goodbye. Stubborn as she was, she wouldn’t even muster to look at me, but giving in to her request was out of the question. She could pout and stomp all she liked, but her health always had to come first.

So, I left and continued to the meeting with the Kagami brothers. After explaining Gisele’s unfortunate circumstance, they made sure to send her some flowers before we lunched and carried on discussing business. It took about two hours after we finally signed and closed the deal.

Since it was Saturday afternoon, I had high hopes that Gisele and I would do some sight-seeing while we were here. Although I’d been here so many times in the past, I had never truly experienced the exhilarating city with someone else. But the moment I walked into my suite, the minx ran into my arms before jumping and clinging onto me, wrapping her naked body around mine, implicitly kissing me, explicitly seducing my senses. Full throttle.

“I need you inside me, Jared.”

Breaking away from her succulent lips, I peered down and eyed her skeptically. “Kitten, I want you, too, but you’re swollen, not to mention you had this frightful bout of cramps. Maybe I went too deep last night…so we’ll take it slow, okay?”

She blew out a breath. “We’ll just have to be creative. How does a long, hot, sensual bath sound for a start?” Her eyes sparkled as she madly beamed at me, her sole dimple dipping in on the side of her cheek, making me grab her face and kiss her senselessly.

How could I resist such charm? So, I obliged her. We spent quite a great deal bathing, rubbing, and kissing. Gisele proved to be quite skilled. She actually massaged my neck and shoulders just as well as the dorei from last night while I melted against her chest, groaning with satisfaction. Apparently, she and her mother Edna had gone to a reflexology class, teaching where each important point of the body was and how much pressure to be applied. Her hands were magic, and if I wasn’t already married to her, I’d have proposed right then and there.

Evidently, her touch became my weakness.

There was a roster of activities I ensured we’d participate and explore in. I ensured other plans. Audrey, my assistant, had emailed me everything. But somehow, each one of those plans got squashed since we could barely manage to get out of bed. One could imagine the gravity of getting us out of the suite. It was inconceivable.

After waiting twenty-fours of celibacy, we went at it like rabid rabbits. It was nonsensical, pure madness, and I had never felt better. I was breaking my patterns, and although it was quite troubling to say the least, it was also refreshing for a change. It seemed I also needed this—needed her to show me how to feel alive. And since we were pressed for time and scheduled to leave the next day, we knew our time together was drawing to a close.

After all, the subject of divorce had yet to be discussed.

The ill-gotten word didn’t come up until we were three hours in the air, traveling across the Pacific on our way home to San Francisco, after we had just experienced another hard, mind-numbing, sweaty session. We were in bed, limbs tangled together. Our breaths had just begun to regulate evenly when Gisele decided to break the ice.

“I know it might seem tacky to bring this up after we just had sex…but when do you plan on divorcing me? I need a timeframe, Jared.”

Damn it. Damn it all to fuck.

Shifting my body so I could lean against the headboard, I gravely stared at her while my mind drew a blank.

Divorce. She still wants a bloody divorce!!!

“Jared?” her pretty face contorted, rather impatient to hear my response.

Groaning frustratingly, I ran a hand through my hair before letting out a heavy sigh. “Must we do this now?”

“It’s important to me that we do.”

But why? I wanted to yell back but refrained from lashing out. Hadn’t the past days convinced her to simply drop the damn subject of leaving me? Fuck.

“All right,” I gritted out, closing my eyes as I rested my head on the headboard because the thought of looking at her while discussing her freedom made me all sorts of mental. “Tell me what you want and when you intend for it to happen, and I’m warning you, propose something reasonable. Don’t request for next week or the next month because it’s not happening anytime soon.”

“One year from our wedding day.”

CHRIST! She didn’t even take a minute to come up with an answer. She immediately had one ready.

Well…that said it all.

Japan hadn’t swayed her firm decision. The polar opposite of my mind. So…this whole time, was she simply performing just as I asked? I did state that the better her performance, the higher the chances I’d lessen the years. She had delivered her end of the bargain with flying colors. Evidently, it was my turn to bring my end of the deal.

My throat ached. “All right. In eight months’ time, your wish will come true.”

“Oh, my God! Thank you, baby!” she flung herself towards me, kissing me fully on the lips.

“Of course, I promised,” I rigidly said as I hastily slipped out of the bed, immediately needing space from her. Without looking back, I strode towards the closet and pulled out a black shirt and matching jeans. Normally, I’d shower after sex, but I needed to think. An impossible feat when she was so close to me.

