In Your Clutches

Part 7: Harmer Turned Healer

AMELIA

'I'll honour our marriage vows.'

Bullshit. Liar. Fucking Liar.

Is this what it would be like? He would have his women, while I'd be stuck looking in from the outside. Or rather the inside of this room.

I'd be stuck watching my husband with some woman running her hands all over him. I continued watching Asher walking down the beach. I watched him until he disappeared from my view then I blinked against tears.

It was not jealousy... Okay... maybe it was.

But not in the conventional sense of being jealous. What was grating me was being forced to feel this way because I was in this situation. I wouldn't feel this way if there were any part of this whole fiasco that was normal because I wouldn't choose to be with a man who would cheat on me.

The way she touched him, although brief, spoke in abundance of them being together. She looked like his type. Like the kind of woman who knew what to do in the bedroom, or wherever. Not a virgin. Although they were far away, I noticed the way he was around her too. She was blonde and pretty, had an enviable body. Definitely his type. Probably the kind of woman he wouldn't treat the way he treated me.

So, maybe this was it. We'd get married, and he'd have her and maybe others like her. I shouldn't feel anything close to jealousy, but I guess it was wrong for me to hope that whenever the day came for me to get married, I'd marry someone who loved me. I couldn't believe the way he treated me earlier. He told me about how I was his wife, but just on papers. How he expected me to produce heirs for him. He probably wanted the woman who looked like a Barbie doll.

I moved from the window and wiped away a tear with the heel of my hand. I almost tripped over the carpet on the floor. Walking to the bed I sat on the edge, looking around the room. It was going to be another day of nothingness. Another day of shit.

The only difference between yesterday and today was that I had more shit on my mind. The woman on the beach with Asher pissed me off, but what I'd been thinking about since he left was what he said about the stupid marriage contract and how there needed to be consummation after this wedding. I shook my head violently. Absolutely not.

The door slammed open and I jumped in my spot. Entered Asher, the Devil himself.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I never heard the key rattle. I had the light turned down to an amber glow. It bathed over him as he walked into the room and locked the door behind him. His eyes met mine, and I straightened up on the bed.

He was shirtless again, just like this morning. He had a black towel slunk over his shoulder and his hair looked damp. Damp like he just took a shower, or like he was working out.

My gaze drifted down to his slacks and those long athletic legs, each muscular. I realised that the only parts of his body that I had seen inked were his arms, and his hands.

My previous worries over him being with that woman were replaced by the icy fear that crawled right back inside me.

What did he want now? Was he ready to have his way with me?

Jesus, I was going crazy here not knowing what would happen next. I was on edge from one minute to the next.

"What do you want?" I asked.

He tilted his head to the side and regarded me with those piercing eyes. "Is it wrong for a man to want to spend time with his bride-to-be?"

My breath hitched, and warmth flushed over my body.