“Where are you going? I thought you said we’d be spending the entire duration of the flight in between the sheets?” she stiffly asked, somewhat pleading. “Come back to bed…”

Grudgingly, I mustered a faint smile before directing my eyes towards where she nakedly sat amongst the wrinkled sheets, a chaotic bath of feathered pillows scattered about the bed. Her disheveled hair and red swollen lips begged for me to come to her…

“I have to work for an hour or two…Go nap. I’ll be back before you know it.” But how could I when we were on a different wavelength yet again? We never seemed to see eye to eye. The moment I stopped running, she was preparing to dash.

Bloody hell. There was no point in any of this, so before I got even more invested with her, I might as well halt it.

My mind was in deep turmoil, yet I still managed to be consumed with work while the back of my mind kept reminding me to stop thinking about her. Yesterday, I was toying with the idea of continuing our affair, but it was unlikely now. The moment we landed, two limos would be waiting for us, one taking the other to a different direction. This wouldn’t have been a hardship had I not reveled in her body for the past four days. But I had. I had taken a bite from the forbidden fruit, and I was irreparably consumed by her body, mind, and soul. Nor did it help that last night, before we fell asleep, she murmured how much she loved me, but she was experiencing the heady, glowing aftermath of our lovemaking, so it didn’t count.

Nevertheless, I had to respect her decision, no matter how much I detested the idea of her being free to marry another man.

FUCK.

My gut churned as I breathed through my nostrils. My chest felt affronted by the quick influx of air bathing my lungs. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shut my eyes, reprimanding myself to get it together.

Waiting a few minutes, the second my lids peeled open, my thoughts shutdown, solely focusing on the gargantuan work before me. Instincts took over. Just like riding a bicycle, my mind homed in, speedily zooming in on work and nothing else. My unbreakable concentration lasted for several hours, up until they served us dinner, and the crux of my misery sauntered out of the bedroom with merely one of those wretched silk robes on that I was starting to despise with a passion. That blasted robe had played its bloody role well, too. It had bloody teased me, and I had lost count of how many times I’d slipped it off her body before fucking her on the nearest flat surface.

“Are you not going to join me?” she daringly sat across from me, eyeing me patiently as I relentlessly continued working.

Without glancing at her, I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”

“All right.” She let out a melancholy sigh as she lifted a glass to her lips.

I had an inkling she might try to distract me, but even though her plan was working, I would carry on with the pretense that her presence wasn’t destabilizing my focus. So, she quietly ate for God knows how long—it felt like forever, but it was roughly about half an hour.

As she thanked the stewardess, I waited with bated breath for her to retreat back into the bedroom. She hesitantly stood up, frowning at me, and just when she was about to walk away, she halted again before her hand found its way to the laptop then brazenly tilted the screen, provoking me to no end. “We need to talk.”

Blinking at her, I tried to remain calm and unperturbed. “Go on.”

“Not here.” She pleaded before her hand fully slammed the screen shut. Before I could manage to think, Gisele swiftly took hold of my hand, as if she needed some sort of connection to me. “So, can we talk in the bedroom, Jared, or are you going to make this difficult, too?”

Merely nodding, I got up but made sure to slip my hand out of her grasp. She hatefully eyed my newly released hand but said nothing as she led the way back to the bedroom. The second the door shut behind me, her claws were back.

“Are you kidding me, Jared? Why the heck are you treating me like shit again?” Gray eyes dangerously gleamed at me, edging back to insanity.

Deadpan, I barely gazed at her. My mind was a vapid space of hate and regrets. I wasn’t a saint, nor did I claim to be, but I somewhat felt foolish, as if she had misled me when she had uttered all those words of promises, of love and affection the past few days. But I should’ve known better. This was Gisele, after all. Lying was her forte. How did I manage to delude myself into believing she’d changed? Again, it was my fault for succumbing to her charms.

“You’ve got what you wanted. What else do you want from me, Gisele?”

She looked affronted. “It’s what we agreed upon. But before I broached the subject of divorce, you couldn’t get enough of me. How can that wonderful man turn into this unfeeling asshole in a span of minutes? Oh, wait. You don’t like to be reminded of your end of the bargain. But whatever. I thought we were better than this. What you and I shared this weekend, I believed we were closer than before…but you’ve ignored me for the past four hours, and you can’t even bear to look at me.”

I indignantly huffed, glaring at her incredulously. “I wasn’t aware I have to cater to your every whim. Like I said, I promised to give you what you wanted. The better you performed, the better the outcome, and you did. You took it to heart, and you rode my cock from dusk till dawn. So, job well done, you! Or do you need a pat for that, too?”

“You callous bastard!” she launched herself at me, slapping both of my cheeks before I restrained her wrists.

An immediate feeling of déjà vu swept all over me. We did this very same thing on our flight to Japan. But this time, instead of only being consumed with rage and lust, hurt had sprouted its way in, making me even more hot-tempered. Unpredictable.

“You just love striking and hurting me, don’t you?”

“Hurt you?” she scoffed with utter disbelief. “Are you out of your fucking mind? Hurt you!” A dark maniacal laugh roared out of her as she tried to wiggle free of my grasp. When I didn’t budge, she made use of her knees, damningly trying to kick me in the groin.

“Gisele!” I thundered out as I shoved her hard against the wall, stopping her.

“Take your hands off me, you brute!” she fumed.

I’m a brute? Well, that was a novelty. “I will as long as you promise to stop striking me!”

Her gray eyes darkened as she hardened her gaze, distinctly livid. “Fine. I promise I won’t. Now, for God’s sake, let me go!”

Our eyes battled before I gradually backed away. My eyes penetrated into her. The gaze conveyed just how much I loathed her, and from here on out, we were definitely through. Everything had come to the forefront—her lies…Her wretched lies had me turn into this miserable excuse of a man.

Somehow, my projected hatred pierced through her because her body started to tremble. Her eyes sprung tears just as she impulsively reached out and grappled my shirt, halting me from leaving the bedroom. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to slap you. I’m so sorry,” she cried out before using her hands to cup my face and kissing me.

I stood, frozen like a bloody statue. My mind reeled, utterly clueless of what to do. I felt like I’d taken drug stimulants, amphetamines, and downers all at the bloody same time. The roller coaster of emotions this woman put me through made my head spin. Our relationship was so volatile I wasn’t sure if she was going to hit or kiss me next. Each passing second her lips were on mine, my resolve began to deteriorate. Therefore, I tried to untangle myself from her, but she wouldn’t let go. “Damn it, Gisele, stop toying with me!”

“Don’t go.” Her hands yanked me against her body, lips relentless as she pried my mouth open to cater to her demands while I remained glued yet unyielding. In a frenzied state, she hastily took off her robe before her hands unbuttoned my jeans. Her hands pulled my cock out, stroking it with renewed zeal.

“Stop,” I groaned out, loving and hating her fervent strokes.

Without preamble, the zealous woman clung onto me as she deepened the kiss, hooking her left leg around my hip before aligning my shaft with her sopping hole. Her hips gyrated as she began to fuck the cock-head through her opening. I knew she was beyond swollen, but apparently, she cared not.

My frustration mounted each time her tight aching cunt enclosed around my cock-head. As much as I longed to deny her, it couldn’t be denied. My blatant arousal made it easier for her to maneuver and enjoy my manhood. My balls tightened as it got harder. Her panting and moaning broke through my barriers. Again.

Beyond irritated at being powerless to her touch, I savagely snarled as I took hold of her arms, pushing her off me before I pivoted her body, roughly bending her to a curve as I situated myself behind her. My dick easily slipped into her crack, immediately coating my length with her overabundant essence, making it easier to fuck her thighs, sluicing in between her slickened folds, specifically hitting her pink pearl.

“Yes, yes! Just like that…just—oh, shit, baby!” Her body shuddered against mine, swept away by unadulterated lust.

Hand reaching out to grasp her dainty neck, the other guided my girth, shoving it deep into her anal cavity, breaching past her virgin sphincter. Gisele shrieked as she mumbled incoherently, choking on her gasps.

“Shh…don’t move too much. Let your body get used to me. The pain will eventually subside,” I softly whispered into her ear, holding her close against my chest as my left hand teased her rosebud, pulling and squeezing. I gradually began to stimulate her body to secrete more lubrication so I could continue fucking her virgin hole.

If I thought her cunt was snug, her arse just proved to me otherwise. Bloody hell, I wasn’t sure if it was the thought of taking her by surprise or the idea I took all over her virginities that made me beyond nonsensical. But I wanted it all. She had initiated sex—well, she was getting it.

As I toyed with her clit, her body began to relax. Kissing her neck, I licked her lobe as I intensified her clitoral stimulation. Her already sopping wet pussy began to drip. Gisele easily got off through her tiny button, so getting her wet and ready was an easy feat. One touch was all it took. In no time, her arm went behind my head as she rested her head against my shoulder, aroused and ready for my onslaught. “Push out each time I thrust. It’ll be less painful.” With precise, measured strokes, my hips started to roll, sliding in and out of her tight tunnel as I relentlessly continued circulating her bud. “That’s it, kitten. You’re doing so well,” I droned on, fighting the temptation of going bonkers on her snug hole.

Gisele gasped, attempting to adjust to the new feel of having something foreign in her untried cavity. “Slowly, gently…Don’t go crazy on me, babe. Careful, please.”

Continuously prodding at a leisurely speed, I took my time with her body. One thing I prided was being a generous lover. If my woman wasn’t as aroused as I was, then I was not doing such a splendid job. Even though generosity was the last thing on my mind as her muscles choked and constricted my cock to death, I prolonged the sweet torture until my control couldn’t be held back any longer.

Releasing her button, my middle slid into her opening, followed by my forefinger. Curving them in a hook-like manner, my fingers locked in on her G-spot before my cock began to propel hard and deep into her depths. Gisele couldn’t handle my fingers and cock going berserk in her openings. With no barrier, gliding my entirety into her depths was sublime. My body surrendered as my cock went bonkers in her arse, pillaging it with harsh fucks. Pain and pleasure merged, becoming harder to separate in her mind as she whimpered my name. Seized by despair, lust, and frustration, my merciless hammering didn’t decrease. The torrential pounding continued until I couldn’t prolong withholding my release any longer.

My girth expanded, swelling within her canal, making her screech out loud before my orgasm shot into her void. By far, this was the most blinding orgasm I’d had to date. The potent process was so beyond intense and powerful I could see stars behind my lids. My cock jerked as semen streamed out of my tiny slit, filling her with my hot seed.

Gisele’s limp body violently shook against my own as she rode her own release after mine. While the heady waves possessed her, my fingers slid out of her pussy. Parting her legs farther apart, I furiously smacked her cunt, slapping her pink button as I did so. Viciously. Relentlessly. The effort intensified her ecstasy. Once. Twice. Thrice. The spanking went on, granting her a string of multiple orgasms. By the time it had finished, she was done for. Her legs couldn’t even hold her upright. She was under a haze from sheer exhaustion, spent beyond reason from coming so much.

Kissing her cheek, I plucked her spent body off the floor before leading us to the shower. As I took my time cleaning her up, Gisele sagged against the shower glass as she eyed me with half-closed lids.

“You’re such a boss, the ultra-sexy Geek,” she murmured, sounding almost drunk. “I get all the hype, the endless praise about your stud moves.”

Brushing off her insinuations about my past lovers, I ignored her and simply started to soap her body.

“Tired?” I softly asked as I lathered her shoulder blade.

“Why fuck me so good knowing we wouldn’t be fucking any longer after we land? That’s all shades of messed up. It pisses me off a little. Actually, I’m furious.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Now that I know how great you are, I’ll be thinking about you filling her the way you did with me. Lucky, lucky Rose…” Piercing gray eyes fluttered wide open. Their fierceness struck me as they penetrated into my blues. “Is sex with me as good as with Rose, Jared?”

Gisele always liked to cross the invisible line. I was still not quite used to her brash interrogation. Actually, I doubted I ever would be. And as always, we’d end up fighting. It was as if she couldn’t fathom enjoying a moment without provoking a fight. Was it a deflection of some sort? There was no mistaking how jealous she was. But if she truly wanted me, the divorce shouldn’t be on her mind at all. Well, before Japan happened, I’d have understood it…but after? No. It was unfathomable to me. Not when I was quite moved by the unadulterated force of our attraction, the potency of our intoxicating chemistry, and this mind-consuming, perpetual yearning within, one that she alone could quench, one she alone could silence.

The mirroring anger seizing us earlier ebbed away. Gisele diffused our long-standing tradition of lashing out at each other by kissing me.

“No. It’s not like with Rose, Gisele.” I kissed her nose, linking my gaze with hers. “Sex with you feels downright mental. It’s impossible to describe it. When I touch you, I’m consumed by an indescribable intrinsic feeling to connect with you. Like a missing puzzle, there’s always a void. But once I have you in my arms, the void is filled with the missing piece, completing the mystery.

Tracing my lip with her thumb, she forlornly stared at my face. “I love you. You have no idea what I’d give to have you, but we both know how this goes. Japan was different because Rose isn’t there. But we’re back to reality, and I’m not going to compete with her. I’m done trying to because you’ll always choose her. I’m this chick you’ve wanted to have sex with, and now that you have, there’s nothing else I can offer you, Jared—not like her. You’ll bore of me, walk away like you always do. As much as I love you, I know I won’t survive another time of you doing it.”

“No, don’t say that.” Holding her close, my forehead rested against hers. “We’ve never been on the same page. I’ve never felt anything like this, and if we end this, right here, right now, we’ll always wonder ‘what if.’ Do you really want to spend the rest of our lives wondering why? I sure don’t. I want you desperately. Just you and me. Like this. Everyday. Every night. Just like this.”

She vehemently shook her head. “You don’t understand—”

My thumb pressed against her lips, shushing her. “Stay with me,” I breathed out ardently. “Let’s stay together, date, and get to know each other better and have a little fun. It’s time we really make a go for it…see how this works out, Gisele. We need to look at us, look at how we couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. Not just with sex. Don’t get me wrong; it’s bloody phenomenal…but I’m referring to how we’ve been inseparable—kissing, hugging, laughing. How do you think we’ll fair getting back to our lives, pretending as though none of this happened? I know I’m able to function getting on with life, but I’m choosing not to. I need you in my life, Gisele. As my woman…as my girlfriend and hopefully soon, if you’re willing, as my wife in the truest sense of the word.”

Her stunning features contorted. Her eyes frowned with uncertainty. Red lips wobbled with indecision. “This isn’t something to joke about. I don’t find this funny. We hate each other. You can’t stand me. I bore you, remember? Don’t fuck with my feelings, Jared. I’m not going to play this game with you. It’s just cruel.”

“Stop discouraging everything I tell you. You know me well enough to grasp the gravity of my words. I’m not one to propose such a subject if I don’t mean it. I just wouldn’t.” My eyes implored. “I’m not one to indulge in wasting someone’s time. So, when I tell you I want you, I bloody well do. I know I promised to let you go once we step out of this plane, but I’m telling you now, I won’t be able to. I just fucking can’t. It’s just unfathomable to me, not when I’m gravely addicted to you.”

Her breath hitched. Gray eyes bared and open as she slowly gave me a glimpse of her soul, her heart. “If I say yes…if I do…will you move back into the house?”

My lips gently brushed against hers, needing a quick connection, like a glue to bind us together, before I brought my gaze to meet her intense stormy one. My decision had been cemented the moment I grasped the truth—that indulging in her body alone wouldn’t be enough any longer. I craved more depth, more laughter. There were layers of her I had yet to discover, and I hankered to know each one of them intimately. “I already did. It was done over the weekend.”

Her shocked expression was priceless. “What? I don’t understand.”

After all the mishaps I’d put her—us—through, I knew I had so much to prove and make up for. Either way, as long as she was with me, stayed with me, we would always find a way to compromise. “With or without a divorce, I made a decision last Thursday right after we had sex. I’m staying…with you.”

“Oh.” Her voice trembled as she peered at me through her long lashes. “And Rose? Where does she fit in any of this?”

“Nowhere. This time, I’m permanently breaking things off with her. I'll see her first thing in the morning. No more other people. No more Rose. No more Wyatt. No more other men asking you for dates, and definitely no more giving your phone number away, Gisele. It’ll be just you and me, hand in hand, working it out, as it should’ve been from the start.”

“This all seems surreal, Jared. I don’t know. Are you sure you're not just blinded by lust?” Her profound hesitation did little to sway my perseverance to see us through.

“I'm blinded by a lot of things, but I'm not blind to think that I can’t go on another day, hour without you,” I vehemently ground out, “Tell me you feel the same. I see it in your eyes. It's a reflection of mine. But I need to hear you say it. Tell me you need me just as I need you, Gisele.” My lips trailed kisses on her jawline as my half-mast member sprung to its full girth.

“Jared...” she moaned hopelessly as her body involuntarily responded to me. Slightly parting her thighs, my shaft lodged into her slick folds, enveloping it with her warm essence.

Christ…Would the time ever come when I wouldn’t want this body? I felt mental—out of my depth—but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was as if I had to connect with her, be it through touch, sex, kissing or through a quick gaze. I had to feel her in every sense of the word. It was the truest of form, in its most primal source, calling upon my primitive nature. It was embedded within. It was intrinsic. Animalistic.

“Say it, kitten,” I relentlessly pressed on. “Tell me you want me. Say you need me, Gisele.” I waited for a beat, but when she didn’t oblige, fear slowly grew. “Do you want to make this easy or the hard way? It doesn't matter. I want you, and I won't stop until you're mine again. So. Choose.”

She shook her head, hiding back a mischievous grin as her lips met my forehead. “In case it escaped your notice, Sir Genius, you're not giving me a choice."

Ah, well, she caught on fast. “More or less, kitten. I’m not ready to give up just yet.”

“Why do you need to hear it? Nothing’s changed.” she shrugged, connecting the tip of her nose against mine, surrendering to the inevitable. “I want you, Jared St. James. Always have, always will.”